- Peruvian Postal Services Reliability
- Sending Mail from Lima to the World
- Receiving Mail in Lima
- Poste Restante
- Serpost Offices in Lima
Peruvian Postal Services Reliability
The national Peruvian postal service 'Serpost' is much better than its reputation. Receiving mail in Lima and sending it from Lima elsewhere is quite reliable, while outside the capital it's less dependable.
Sending Mail from Lima to the World
Sending mail within Lima and from Lima to the rest of the world is quite reliable, even if exceptions confirm the rule. Outside the capital the postal service is unfortunately less consistent. If you want to make sure your mail really reaches the recipient in Lima, Peru or elsewhere in the world, better send it as registered mail ("registrado" or "certificado").
Airmail to Europe or North America takes up to two weeks, packages and parcels can take around four to six weeks; at least they normally reach their destination. Postal charges for sending postcards and letters to international locations are reasonable, parcel are a little bit more expensive depending on weight and destination.
Receiving Mail in Lima
Letters and smaller parcels are usually delivered directly to your address in Lima. Bigger parcels and packages have to be picked up at the nearest customs post office after receiving a notification. Advise the sender to spend a few more bucks and send your envelopes or parcels as registered mail. This way we received all mail send to us from overseas in the last years. Mail from North America and Europe send to Lima takes around 10 to 14 days.
Note: Articles for your personal use worth less than US$ 100.- can be received without paying any custom fees. Sometimes the postal charges from abroad are added to the value.
Poste Restante
For those without an address in Lima, mail can be send to general delivery. To pick up your mail you need your passport. As letters are sometimes sorted and filed in a strange way make sure you have them check thoroughly for your mail. Normally letters are kept 3 month before being send back, registered mail sometimes only a week or two. Although this service seems to work quite well, it isn't 100% reliable. Make sure the letter is addressed as below:
Serpost Offices in Lima
Serpost has offices spread around town. A listing of all post offices in Lima can be found on their web page under "red de oficinas". The page is only available in Spanish. For "tariffs" and "sending options" have a look under "tarifas". Below you find a few selected post offices:
- Lima City Center, Psje. Piura
- Miraflores, Av. Petit Thouars 5201
- Miraflores, Av. Larco 1185
- San Isidro. Los Libertadores 325
Comments
# RA700217528US, instead of delivering to Lima11 the envelope was sent to Philippines? I don't have a phone number where to call and the post office in Chicago won't do anything because the mail was delivered to the post office in Lima. Can you help me please? Thank you, Amalia
This is a tricky situation and here with the post office the main serpost office in Lince in person with 2 copies of your passport or documentation. The post office in Chicago cannot do anything further because it was safely delivered to Lima. All further business has to be done from Lima now. Keep your certified tracking code and documentation to take to the main post office. It will help to have the official papers.
Lo que pasa es a veces se demora la entrega porque ha estado restringida o algo mas que ellos necesitan. Ud puede utilizar el sitio de web para ubicar el paquete o el razon porque esta demorando:
http://clientes.serpost.com.pe/prj_tracking/seguimientolinea.aspx
I am a teacher in Denmark, and my students are sending a letter to another teacher, who are travelling around South America, and are coming to Lima in a weeks time.
We will send the letters to the adress you have mentioned under the headline "Poste Restante".
My question is, whether this is the same adress, where she should pick the letter up?
Could you please help me?
I am in bit of a hurry, as my students should send the letters tomorrow if they are to reach her in time.
Thank you for a good website and any help, that you can provide.
Kind regards
Sofie Heissel (Denmark)
Your teacher friend will pick up the letters at the same address with her passport. Sometimes they require the person receiving mail to make 2 copies of the passport to pick them up.
I have a package about 2 or 3kg that I need to post from Lima to the UK - do you know how much this is likely to cost?
Thanks!
Katie
Had some questions about sending please help.
I'm planning to send a package. Now the priority USPS medium cost $67 and the large $87... and I might check if I can add that it be signed for , which might cost a little more so like $10-18....I'm shipping gift.
Now, I read it says sometimes the postage can be added ... so how would u advise me to ship because I don't want it to be held in customs to be paid and picked up and just want it to be delivered to the person directly without no problems at all.
it also has to be below $100 correct? in order for it not to be in customs? so $99 i'm still fine?
another thing when a person writes example for address:
Av. larco 5520-5528
why is it written like that 5520-5528? will the mail man know where to deliver it?
Thanks