Getting a package from the US while travelling through South Europe
I have to send a package from the US to someone travelling along the European Mediterranean coast.
One option would be to send it to a hostel, but this could easily fail, or be tortuous for the recipient. I also don't want to use any flight-by-night mail forwarder. This person will be moving, so it has to be predictable when it will arrive (at least within a time-frame of 2-3 days).
I wonder whether some official national postal service (equivalent to the USPS) or well-known companies like DHL, FedEx or UPS would accept that a package is sent to one of their branches, to be picked at a concrete day, by showing some ID.
I suppose these companies would provide the same quality of service across the world. The choices are Portugal, Spain, France and Italy (by order of preference.
Is this feasible? How would such a service be called?
Best Answer
Several shipping companies provide options for shipping to a branch for pickup with ID. You could check which one has a more convenient branch location for you. DHL has a stronger presence in Europe.
At times, it can be easier to have your customer collect shipments from a DHL managed Service Point, rather than attempt a delivery to an uncertain address. Simply request the option at the time of booking and our Customer Service staff at destination will notify the Receiver when the shipment is ready to collect. Shipments are held for up to 7 calendar days free of charge.
UPS "Hold for Pickup":
At no additional charge, UPS can hold your package up to five days... UPS will deliver your package to the UPS Customer Center you choose and then call the recipient when the package is ready. Packages are usually available by 8:30 a.m. on the scheduled day of delivery.
FedEx "Hold at Location":
Most FedEx locations will hold a package. The Find FedEx Locations tool at fedex.com can help you locate one in seconds.
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Answer 2
In most of the world, you can have letters and packages sent poste restante, addressed to an individual in care of a particular post office, to be held until the intended recipient visits to pick it up. In English-speaking Canada and the U.S., the service is also called general delivery; in Spanish-speaking countries it is also known as lista de correos. It is extremely common, for example, for people on lengthy journeys like the Camino de Santiago or the Appalachian Trail, to have supplies sent ahead of them via poste restante.
Not every post office in every country will accept poste restante mail, but as there are Universal Postal Union (UPU) guidelines for it, you should be safe with the main post office in larger cities. How long the post office will hold the package, the addressing format, the pickup or storage charge if any, and other procedures will vary by country. You can search on this term on the website of the relevant country's postal service; Wikipedia offers an overview of poste restante as well.
Comments by Makyen and others suggest that poste restante mail is not always reliable, especially outside of rich countries. You may try your hand with FedEx, UPS, DHL, and other international delivery services, who will hold a letter or package at a local office or with their local partner (which may in fact be the postal service) for a period of time, although their charges will be considerably higher than regular mail.
Answer 3
As a Portuguese national, I can tell you to take Portugal out of the equation with such a short time frame.
Our bureaucracy is bad. Your package can be hold hostage for up to 20 to 30 days in our customs for inspection.
Forget our national postal system. It is not unheard of getting mail a couple of months after it is expedited locally. A couple of years ago, my sister-in-law sent us a package from London in early December, by regular mail, and it arrived in mid/late April.
As for Fedex, my experiences in the past are not good with them. DHL seems to work better. Both are costly.
I remember to deliver a document out of this country in a short time frame (3-5 days) the best option used to be paying around 150 Euros to have a special DHL service. I would guess they similarly support the equivalent inbound service.
If we are not talking about documents but objects, you will surely have to clear customs, and I can pretty much assure you that if you do not have a margin of a month for bureaucracy, you would better forget Portugal.
Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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