Going Postal, Belize Style

That's a fun title for this posting, which is decidedly non-violent in content (for those in the U.S. who know another meaning for the term). There are many ways in which Belize is decidedly "First World", and others in which it is "Second' or "Third World".  I'll let you, the reader, decide which world you think the Belize Postal System falls in.  
 Here in Placencia, which has a fairly substantial ex-pat population, some who have been here up to 35 years, we have one of the 13 Post Offices in the country - that's right, in the whole nation of 280,000 people.  Just judging from the people who go to the PO when I'm there, I think ex-pats and tourists represent a big part of the business. There are hundreds of villages scattered over the country that have no postal service.  Residents wanting to receive something by mail have it addressed to them at General Delivery, then get to the PO by bus, or ferry, or bicycle etc. and pick it up during business hours.  Banks hold statements and hand them to you when you come in to the bank.  Other businesses hand deliver statements.  I'm not aware of any Belizean magazines.  There is no junk mail. There are no zip codes.  My guess is that there are no mailing lists or demographic lists. Not many businesses give credit, and those that do, like our butane business, collect payment personally.  A Belize City supplier to our construction company recently sent us copies of a lot of invoices.  They addressed the envelope, "Placencia Properties".  That was all.  We received it.
You can pick up your mail at the Post Office or have it delivered.  I've only seen one mailbox in the village, because they generally hand the mail to the recipient. Since the mail only comes to the PO on Tuesday and Fridays, I only stop for mail every week or two.  If you get past all the pictures to the bottom of this post, maybe that will change. So with only 13 POs in the whole country, they must be pretty substantial, right?  Pictures?  Sure - let's take a look:

  This is our post office, which is in what might be called a "strip mall' if I didn't know better.  The Social Security office is on one side, open Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. Businesses occupy the other two slots.  The Postal Service doesn't have a logo that  I've noticed, but I like their sign. Those are not chimneys - it is very common for one story concrete buildings to have stub columns that extend up in case another story is added later. Step inside:

This is it.  And although I'm sure there is an organization to it, I have no idea what it is.  The alphabet does not enter into it.  When I go in to get my mail the clerk will take the mail out of two boxes on the left and sort through it looking for my mail - that's if she knows I have some.  I've been here long enough that she just shakes her head if I go in and there is no mail.  If I go to the Social Security office next door, she'll bring it to me.  Packages are on the shelf toward the back.  When her boss is on duty, he sits at the table.  If packages aren't labelled for contents, they'll open them to see the contents and determine what the duty should be.  There are three other fees as well, although I don't know what they are.  There are lot of forms involved with packages, and you end up with a receipt with four codes followed by $ amounts that total what you just paid to get your package.   It all takes a lot of stamping, something bank tellers and postal workers are trained to do with great vigor. The have a stamp, they stamp hard on a pad, then BAM!  they stamp the document. You can tell they get great pleasure from the action, and you wish you could do it too.

 This photo is too dark, but I wanted to show you the counter and the clerk, who is on the phone here.  That is a fax in the background, and what appears to be a heavy duty kitchen scale to weigh packages.  She doesn't wear an uniform, but her boss has a shirt with the postal service embroidered on it as I recall.  The space is about 10 feet wide and 30 or 40 feet deep.  There is no barrier to prevent postal patrons from going into the back portion.  But why would they, only the staff knows where your mail is, there are no mail boxes.  You hand your outgoing mail to the clerk. 
But Belize has pretty stamps that promote various features of the country.  I spent about $5 BZD to buy the following stamps so I could photograph them.  Enjoy, and please read my comment at the end....

and the Placencia stamp...

     What does it cost to mail a postcard or a letter?  To the US a postcard I think the postage is 20 cents, and a letter 30 cents for the first half once, and in-country mail is 25 cents. In US currency the postage is half of that, but you don't get paid in USD.

      You have probably noticed the map at the heading of this blog that shows what countries visitors to the blog have come from.  What I would really enjoy, and would be a small benefit for the time I put into writing it, is for visitors to the blog to send me a postcard from their location.  If and when I get them, I will mention what country, state or province they come from if I'm able to tell.   Send them to

Carl Laws,

General Delivery,

Placencia Village,

Stann Creek District,

Belize, C.A.

 

Hope you've enjoyed this!  Be well!