TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Mail

Looking to find out how much to mail a letter from USA to SXM. Thank you

It should be around $1.15 (1oz. or less). If you are mailing a deposit the place you are mailing to should know the exact amount. Not sure about now as it has been 5 years since I mailed anything to the island but the postage (stamps) used to have to have a denomination on them. The "forever" stamps may not work so you probably should go into a post office to make sure it is done properly. Give it 2 weeks to arrive.

USPS
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Forever Stamps won't work for International Mail

I did not see Sint Maarten (Dutch ) on the USPS list, did not see Netherlands Antilles but did see St Martin (French ) - same rate? Aruba same rate?

why does it take 2 wks for a letter to go from the States to SXM? Someone told us a long time ago that the mail goes to Holland first-is that true?

Once it it out of the US, all bets are off as it is out of the USPS's hands. Last time I mailed a deposit to Horny Toad it had not arrived after 2 weeks. I then sent another which arrived in about 10 days and the first one never did make it.

Someone on another board said it takes a month-that's ridiculous-I don't bother sending postcards anymore.

When people think the US mail service is bad, they only need to look at many other countries. With electronic communication, post cards and letters (along with a lot of other things that used to be mailed) are fading quickly.

Parcel/package delivery is what it is all about now.

I believe you are correct. Some people use a forwarding service that has a po box in Miami that forwards mail via cargo ship and they pick up their mail at the port or arrange someone to deliver it to them.

I collect stamps and buy from all over the world on ebay. Most countries find my mail arriving in 8-10 days and costing between $2-4 for an oversized envelope. Noted exception is Great Britain where the rates price the seller out of my business.

Mail from the U.S. to SXM does not go direct. I goes to a central collection point in the states then either to the Netherlands then Curacao or to Curacao then SXM. Call or go to your local post office and ask them what the postal rates are.

or pay the piper and use FedEx or DHL, we have over nighted documentation for our boat, but it's not cheap

I think I paid about 30 bucks to DHL a document to SXM from Connecticut last year.

Actually not a bad price if it's important enough..... <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Thumbsup.gif" alt="" />

Yeah - but his wasn't. It was stupid what they needed me to send to sell my timeshare!!!