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My trip to the post office

I had to pass by the post office to mail some defected RAM back to the States and I have to say the place was as weird as I was expecting it to be. I went to the Safat post office in Kuwait City and I only managed to find it by asking passers by since there wasn’t any sign outside the place.

Once I walked in I thought I took the wrong door and stepped inside the post office museum since there were cabinets with old stamps lining up the wall on my right and I could see more cabinets ahead in a large hallway.

I saw stamps in the cabinet that dated back to the 60’s and figured I might as well check out this museum first and then head to the post office.

After checking out a couple of cabinets the room opened up and I realized I was actually in the post office and not the museum.

I went up to the counter and asked the employee there about bareed mumtaz which is what they call EMS in Kuwait. He took my items, weighed them and told me it would cost KD6 to mail it to the States and that it would get there in under a week. In comparison, Aramex wanted KD10.5 to mail it in addition to another KD20 as a deposit in case US customs charged a duty.

Although the post office does look very outdated I didn’t mind it since the place was deserted which meant no lines. The employee I also dealt with was friendly and most importantly the EMS service seems pretty reliable and reasonably fast. Not bad.

34 replies on “My trip to the post office”

Mr.Mark

Am a regular follower of your blog and really happy to see a person with such passsion on kuwait. You have inspired me a lot to live in kuwait.

keep going

Regards
Rajesh

I visited the Salmiya branch once. I had used the regular mail service to mail back a defective phone obtained while from USA. It made it but took 3 weeks. Cost= 1.5 kd , 1.5 kd to package it [ i didn’t have a box so they charged me 1.5 kd to box it. The guy also sewed it up with fabric — totally strange and I’m not sure why tape couldn’t have been used] . 6 kd sounds great to make sure things get to where they are fast.

Good Luck, hopefully the “out” is better than the “in”. My mother (in Australia) sent me a Christmas card last Dec(about the middle of the month) to ensure I received it in time for Christmas. Guess where it ended? She received it in the mail last week at her home address in Australia!
It was addressed correctly and postage was paid.Oh, and we are still waiting on a package that was sent to us for Christmas 2008!

The EMS thing is actually good for SENDING stuff, but the problem comes when you start RECEIVING them. Sending stuff to the UK and US was a breeze and would always trust EMS for that; but when i got a shipment from NZ; they took their time processing it, looking at it (it was a cricket bat) and also they took a week just to call me and inform me that the package has arrived. But then, life is like that!

Great, kindly give us the place in google earth, also it would be appreciated if you post a review after trying the service

Mark, please do update us on the delivery. I wanna know how long will it take the package to be delivered. :)They said 1 week, but we will see later 🙂

I bought 2 iPods as Xmas presents and decided to email them to Australia. I went to Salmiya branch at around 6.30pm. It was just starting to rain (spit) and they were locking up. I asked if it was closing time and the woman said yes as it was raining. I asked was there a leak in the roof and she said no, it’s going to rain. I came back next day but person that has the EMS envelopes was not working at night. I told them I can’t come during the day as i work and isnt that why the post office is opened at night??? Well third time was the charm. I watched them close it up and it arrived to Australia with 2 empty boxes. As my sister signed for them, there was nothing we could do! I did complain at Salmiya but was told it was probably their Egyptian staff!

That’s terrible..

One tip: if you get things sent here to Kuwait using EMS, make sure the sender will list your telephone number. In such a case, the Post Office in Keifan will call you to collect your parcel. Otherwise, Keifan will send a Pink Slip to your postal address asking you to come and collect your parcel. Now, THIS could take a very long time.

I think it would be a good idea to have your item that your mailing already packaged before going to the post office. This way, the staff there do not know the contents and are there is a higher chance that it would actually make it [ not just an empty box].

I hope you will have better luck than me with Bareed Mumtaz (EMS) as I used it twice (First and Last time)when I sent some pictures of a wedding to my Uncle in the USA back in 2006. Till now they did not reach.

After a marathon between the Post Office and several MOC departments they have compensated me by paying me back my KD 10. But the pictures never arrived.

I have had no trouble mailing things OUT of Kuwait through the regular mail system, in the 8 years I have lived here (packages and regular envelopes).

However, i am still waiting on a package that my mom sent here in 2006, plus this past spring, I was waiting for a package (forever it seemed!) and one day, lo-and-behold there was the pink slip to collect he package in keifan….good news? Not quite! The slip was dated about 5 weeks prior to it showing up in our box, and it said on the slip that packages not claimed in 30 days would be returned to sender…so when we went, they said the package had already been returned, but the sender has not received it back either…..I subscribe to Oprah magazine and always get that in a timely manner.

Hey there!

I know this is out of nowhere, But were you by any chance a Biology teacher in a private school (The English Academy)?

I just so happened to know someone that shares the exact same name as yours, she was an awesome teacher haha

I’ve used EMS 5 times so far. As long as you follow the instructions, it’s all good. Most of the packages I sent arrived within 5 days (to the US). I’ve also received EMS packages from China and most of the delay occurs in China (I know because you get tracking numbers with EMS shipments). As someone mentioned earlier, make sure the sender writes your phone number in the address so they can SMS you when it gets here.

BTW, I use the post office at Mishref co-op. Empty place with friendly staff there as well.

hello.their prices isnt bad. have tried them before and they will be delivered.
anyway; this year i discovered a new company called skycom and they send stuff via DHL.
i sent a memory to usa(corsair) and they charged me only 5kd!
this is their number: 22408709/22433989.

I have also managed to use the Post Office once. it was to collect something – luckily my phone number helped as a tracking aid and visual reference as no-one spoke any English. What is your perception of the English language knowledge of the staff in the Post Offices you have used coz I might like to try it someday? I tend to use DHL at various exchange offices – 2.5KD. Tracked.

Just for everyones information. I was sent, (through regular mail) a letter from London UK on July 30, 2013. I still havent received it. Its just a letter nothing large, cumbersome or dangerous. Why would it take so long, and now being August 23, should i just give up on ever receiving it at all???

MJF,

If you have a tracking number, you could go there directly. If you have a local post office in your place, you could check there also.

These people do not give a shit about your letters.

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