Mumbai - Post Report Question and Answers

How do you send and receive your letters and package mail? Are local postal facilities adequate?

Mumbai is pouch only so takes about 2-3 weeks and there’s a liquid limit. - Apr 2024


I use the US consulate. - Jul 2023


The US Consulate receives diplomatic pouch letters and packages. It is expensive and challenging to ship anything more than a letter out. Local postal facilities are interesting, but I wouldn't trust them to get mail to a destination outside of India. FedEx and DHL have offices here. - May 2023


Outside of alcohol, diplomatic mail is next best thing for morale. Usually takes about two weeks to arrive. - Aug 2021


I don't get letters, mainly email. I receive my packages from the mail room at work. Never been inside a local postal facility. - Nov 2020


We have a Diplomatic Mail system. I don’t know anything about local postal services. - Aug 2019


Pouch mail through the consulate takes about ten days from the US. - Mar 2019


Pouch - May 2018


I use diplomatic pouch. From what I understand the Indian postal service is very unreliable, and addresses don't seem to be standardized. - Jun 2017


DPO. - Aug 2015


Through work. - Nov 2014


Email or nothing. Shops usually can send stuff to the USA via their own courier connections, which are not that expensive. FedEx is here but is pricey. - Mar 2014


Fedex for packages. India Post is not the worst. - Feb 2014


I use the school's pouch. For bigger items, I use fedex. I've never had a problem having food, toiletries, books, or anything delivered, but I usually have to pay a couple thousand rupees in duty fees, so I only order when necessary. Flipkart.com has a good selection of books and other items and deliver quickly and for free within India. - May 2013


Diplomatic pouch -- a drag because it is extremely slow and has severe limitations on content (such as no liquids, no electronics with lithium batteries) and on size (outgoing packages cannot be bigger than a VHS cassette). - Feb 2013


Through diplomatic pouch we can send letters but not packages. I've heard of someone successfully using Indian mail to send packages back to the US. - Dec 2010


Pouch. - Nov 2008


Pouch. DHL for super-urgent mail, gets to US in about 5 days. - Aug 2008


We use pouch. Customs duties are 30+ percent on all goods coming in. So do not anything here unless willing to pay the customs. - Jul 2008


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