Estimated Reading Time: 4 Minutes
You are living in Costa Rica and need a new mailing address, which seems like a simple task. It can be a straightforward task, depending on how easy you want to make it yourself. Most people don’t receive mail anymore. Who writes letters? And we don’t have mailboxes in Costa Rica either.
Our agents will assist when you buy a house!
There are several private mail services in Costa Rica, and there is the post office, Correos de Costa Rica, owned by the Costa Rican government. See below for your options. There are very few locations left that have the service of a mailman. You can either rent a mailbox or P.O. box (apartado postal) if they have any available, or you can use the post office’s direct address and pick up your mail there (mostly for packages).
When ordering online, you’ll find that the space for the address is tiny. Some mailing addresses here will take up three or more lines since we don’t have street names and house numbers.
Mailing Address
My own official home address is as follows: 300 norte, 25 este de Centro Comercial Paco, Primera casa mano izquierda con tapia blanca, San Rafael de Escazu. Most order forms don’t offer that much space for an address. My mailing address is also easier and shorter than some others. So, if you just need to fill out an online form but don’t expect anything to be delivered to your home, there is a way around the long address.
For that reason, I invented my own mailing address: Multiplaza 1, Escazu.
The reason? It’s short, concise, and one I will never forget, even if it’s not my own, and it will always fit in the form. And who is ever going to figure it out anyway? Multiplaza is one of those places where my wife sometimes likes to spend her spare time; it is a shopping mall. I assure you, I will never, ever forget what Multiplaza is all about.
Companies in other countries won’t understand we don’t have street addresses and house numbers, so why even bother trying to explain? In Costa Rica, we are used to MacGyvers, and this is one. Why bother doing it the difficult way if it can be done the easy way?
Invent one
Don’t you know which mailing address to use when paying for something online? Keep it easy for yourself; just use something you like and that you will remember.
Do you like burgers? Use McDonald’s square #1.
Do you like snorkeling? Use Coral Street #1.
Do you like fashion? Use Fashion Road #1.
I’m sure you get it.
DO NOT use this mailing address if you’re planning to mail something to that address here because the poor mailman will spend the rest of his life looking for Fashion Road 1. They’ll just return the mail to the sender. Getting a mailbox in front of your house will not work; I’m pretty sure your mail will disappear from your mailbox all the time. I had to ask our newspaper boy to throw the newspaper over the gate because it kept disappearing on me. Now I read it online.
Private Mailboxes
You can also use one of the private mailing companies available in Costa Rica, like
- Mailboxes Etc.,
- Jet box,
- UPS
- and Aeropost where they give you a Miami mailbox, and they will deliver to you a couple of times per week.
Some charge a monthly fee, others only when you have mail; check it out before you commit. These private mailing companies deliver a lot quicker than the Costa Rican Post Office, and your merchandise has a much better chance of arriving.
Buying a house from one of our agents? Then ask the agent to assist.
