Caymanian Postal Service

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In preparation for a student service/adrenaline trip to Costa Rica, our educational tour company sent t-shirts, journals, and luggage tags for all participants. It was my responsibility to pick them up.

One of the first little nuggets of advice I received from my fellow educators was have anything valuable sent with a friend on their flight, not through the mail.

If a package is in transit, the process is:

- Receive a package notification in your mailbox
- Stroll to the airport post office and present your note
- Post office attendant retrieves said package
- Attendant opens package and assesses if you must pay a minimal duty (tax)
- Walk away happy with your new package

The reality was slightly different.

I never received a note in my mailbox even though a delivery notification in my email stated that the package was already on island. Four days later the same email stated that it had arrived, cleared customs, and was ready to be picked up. Yet I never received a note from the Cayman Postal Service. I figured I would chance it and go without a note.

I left a two hour cushion to run between school and the post office. I strolled into the post office at 9:10 and no one was in the lobby, that was a positive sign.

I asked the man if there was a package for John White at Cayman International School.

Over the next 30 minutes, the postal worker searched the most remote corners for my package. Just to be sure, he came out to confirm my name, then it’s spelling, and finally who exactly the sender was. The box was finally located “in the back corner under some boxes”. No worries.

Then he opened the brown box and cleared its’ contents. The box of 17 t-shirts, 17 journals, and 34 luggage tags valued at $200 on the U.S. customs form produced a modest duty of $60 CI.

Lesson learned.