Bali Expat Forum - Bali Travel Forum

Is there a modern post office in bali that has standard international barcode labels for registered mail (trackable) for sending many small jewelry packets worth $50 each to western countries. Last time I was in Bali I experimented with the Ubud Post office and sent a small package back to Thailand (where I normally stay).The package arrived quicky and safely but had about 20 stamps as they had no ability to print a postage sticker and no bar code label he just wrote a number on the package and gave me a handwritten reciept on a piece of tissue thin paper. Im ok with this primitive way of doing things if the package is safe from internal theft in indonesia and is sent quickly but would like to know if there is another post office in bali that can process small packages for airmail efficiently and safely by international standards.
By the way ems is not an option as the price is too high for a $50 item.
Are small packages sent through the post office generally safe with high chance of arrival?
I usually stay in ubud so I guess Gianyar would be the main hub in that area?
If you have experience good or bad with the Indonesian post office or Bali post office would like to hear your experience or advice etc..

Try the main post-office in Renon (Denpasar). It's on Jalan Raya Puputan.

I'm pretty sure they have the service you're looking for. Whether it actually "works", in reality, I can't say.

If you have experience good or bad with the Indonesian post office or Bali post office would like to hear your experience or advice etc.. ...................................................


The problem with these bali post offices are shipments and packets comming into bali get backed up by bribery fees. An at home delivery also bribery fees paid to delivery postman. An in person pick up for packets from international areas also a bribery fee must be paid. Or will not get your packet.

Well, thats not my experience....

I had international shipments, via various shippers, national shipments and letters, and NEVER NEVER anything you mention ever happened....

gina tyler wrote:The problem with these bali post offices are shipments and packets comming into bali get backed up by bribery fees. An at home delivery also bribery fees paid to delivery postman. An in person pick up for packets from international areas also a bribery fee must be paid. Or will not get your packet.

Thats great to hear,You are lucky I'd Say.
I have documents sitting here in front of me proof of the bribery fees that had to be paid.
I need my balinese friends to pick up my packets as I am not in bali year round,The fees they paid are staggering for any balinese to come up with.

Just answering the Question that was posted here........................................

To answer the original question regarding traceable mail out of Bali, EMS is the only option in so far as the Ubud post office. In many cases however, EMS is about the same rate as shipping via “normal” airmail.

Only once were we “hit up” for a bribe at the post office, and that was several years ago when my mom’s ashes had been sent over to me for her purification ceremony. She had been in the process of getting ready for her move to Bali, but died unexpectedly.

Eri and I both went to the PO to pick up her ashes, as back then the PO wasn’t delivering directly to our home as they do now. The clerk at the PO wanted 100k for what he called “duty.”

I just smiled and asked him, “do you know what’s in this box?” Of course he didn’t and simply shrugged his shoulders saying “no.”

I explained what was in the box, told him I’d be happy for him to conduct and pay for the purification ceremony, said thanks and started to leave. He couldn’t hand over that box fast enough! It was very funny, and just the kind of humor my mom dearly loved.

Aside from that, we haven’t had any problems either.

Nice story Roy amused me also. The PO used to be great in Indonesia and was the best way to transfer monies also. Alas in recent years it has become more problematic with letters disapearing especially those coming from abroad.

Dear Jimbo
Yes agreed,Many letters with photographs,gone,no one ever gets it in bali.
Packets are opened and rumaged through,things missing.

I realize there is no way around the bribery nonsense,but it all depends on the customs agent,the mood they are in,whats in the packet,who picks it up,where its going,what its for,just like when you get stoped on a random street by officers "For no reason",so long you give a 'fee' you get to keep driving.That also depends on the trafic officer's mood,who is in the car,what color is the skin of the people in the car.......................etc.

Packets and post opened by authorities is normal practice all over the world.

Sunday night, I’ve seen a documentation about the daily work of customers and police in the central post office for Germany in Frankfurt and what I saw there was a hammer!
I always thought customs would check packages randomly – no, randomly are only checked sending within the EU (and here from some states more randomly than from others), from outside EU EVERYTHING IS OPENED!!!

They have literally an army of specialist there which feel by touching a letter if they content drugs, a common trick, thick paper soaked in liquid cocaine from South-America, smuggling cigarettes from Poland, luxury goods from USA declared as used things (the Dollar rate!), weapons, protected animals, whatever and German pedantic the customs is checking the value of declared goods – incredible!

I would take a bet that only what goes through Frankfurt airport daily is more than coming into Bali per year, so you can imagine the effort!

Tow years ago, we sent a huge package via DHL to Brazil, all Christmas stuff (my friend Nancy is crazy about x-mass decoration), I sent the thingy already in October, that she would receive it before x-mass, the thing was lost, nobody could tell me where it was, it has reached Sao Paulo, but then it could not be tracked anymore, I thought the stuff was lost and we all have been very disappointed, in May my friend received the package and not one single thing was missing – guess Brazilian customers had no clue how to handle this stuff!

Best regards
Thorsten

Not bad here in Calif. I have really "peculiar" packets shiped here all the time from India,not one has been opened or missing.
The one packet that got me laughing was the 1,000 homeopathic viles of remedies I custom ordered from Calcutta India.Sent to calif(took 3 months via boat snailmail).
I was still in calcutta when I saw the postman wrap this packet up for me.
You have to hire a seamstress(he is also the postman) to make a custom wrapping out of burlap ,its handstitched,then its sealed via a wax old fashioned seal. When it came to Calif,it was really dirty and tattered looked like something horrid was in there,but nothing was missing,not opened.If any packet looked suspicious it certainly was that one! The people behind the counter gave me some interesting looks.Curious as hell as to what was in there.

Loved your story, Roy, about the ashes. But what if the postal officer was "Javanese"? I guess you were lucky then. BTW, what did you do with the ashes? There was a rumour years ago that Keith Richards, (of The Rolling Stones), smoked his father's ashes.

Back to Pos Indonesia. I estimate that my personal success rate with sending/receiving mail or small packages is around 98-99% these days. Ironically, things that have gone missing in the last year or so were things I really wanted, but intrinsically of no monetary value. For example, a personal CD from Australia containing photos of a friend's new house. And somebody knocked off a copy of Bob Dylan's Modern Times album.

I believe that my local Balinese postman is beyond reproach. Anything missing happened further up the mail-chain. I think that the further one is from the main Denpasar PO, the more chance of things getting either "lost" or "delayed", sometimes for months. That's not to say that the main PO is devoid of a few shady characters. Just that the chances are slightly less. A "perfect postal system" doesn't exist anywhere, IMHO.

One other thing, which is neither here nor there, but "fascinating", nevertheless.

Yesterday, I tried to track down the postal code for Batubulan. Pos Indonesia's website couldn't find it. Rummaging through current telephone books was no help, either. In fact, I couldn't even find a listing of Balinese POs. I presume that there is a list somewhere. I'd love to hear where it is.

Loved your story, Roy, about the ashes. But what if the postal officer was "Javanese"? I guess you were lucky then.

His name tag gave him away Phil.

BTW, what did you do with the ashes?

We had a purification ceremony for her near Lebih where the Pakerisan River reaches the sea and her ashes were consigned to the ocean. As you probably know, this is where all the cremation ceremonies in Gianyar Regency are concluded by the final phase of the cremation ceremony.

Bert wrote:Well, thats not my experience....

I had international shipments, via various shippers, national shipments and letters, and NEVER NEVER anything you mention ever happened....

Agreed..I've had hundreds of letters and packets over the years, not one missing. Not one bribe asked for or paid.

After sending Christmas cards to my Bali friends for the past 3 years, I've decided not to bother after discovering that none of them made to any of the addresses.