I am wondering specifically how snail mail is handled in Cairo for the different neighborhoods.

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Originally posted by sonomod:
How is snail mail delivered in Egypt?

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It isn't

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Originally posted by MyKingdomForATaba2Koshari:
It isn't

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So I have to go to the post office to pick it up every week, every day?

Doesn't anyone get any mail? And how do they know if they have recieved mail?

Especially international mail. If I want to order from catalogs, some clothing retailers aren't too expensive local vs. international shipping.

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Originally posted by sonomod:
So I have to go to the post office to pick it up every week, every day?

Doesn't anyone get any mail? And how do they know if they have recieved mail?

Especially international mail. If I want to order from catalogs, some clothing retailers aren't too expensive local vs. international shipping.

Or if my mother sends a package from the USA. We have mailed packages to my daughter, but uff talk about expensive. I really actually got to Shebin in one piece!

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Originally posted by MyKingdomForATaba2Koshari:
Look Sonomod, packages that look attractive get "lost", or opened and they make you pay fortunes as taxes on them. Envelopes with plain paper might be delivered to your house, if they feel like it. That's my experience.

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Well thank you for the direct answer. I was wondering how that would work.

I am surprised as hell that the packages we have sent have made it there.

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Originally posted by RaniaMe:
Many times, my letters from my country to Egypt have been lost, for no reason. There was nothing inside except letters, no money of course. I never understood why. Now, I ask my family, when I am in Egypt, to send me registered letters (not sure if it's the right term), I have to sign a form to get it. That's the only way to get my letters, and it's really a pity, because it's more expensive. But even with these registered letters, two times, my mother had to go to her post office to ask why her letter hadn't arrived yet, after one month and a half. So, her post office contacted the Egyptian one, and suddenly, I got the letter. So, mail is really something not ordinary there.

[This message has been edited by RaniaMe (edited 13 August 2005).]

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Can you get a mail box at a post office and come in yourself to pick up mail?

I know thats how it is done in many countries.

I have been rummaging through a book "Living and Working in KSA and the Gulf States" many countries over there have adopted western models of mail handling. But some people prefer to pick up their mail from the post office.

There is no comprehensive books like the "living and workign in KSA and the Gulf States" for Egypt. But while reading this volume I gives me a sense of how things are different.

Always wonder how the mailman in "Land of Fear" managed to keep all of Ahmed Zaki's character's intelligence reports over the years. I wondered if that was a western innovation in the script.

Just wondering, trying to get a feel for things and how to handle every day aspects that I wouldn't begin to ponder otherwise.

Thank you all for the 'real like' responses.

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Originally posted by newcomer:
Hi sonomod!

Check out the thread EMS express mail, we discussed this recently: http://www.egyptsearch.com/forums/Forum2/HTML/006777.html We didn’t mention sending clothes though as they get stung so hard for taxes that no one seems to order any by mail.

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Now that was a good thread. Thank you for pointing that out.

I was thinking of regular mail incoming, but now I wonder if someone in the family has had to pay taxes on what we have sent her? Most the clothes were Hanna Anderson and very nice, but to pay taxes? Wow, that is cruel. Most of the time the maternal great grandmother picks up the packages because she can get the bureaucracy moving.