mail services - please help

[mattbrett]

Hey,

Just an open question for anyone on the island or anyone else who knows about this stuff.

Do any of you guys use Island Communication Services - where you have a mail box in miami and then get your mail sent to the school weekly, so that it doesn't take forever for mail to each you?
Is it a worthwhile service to purchase? I don't want to blindly send them money if it is a ripoff, or if it really isn't all that much faster.

Thanks a lot

Matt

[ajcarrol]

ICS is not that much faster than regular mail. They have had a lot of problems recently...dock strike on St. Maarten delayed shipment for a few weeks...one shipment was stuck in customs for about a month. It's not really worth the $75-100 (depending on when you sign up) plus $2.50 per pound. I signed up only because I needed a forwarding address in the states for bills, etc.

[ResearchingGuy]

ICS is pretty much your only option for an alternative mail service here in Saba. While they are sometimes slower than we'd like, it's been my experience that they are about three times as fast as regular mail (unless you are getting stuff from Europe -- for some reason, the mail from the EU gets here very fast). The best part is that you have a US box that you can use for ordering things off the internet, forwarding bills etc.

All in all, you might not absolutley need it, but it does make things convenient, and it is the fastest and cheapest way to get small packages form the US.

Best of Luck!