United States Mail

    I'm retired military and have been living in Cabo Frio for a month now. Has anybody found a way to receive mail from back in the states over here?
   

    -@danielebrian0518

Mail should be delivered to your claimed residence. They have postal carriers here just as they have back on Stateside on any Military base.

You might want to head out to your nearest post office branch to verify if your address is registered upon

Sp

Rua Marquês de Olinda, 60 - São Cristóvão, Cabo Frio - RJ, 28909-470

Public Hours: 8:00 through  16:00

Phone: (22) 2643-3293

Rua  Marquês de Olinda, 60 - São Cristóvão, Cabo Frio - RJ, 28909-470

Public Hours: 8:00 through  16:00

Phone:  (22) 2643-3293

Avenida Teixeira e Souza, 2054 - Centro, Cabo Frio - RJ, 28909-971

Public Hours:⋅8:00 through   18:00

Telefone: (22) 2645-2616

( this one above might be the largest and City's central distributiuon hub, you probably can start from here.)

Brazilian post branch locator

https://mais.correios.com.br/app/index.php

Correios

Largo de Santo Antônio, 55 · (22) 2645-4466

Public Hours: 8:00 through  16:00

CDD Correios - Cabo Frio

Rua  Marquês de Olinda, 60 · (22) 2643-3293

Public Hours: 8:00 through  16:00

Correios - AGF Costa do Sol

Avenida  Teixeira e Souza, 2054 · (22) 2645-2616

Correios - AGF Tavares

Avenida  Júlia Kubitschek, 39 - Loja 4 · (22) 2647-2759

Public Hours:⋅8:00 through   17:00

Empresa Brasileira de Correios e Telegráfos

9854, Avenida  Independência, 9772

Public Hours:⋅8:00 through   17:00

Brazilian post branch locator

https://mais.correios.com.br/app/index.php

We found a local postal carrier and they claimed we can receive our mail here from the states.  But looking at the address they provided to us i'm not sure if it actually works with receiving letters from the VA or banks from back in the states. Just wanted to see if anybody has done that.

I've given up on receiving mail from the US or Europe after not receiving mail or packages that were sent to me by individuals.  When I was in the US a few weeks ago my friends showed me a letter they had sent me here in Brazil and it had actually made it here and was sent back d/t invalid address (but it was our address!). I think we have gotten 5 pieces of mail from the US in 3 years so a fraction of what was sent to us.

Any parcel owed to you, you are a fool to send through postal services. Pay the extra buck and get it from FEDEX.   

Warning,. FEDEX receiving hub is in Viiracopos, Campinas-SP.  You better make sure the attached Bill of Laden going into the jacket  reflects exactly what you will have inside the package.  And any duties, customs are right at the FEDEX facility, and you will pay full retail price, regardless of being new or used.

The Postal Service is for Letters and Documents, although FEDEX is far more expeditious.  You can't track the Post Parcel, as you can with FEDEX.   

A second and just as efficient and reliable carrier is DHL.   

If you are in Cabo Frio, not sure if FEDEX will go there for deliveries, so make sure to opt in for receive and hold at their processing hub, in Rio de Janeiro. 

@sprealestatebroker Awesome thank you for the clarification.

My mail arrives. It does take a very long time. I tried Fedex but my last time critical item came into Recife, sat 2 weeks, went to Sao Paulo, sat more weeks, came back to Recife where some days later it came in a hired car to my not-so-backward interior city where they even have a huge Fedex presence to export Havaianas flip-flops. It is Brazil and the simplest things just....... But who wants mail anyhow???

The only time my outbound mail is critical is when I vote and the consulate helps out getting my stamped envelope holding my ballot to the proper destination on time.

Inbound seems to defy most expectations.

11/04/23   I'm retired military and have been living in Cabo Frio for a month now. Has anybody found a way to receive mail from back in the states over here?        -@danielebrian0518

Hi Daniel.  Sorry that I missed this thread.  I'm supposed to be subscribed to all of them, but sometimes one drops through the cracks.

1 . Administration of Federal Benefits for US expats in Brazil is centralized as a virtual region for all Portuguese-speaking countries in the Federal Benefits Unit at the US Embassy in Lisbon, Portugal.  I've found the FBU to be very responsive, and they have special phone hours for Brazil residents.  DOD/DVA seem to have special provisions for you, but you might want to contact them to find out what they can do for you:

                fbu.lisbon@ssa.gov

https://pt.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-se … s-affairs/

Regular mail from the FBU seems to arrive very quickly.

2 . For mail that you absolutely, positively have to get, like credit card replacements and other time-sensitive or pilferable documents, I recommend a mail forwarding service.  I use US Global Mail.  They can scan mail and provide the PDF for download, and consolidate mail received and send it to you in trackable express shipments, which generally come directly to your home (for packages, see below.)  I use my US Global Mail address as my mailing address on my US income tax returns, to ensure that no IRS mail goes astray.  Their location is in Texas, which does not have a state income tax, if that's important to you.  You can check them out here:  https://www.usglobalmail.com/

3 . For packages, you should set up a free "Minhas Importações" account on the Correios website, the Brazilian Post Office.  Any package shipped to you should have your CPF number on the shipping label, but if you have a tracking number, you can add your CPF in Minhas Importações.  Anything held in Customs should show up there under its tracking number.  Amazon US will ordinarily pay the full freight and estimated import taxes at purchase, so their packages usually come directly to your home.  Any package that you have sent to you by a mail forwarder, or any package sent to you by an individual, may hang up in Customs.  Even if there's no duty payable, there may be a forwarding charge that has to be paid before the shipment is released.  You can pay any charges and continue the package on its way right on the site. 

4 . For mail I don't care about, like the AARP magazine, I give them my Brazilian mailing address and let it come regular post.  Things seem to arrive in a month or two.