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Last activity 21 June 2022 by tcantey

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Sean Collins

I am moving to the Dominican Republic from Puerto Rico on July 5th. I receive all my medications and stoma supplies from the veterans hospital in San Juan, which are currently mailed to my PO Box here in Puerto Rico. I was wondering if anyone can tell me the best way to have packages and mail delivered to me in the Dominican Republic?

planner

Welcome to the forums.  Switch delivery to your po box in Miami connected to the mail forwarder here!  Your medical supplies will arrive here at a cost from Miami to here about US 5 a pound!

Where in DR will you live?  Open an account with a maiil forwarder close to you.  They give you the PO box in Miami.  Deliver meds etc to that location.

Conifer

Is your move temporary or permanent?  Are you changing or updating your residency to the DR?
Look into the VA requirements... you may no longer be eligible for benefits.

Sean Collins

I will live in Punta Cana. Thank you very much for the info!

Sean Collins

I am 100% DAV so per the VA my medical expenses are covered no matter where I live. I have to enroll in the Foreign Veterans Program, but I am still entitled to all my benefits even outside of the U.S. and its territories. My move will be permanent.

Sean Collins

I will travel to DR on a Retiree Visa and eventually establish residency in the DR.

DominicanadaMike

Hi Sean,

Welcome to the forum.  If you are going to be close to PC village, there is an EPS courier service there.  Great service for smaller parcels.  I have used them for several years.  Delivery is generally prompt and articles arrive in excellent condition.  There are other courier services available in the area as well.  This one has been the best for me.

Cheers,

Sean Collins

Thank you!

Richard Sanchez

Good afternoon Mr. Collins,
I am also a U.S. Veteran living in the Dominican Republic, and I receive my prescriptions to a mailbox here called MBE (Mailbox Etc) its free to join, just pay for the weight of the parcel. It'll only be a few dollars. I run the first U.S. veteran not for profit in DR. It is Alianza Dominicana Veteranos Norteamericanos (ADVETNOR). There is also a veteran medical clinic WELLVET in Santiago De Los Caballeros and another in the capitol Santo Domingo. Should you have any questions please feel free to call me at any of the following numbers: USA (845-418-4987) or DR (809-781-7867). Best wishes on your transition to the Dominican Republic.
PS: THE VETERAN MEDICAL CLINIC IS FREE if you are retired or service connected.

Richard Sanchez

PS: YOU WILL NOT LOSE ANY OF YOUR BENEFITS BY OBTAINING RESIDENCY IN DR. THERE ARE THOUSSANDS OF U.S. VETERANS RESIDING HERE, IVE BEEN IN DR 9 YEARS THIS MONTH.

Conifer

Sean Collins wrote:

I am 100% DAV so per the VA my medical expenses are covered no matter where I live. I have to enroll in the Foreign Veterans Program, but I am still entitled to all my benefits even outside of the U.S. and its territories. My move will be permanent.


Happy to have motivated this research!  Hope you have a bit more peace of mind.

BM Cargo is another courier option.  Very easy.

bmcargo.com

vicml1

Great information Richard.  I am also a US Veteran and Retired (TRICARE).  We purchased an apartment in Punta Cana (Being built now).  I’ll send you a private message regarding a question I have on benefits.  Thank You!

Sean Collins

I greatly appreciate all the information you provided.

Thank you!

Sean

RutledgeParker

That is good information to know. Thank you for sharing! I am also 100% service connected and was wondering about VA healthcare and receiving my meds in the Dominican Republic. I will be relocating to the DR in January of 2022. Do I need to wait until I officially get there to get enrolled at the VA there or can I get a jump on it before I depart Colorado? I am house hunting in the Puerto Plata, Sosua and Cabarete areas.

planner

So a search honey as there are threads about VA services here.

Meds can be shipped via a mail forwarder.  Once you know where you will settle then find a good mail forwarder that is convenient for you! There are many to choose from.

RutledgeParker

Thank you!

Riva31

DominicanadaMike wrote:

Hi Sean,

Welcome to the forum.  If you are going to be close to PC village, there is an EPS courier service there.  Great service for smaller parcels.  I have used them for several years.  Delivery is generally prompt and articles arrive in excellent condition.  There are other courier services available in the area as well.  This one has been the best for me.

Cheers,


I would recomend EPS too.  Price per pound is more expensive than others but you will get a good and fast service.  After the package arrive to Miami office will be landing in Santo Domingo in 2 bussines days and next day ready to pick up.  Thats the average time for my packages using EPS.

RutledgeParker

Thank you!

Darkremy

Hello, I need some input regarding CPS mail services.  I was wondering if anyone had problems receiving mail. I had mail sent to the address given by CPS in Coral Gables, Florida. It has been approx two weeks and there is no indication of I receiving any mail on the website. There is always the possibility I'm doing it incorrectly. I was just curious to know if anyone had similar problems

ddmcghee

@Darkremy - they should have given you two addresses, one for packages and one for correspondence. I had someone mail an envelope of paperwork to the package address and I never received it. I've not tried the correspondence address again. We switched to Mail Boxes, Etc. for most of our packages and I've used their correspondence address for a number of items, including a couple of credit cards. I've had no problem getting those items.

As far as packages go, we've not had a single package lost in the 19 months we've been here - and we've ordered a lot to both CPS and MBE. We did have one package that got delayed because the sender truncated our CPS account number and it took a while to figure out who it belonged to - because it couldn't be as simple as looking up our name, right?  ;)

planner

I also switched to Mailbox etc and have great service.

I have used a number of these services and for me it has always come down to the service at the office I was using!   I have had great service at  CPS and horrible service at CPS.   Same with BM Cargo when I moved to a new location. 

I have used Mailbox Etc now for 3 years and the service is exceptional.

Darkremy

Hell ddmcghee, I will try using Mailbox Ect for receiving mail. I used my P.O. box address with CPS. After more than 6 weeks my mail has not been received nor returned to sender. Although they gave me a P.O. Box and physical address, CPS claims they have no record of my membership. CPS is a 100% fail for me.

Thanks for the response and info.

ddmcghee

There are also services that give you a "PO Box" and then scan whatever is received. You can then have them shred or forward the documents once you see the content. I'll see if I can find the name that I've seen mentioned.

We have switched as much as possible to e-billing, e-statements, e-notifications, etc. We use my parents' address in Florida as our mailing and permanent US address. They do like the service above, but for free! Replacement credit cards are the only things we've had them physically send to us. And when they do that, it's the MBE correspondence address.

Profe Agayu

@Sean Collins Welcome Sean! I use the BMCargo service for forwarding mail and I also maintain a PO Box in Puerto Rico since I go back frequently. It would be to your advantage to have medications shipped to your BMCargo box in Miami which would ship to your local office in Punta Cana. In addition, there are various US veteran (third-party) medical clinics in the country that can take of your retired military and/or service-connected needs with medications for free. First, you will need to enroll in the VA Foreign Medical Program (FMP). Best of luck! The community is here if you have any questions.

tcantey

@Profe Agayu dead on Sir exactly there is also EPS for mail forwarding I have accounts with both one is better than the other just whichever is most convenient

planner
I have said this before and needs repeating. MOST of these are franchise offices. They are only as good as the local management.    IF you find a great  office and service, do not assume they are all the same. They are not.

Find the one that is convenient, good price and good service!   I literally will drive  1 hour to the office I use, she  gives me such phenomenal service.  (Actually now they deliver to me - at no cost)  That is not the case at all offices. I have used BM Cargo, CPS and Mailbox etc.  In every case there were good offices and not good offices!  I changed because of that and only that.
Michael Shirley

@Profe Agayu thank you for that information. Please keep me in mind if there are more resources available for disabled veterans. I

tcantey

@Michael Shirley yes there are third part clinic with English speaking folks if need that are very familiar with veterans 4 offices in the DR puertaplata Sosua Santiago building one i Bavaria one in Santo Domingo the are not affiliated with each other but offer th same services will definitely save you time and all vets rave about their services do a google search for vets in your vicinity and  you should get a hit hint they all use WhatsApp

planner
There are threads about veterans services here!

This thread. Is about mail services!
tcantey
Sorry to get off subject

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