The United States Postal Service (USPS) ships everywhere in the world. Using it, you can be assured that your package will reach its destination. Puerto Rico is a US territory in the Caribbean. Does USPS Ship To Puerto Rico?
Even though it is small and might seem insignificant, USPS does ship there and it falls under domestic shipping. On the other hand, some private companies like FedEx and UPS consider shipping to Puerto Rico under international shipping and charge higher. To send something, those in other states just need to pay to ship to Puerto Rico like they would when shipping to any other state within the US.
Is USPS The Most Efficient Service?
When shipping to anywhere in the US, USPS is the most efficient service that will also provide you with the most affordable prices. Additionally, it allows shipping packages weighing up to 70 pounds.
How To Ship To Puerto Rico?
Even though it is a domestic form of shipping and costs the same, there are certain things to be mindful of while sending something to Puerto Rico using USPS.
The majority of Puerto Rico residents speak Spanish as their first language. English is not their mother tongue. Even so, when shipping to Puerto Rico, use English as the default language. This doesn’t mean you need to translate the addresses, street names, and more to English but you will need to use English letters to abbreviate directions. For instance, use ‘W’ for the direction West rather than ‘O’ (West in Spanish is Opeste). Use ‘PO Box’ rather than the Spanish equivalent.
Additionally, the address format is slightly different. Do remember, when shipping something to Puerto Rico, the address label needs to mention something referred to as “urbanization”. “Urbanization” refers to a certain area in a city which is similar to how people in Manhattan say which neighborhood they are from, like the Upper West Side.
The address format will now look like this:
Name of Recipient
Urbanization Name
Address (House Number, Street Name, and Apartment Number in one line and City, State, ZIP in the next line)
In case a street name is not a part of the address then the format would look like this:
Name of Recipient
Address ( House Number and Urbanization Name in one line and City, State, and ZIP in the next line)
Do You Need Customs Forms?
Shipping to Puerto Rico falls under domestic shipping, hence you do not need custom forms to send anything to Puerto Rico.
What Is The Shipping Cost?
As mentioned earlier, shipping to Puerto Rico via USPS is considered domestic shipping. This means the amount you will be charged while shipping something to one of the states from the US is the same amount that will be charged when shipping to Puerto Rico. Do remember, private shipping services will charge higher when shipping to US territories like Puerto Rico and Hawaii since the territories are not connected like the other 48 states.
A letter will be sent at the regular postage rate. On the other hand, if you want to send a big package, the price will be higher than that of a normal letter. Taking advantage of USPS’s flat rate envelopes and boxes, this will fall under Priority Mail Service. If you are not familiar with this, under Priority Mail Service the packages are shipped for the same price despite their size and weight. It is delivered somewhere between 2 to 3 days.
If you want the delivery to be even faster than Priority Mail Service then you can choose to ship your package to Puerto Rico Priority Mail Express Flat Rate. It is similar to Priority Mail Service but way faster. The price starts at $26.50 depending on where you live and at the moment only ships Legal Envelopes, Envelopes, and Padded Envelopes. It guarantees single-day shipping. Additionally, this service to Puerto Rico is only available six days a week.
Cost Of Shipping Different Types Of Packages
The shipping prices can be even cheaper if you use shipping software to buy postage. Using shipping software will give you access to multiple USPS discounts that will save you a lot of money. Other shipping software can provide you access to a mail class called Priority Mail Cubic which you will not find at the post office. This will provide you with one of the cheapest ways to send packages up to 20 pounds and will take somewhere between 1 to 3 days and comes with 100% insurance.
Even though Puerto Rico is over 2000 miles away from mainland US, it is a relief that USPS delivers letters and packages to Puerto Rico for domestic prices rather than international even though it is a hefty delivery process. This makes it easy to ship and receive letters and packages to and from Puerto Rico.
