I recently realized that I did not write about mailing issues in Researching and Working on the Arabian Peninsula: Creating Effective Interactions [ https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-96-5326-3 ]. This topic came up because the book’s publisher asked me where I wanted my complimentary copies sent. I gave the PO Box of my former university in Oman so that a friend who still works there could give out the books to the Omani people who helped me do research. But the publisher does not ship books to PO Boxes and Oman does not deliver mail to street addresses, all mail goes to PO Boxes.

Welcome to the world of trying to get what you want where you want it!

For some people who move to the Arabian Peninsula, mail is never an issue. But if you will need to send/ receive papers or objects, it is worth thinking through what is the best way to manage that. Because, like everything else when you are in a new country, a simple act like mailing a letter can go sideways.

Three overarching issues:

1) Mail is not used for communication very often, to the point where some people do not have or need a mailing address.

2) The kind of mail delivery depends on the country. There is no home mail delivery in Oman; in Saudi Arabia there is home delivery; in the Emirates and Qatar, mail is delivered to a PO Box, usually at work, and you can pay for home delivery if you want to.

3) Some countries have post office clerks who do all tasks; you stand in line and whoever is there can help you. Arabian Peninsula post offices are set up with clerks who do specific functions, so you need to look/ ask to make sure you are in the right line; for example, there might be one counter for domestic stamps/ letters, one for domestic parcels, one for international parcels, one to pick up a parcel etc.

The first concern is when you are sending boxes to yourself so that they are there when you arrive. If you are moving for work, get specific instructions from someone on your team. It is probably better if you address the boxes to someone who is already working there, not to yourself. If you use your name, someone at the post office or your company might not recognize it and return your box.

Also, talk to someone if you are sending something that is not standard household goods. This is the sort of detail that you will want to check and double-check as you do not want your boxes to sit in limbo at customs or in the depths of the package room at the main post office.

If you are going for research, you might be able to send a box to your hotel (but check with them first) and/ or the archive you will be using.

Once you are in-country, you have a couple of choices:

1) use your work address to receive mail, which is what most people do – the drawback is you are dependent on someone else (the people who go to post office, sort the mail and deliver to your office) but most companies have employees who pick up the post every day or every-other day and get your letters to your desk within a few hours

2) get a PO Box for yourself, which means greater control of when you get your mail but also that you have to drive to pick it up

3) use a transshipping company, which means everyone you know/ every store you buy from sends letters and goods to a street address in your home country, then the transshipping company opens the boxes, combines all your mail into one box which is sent with FedEx/ DHL/ Aramex etc. I used Stackry and never had a problem but there are many companies to choose from – this is most expensive but also fastest, most reliable and your boxes are delivered where you want, either home or office.

Remember that moving items within the country or within the Arabian Peninsula can sometimes be done more easily by bus. There are a lot of bus companies which will take even the most haphazardly wrapped items as cargo. I used to buy rugs, pillows, tablecloths, etc. in Muscat and put them on the bus to Salalah; they arrived overnight and it cost a few dollars. A friend once sent me a paper shopping bag, stapled shut, full of lotion and perfume in glass bottles and everything arrived in good shape. This also works between countries!

Also remember to ask people who are in-country what the delivery times are. Shipping companies and national postal organizations can chirp about “3-day delivery” but the people on the receiving end will know the actual transit time.  

As with many other errands, you can decide if you want to pay for help. In the States, I would never think of paying someone to mail my letters. In Oman, I would sometimes drive across town only to find that they were out of stamps or the stamp-clerk was on break, so it was worth it to me to out-source some post office visits.* There are often people at work who can help you pick up and/ or drop off packages (sometimes called “runners”) but it is only fair to use them if you pay them well. Ask the going rate, then add a generous tip.

Lastly, the chances are good that you will end up with a horror story about shipping. When the mail goes wrong, it goes terribly wrong. There is no perfect company and no way to know when it will fall apart. One package from DHL took 21 days to arrive and I got into an epic 3 week fight with FedEx to get a box out of customs purgatory. There is so much written about “global village” and “instant access” that it can come as a surprise when you can’t get some little thingie from here to there: it’s a postal strike or a federal holiday or bad weather or the mailing label got torn.

If it is something important/ irreplaceable – carry it with you or pay extra for special services.

* Unless you have hired a butler, it is in no one’s job description to run your personal errands. I don’t think there is anything wrong in hiring people to make your life easier if you treat them with respect and give them honest wages. It is unconscionable to be rude or underpay.

Researching and Working on the Arabian Peninsula: Creating Effective Interactions

Reflections on Ethnographic Research: Deciding to Hire Expat Workers (part 1 of 4)

How NOT to Describe People Who Are Foreign to You: Exoticizing Omanis

Leaving Oman: Grief, Grandeur, Museums and Bringley’s ‘All the Beauty in The World’