Tag Archives: Dominican Mail

The Dominican Postal Institute (INPOSDOM)

Status

The logo of INPOSDOM has the tricolors of the Dominican flag with a bird carrying a letter with its beak in the center and the acronym “INPOSDOM,” the first five letters in red and the last three in blue. This logo is present at the INPOSDOM Palace in Santo Domingo, the various post offices and on it the uniforms worn by the letter carriers.

The Dominican Republic has the Instituto Postal Dominicano (INPOSDOM) which is the official mailing system. It’s based at the Palacio del Instituto Postal Dominicano (INPOSDOM Palace) in Santo Domingo. Its network of post offices covers the entire country. It offers more than just mailing documents, but also several services regarding mailing packages, electronic money transfers, speed up mailing and more. In addition, it’s the cheapest courier in the country. In this article we will present a good initial understanding of all aspects of INPOSDOM.

History

A young employee handling a letter from a Dominican customer at a INPOSDOM post office in Santiago de los Caballeros.

Mailing in the Dominican Republic goes as far back as the time it was a territory of the Spanish Empire. The modern mailing system dates from the times of the Trujillo dictatorship 1930 – 1961. During that time the Palacio de Correo was built in the 1950’s, until then the most modern building of the Dominican postal system. In November 16, 1963 via the 40 law the Dirección de Correos was crested. In November 15, 1985 the Dirección de Correos ceased to exist and was replaced by the Instituto Postal Dominicano (INPOSDOM). Despite the change, the INPOSDOM continue to operate from the Palacio de Correo. In 1993 was inaugurated the current Palacio del Instituto Postal Dominicano in the Centros de los Héroes section of Santo Domingo, having replaced the Palacio de Correo which was demolished.

The Dominican Postal Institute Palace

The Dominican government, on the orders of the President Dr Joaquín Balaguer, built the current Palacio del Instituto Postal Dominicano or the Dominican Postal Institute Palace (INPOSDOM) which substited the demolished Palacio del Correo. It was inaugurated in 1993. This is the headquarters if the institution and the center of the Dominican mailing system. All documents and packages sent from abroad via a public mail system arrives here prior to being sent to the corresponding post office. All documents and packages mailed in the Dominican Republic via one of INPOSDOM post offices, regardless if they are travelling within the country or going to abroad, arrives here before it leaves the country.

View of the main entrance of the Instituto Postal Dominicano (INPOSDOM) Palace in Santo Domingo.
Another view of a corner of the INPOSDOM Palace.
A view of a corner of the INPOSDOM Palace. A podium and two flags: one of the Dominican Republic and the other of INPOSDOM, suggest a press conference or event involving the Director of INPOSDOM was going to takw place.
A Dominican volunteer moving a package in the INPOSDOM Palace in Santo Domingo. Notice the metal seats and the large monitors in the background, all added in the recent remodelling of the inside of the palace.
Behind the remodeled desk area with employees of INPOSDOM in red shirts.

INPOSDOM Post Offices

INPOSDOM has several post offices in Greater Santo Domingo and one post office in each provincial capital and other important cities and towns in the interior. Despite when the INPOSDOM Palace was inaugurated there were a few post offices built in a similar architecture (all identical), most INPOSDOM post offices are not defined by a particular architectural style. Many INPOSDOM post offices are inside department stores and other businesses. Many of the post offices are in need of a much needed maintenance, but this could be changing soon as it appears the institution is getting an upkeep.

In the Santo Domingo Metropolitan Area several INPOSDOM post offices are identical and resemble a miniature version of the INPOSDOM Palace.
The INPOSDOM post office on Calle del Sol and Calle San Luis in Santiago gets a mention for being perhaps in the most lavish building of all Dominican post offices. It was built in the eqrly decades of the XX century in the Neoclassical style with four Iconic columns on the sides facing each street.
Most INPOSDOM post offices are not defined by an architectural style. Instead they are in independenct buildings with not much architectural details, in simple store fronts, in historic buildings, etc. While there is no news regarding any changes to the logo of the institution, it’s noticeable the different logo on the left side of the facade.

Dominican Letter Carriers

A couple of Dominican letter carriers with the characteristic blue shirt with the INPOSDOM logo and on the right a dark blue hat with the INPOSDOM logo too. Underneath the logo says “Cartero” which means Letter Carrier.

Unlike in countries such as the United States or Canada, the sight of letter carriers in the Dominican Republic is not a defining aspect of the scenery, particularly urban ones. Despite appearances, the Dominican Republic do have letter carriers. Unlike in other countries, Dominican letter carriers don’t have a fleet of INPOSDOM vehicles, but rather travel to their place of delivery on their own vehiles, particularly in motorcycles. This perhaps makes letter carriers in Dominican streets to be less obvious.

Dominican letter carriers sorting the mail to be delivered at the INPOSDOM Palace in Santo Domingo.

The uniforms of Dominican letter carriers is a blue shirt and usually paired with a navy blue cap. On the shirt and on the cap is the logo of INPOSDOM.

Approximately 11 Dominican letter carriers were recognized for their service at INPOSDOM on October 2, the World Letter Carrier Day. This event took place at the INPOSDOM Palace in Santo Domingo.

As elsewhere, Dominican letter carriers have been impacted by the rise of technology and of consumption. In the 1990’s it was still the case that Dominican letter carriers would carry around 90% of all the correspondence in the Dominican Republic and of those 70% was documents and 30% packages. Today this has been reduced to 40% overall or upwards of 4 million doduments and packages, of those 70% are packages and 30% documents, the inverse of how it was in the 1990’s. In part this is due to increasing competition from private courier companies, but mostly to the increase of technology which has reduced the volumes of letters. INPOSDOM has added delivering packages in order to increase the demand of letter carriers. Costs of using INPOSDOM instead of private companies courier are the cheapest in the Domimican market, around 40% less. By all accounts, it seems this service is going to disappear as people use technology for communicating and even companies are preferring sending their bills online than physically.

Several Dominican letter carriers at the INPOSDOM Palace in Santo Domingo.

INPOSDOM Activities

Institutions such as INPOSDOM takes part in several activities throughout the year. From patriotic manifestations to employee capacitations and expanding the knowledge of the services it offers, the types of activities have a large range. The following are some of the activities to give an idea, but this isn’t an exhaustive list.

On the anniversary of the independence of the Dominican Republic representatives from INPOSDOM attend a procession to the Altar de la Patria in Independence Park and give honor to the three founders of the country.
INPOSDOM offers free information of its services throughout the Dominican Republic. Here are a few INPOSDOM representatives on Calle El,Conde in Santo Domingo.
Dominican school students are taken to the INPOSDOM Palace in Santo Domingo to learn about how the institution works.
The inauguration in earlier 2020,of the first INPOSDOM window in the United States, especifically in the Dominican Consulte of New York. All documents sent to or arrived from the Dominican Republic are handled by INPOSDOM. One more example of the Dominican Republic integrating as much as it can its diaspora.
Among the various services INPOSDOM offers to its employees are free lecture courses on ways to improve INPOSDOM and the services it offers to the public.
The yearly mass at the Oldest Cathedral of the New World in Santo Domingo for the Divine protection of INPOSDOM.

INPOSDOM Services

During the Covid pandemic packages no more than 20 pounds could be sent for free at INPOSDOM.
Dominican customers sending or picking up mail from the Express Mail Service (EMS) windows at the INPOSDOM Palace in Santo Domingo. The extra distance was due to the Covid pandemic restrictions.

INPOSDOM offers various services which are as follows.

  • Regular Mail
    • Send documents and/or small packages within the Dominican Republic and abroad.
  • Certified Mail
    • For documents and/or packages sent within the Dominican Republic or internationally which includes the assignment of a barcode or tracking number for your monitoring of the sent documents or packages.
  • Business Mail
    • Express courier service within the Dominican Republic. This is aimed to large generators of mail with a maximum weight of 500 grams per piece.
  • Post Office Box
    • Provides a postal address for private use on an annual lease basis for Dominican Republic and/or international documents and packages.
  • Express Mail Service (EMS)
    • Fast international delivery of documents and/or packages from any of INPOSDOM post offices in the Dominican Republic.
  • Cash Transfers
    • Electronic transfer of money in minutes. As of December 2021, only to or from Spain, Cuba, Uruguay, Ecuador and Chile.
  • Declared Value
    • Exclusive service to send cash quickly and safely throughout the country.
  • International Parcel Mail
    • Send parcels internationally.
  • InposPAK
    • Delivery of packages with goods purchased in websites.
  • Postal PAK
    • Available in all the Dominican Republic for sendings and/or receiving documents and/or packages with added security.
The traditional INPOSDOM mailbox found in many Dominican homes (though not all) and at the INPOSDOM Palace in Santo Domingo.

The following items are not deliverable by INPOSDOM.

  • Fire Arms and Rifles
  • Military Clothes and Accessories
  • Cash, Money Orders and Traveller’s Checks
  • Jewelry
  • Pornographic Material
  • Live Animals
  • Plants, Wood and Seeds
  • Drugs
  • Personal Documents (Cédula, Passport, Credit Cards, etc)
  • Perishable Foods
  • Hookas and Accessories
  • Paintball Guns
  • Chemicals, Flammables, Explosives and Corrosives
  • Air Bags for Vehicles
  • Sprays and Aerosols
  • Compressed Air Capsules
  • Magnets
  • Chemical Ice and Dry Ice
  • Radioactive Material
  • Paint
  • Invertor and/or Vehicle Batteries
  • Lithium Batteries
  • Knives, Razors, Daggers and Katanas
  • Pepper Gas, Mace and Gas
  • Lighters and Matches
  • Venom

Countries and Cities INPOSDOM Delivers

These are countries and cities around the world where INPOSDOM is able to send mail to, however not to most countries. These are the international places that Dominicans send (or receive) documents and/or packages the most frequently.

Proper Information on Envelopes and Packages

INPOSDOM is able to send envelopes and packages that follow a protocol regarding the sender (remitente) information and the destinary (destinario). Mail that doesn’t follow this protocol, can’t be guaranteed that INPOSDOM is able to send it. Those with an asterick are mandatory.

This is the other acceptable form on an envelope.

Commemorative Stamps

Several times a year INPOSDOM prints a limited number of commemorative stamps. These include an event with speeches, an audience that includes part of the media and a photos section. The commemorate stamps consist of Dominicans and international personalities that excelled in different professions and fields, alive and from the past. In addition, also included are historical sites and monuments in the Dominican Republic, religious art and/or artifacts and saints/virgins/passages from the Bible (mostly Catholic), specific buildings and places in the Dominican Republic, particular plants and flowers species, and the expression of values of the Dominican Republic.

Commemoration stamps are on sale at the Palacio del Instituto Postal Dominicano until the samples are fully sold. These can be purchased by anyone whether they live in the Dominican Republic or not and whether they are Dominicans or not. This is the only place where new commemorative stamps are sold.

The event of putting in circulation the commemarite stamps of Dr Angel Amado Pared Gómez by INPOSDOM,
Signatures of all the representatives as the commemorative stamp of Dr Angel Amado Pared Gómez was put in circulation by INPOSDOM,
The Grupo Puntacana commemoration stamp by INPOSDOM as one of the largest and most importat]nt business group in the tourism industry..
Considered the father of modern architecture in the Dominican Republic, Arch. Guillermo González.
Arch. José Antonio Caro Álvarez is remembered as being part of the first generation of Dominican architects.
One of the greatest peoponent of Art Déco in the Dominican Republic was Eng. Humberto Ruíz Castillo.
Marcial Pou Ricart and Leo Pou Ricart applied the rationalized concept in helping define modern Dominican architecture.
The Dominican Postal Institute (INPOSDOM) Palace in Santo Domingo.
The Duarte-Díez family. On the upper right is Juan Pablo, ine of the three fathers of the Dominican Republic. On the upper left and moving in a clockwise fashion: Juan José (father), Manuela (mother), Vicente (brother), Filomena (sister), Francisca (sister), Manuel (brother) and Rosa (sister).
In the top stamp a drawing of the interpretation of what the church where the first mass was celebrated in the Americas and in the bottom stamp the current The Americas Church, both in La Isabela near Puerto Plata.
Gregorio Urbano Gilbert Suero, a Dominicsn of partial Bahamian descent, is considered a national heroe for fighting in favor of a free Dominican Republic during the first American invasion 1916 – 1924.
The always beautiful Barahona native María Montez, the Dominican actress famous for being the first in movies filmned in technicolor.
Francisco del Rosario Sánchez, one of the founding fathers of the Dominican Republic.
Latin cross of the XVIII century used at the Oldest Cathedral of the Americas in Santo Domingo.
The internationally famous Dominican fashion designer Oscar de la Renta,
2013 stamp series by INPOSDOM against discrimination, a fundamental value of the Dominican Republic.
The first Dominican to fly his own invented airplane Zoilo García and a drawing of the airplane he used.
Four bridges of the Dominican Republic.
Commemorating Mr Manuel Corripio García, a Spaniard that migrated to the Dominican Republic in the 1910’s and became a successful businessman. On the left is the house where he founded the company Grupo Corripio in Santo Domingo.
Luis María Frómeta, nicknamed Billo, was one of the first Dominican orchestra directors.
Colonial monuments of Santo Domingo.
Commemorating the humanitarian acts of Emma Balaguer, sister of ex-President Joaquín Balaguer.
Commemorating the anniversary of the death of Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra.
María de las Nieves Sierra, alias Doña Chucha, was the founder of an orphanage for girls.