Shipping to Guatemala from Freehold, NJ

We ship FedEx, USPS and Meest. Each one handles Guatemala differently, and the one that makes sense depends on the weight, the size, what's inside and how quickly it needs to get there. That comparison happens at the counter with the package in front of us, which is more accurate than guessing online.

The phone number matters more for Guatemala than most places. USPS specifically asks for the addressee's phone number or email on shipments there, because a package that runs into a question is much more likely to be sent back to the United States without one.

You'll also need a description and a value for each item in the package, for the customs form. You fill the form out, so have those details ready before you come in. Bring your ID.

If it isn't packed yet, bring it unpacked. We'd rather see what's going in the box before it's taped shut.

Guatemala's prohibited list through USPS covers:

• Coins, banknotes, currency, checks payable to bearer and traveler's checks
• Gold, silver and platinum, worked or unworked
• Precious stones, jewels and other valuables
• Cremated remains
• Arms in general, apart from certain hunting arms, and military supplies
• Powder of any kind
• Gardenia plants and seeds
• Baby feeding bottles, including those with glass tubes
• Police whistles
• Telegraphic apparatus

On top of that, the rules that apply to every country we ship to: no aerosols, no perfume containing alcohol, no nail polish, no alcohol, no cigarettes, no matches, no dry ice.

Lithium batteries can only travel installed in the device they power, up to two batteries or four cells, each under 100 watt-hours. Anything pre-owned, damaged or defective with a lithium battery in it cannot go at all. That rules out sending an old phone or laptop.

Two on that list catch people out regularly: gardenia plants and seeds, and baby feeding bottles. Both are prohibited outright.

If you aren't sure whether something is allowed, bring it in before you pack it. That's a two-minute conversation at the counter and it saves the package coming back.

There isn't a single right answer. A small box of clothes and a heavy box of tools going to the same address can come out cheapest on different carriers, and each one has its own rules about what it will accept for Guatemala.

Bring the package in and we'll price it across all three. If a smaller box or a different service saves you money, we'll say so.

Carriers publish expected transit times, but customs clearance in Guatemala adds time that nobody can predict or control. A package can sit for days waiting on a question about what's inside.

We'll tell you what the carrier estimates and what we've seen, but no one can promise a package will arrive by a specific date. If something has to be there for an occasion, send it earlier than you think you need to.

Duties and taxes are set by Guatemala's customs authority based on what's in the package and what it's worth. We can't calculate it in advance and neither can the carrier.

Declare the value honestly on the customs form. Putting a low value to reduce duty is one of the most common reasons packages get held, and it creates a problem for the person collecting it rather than for you.

It's worth telling whoever is receiving it that there may be something to pay, so it isn't a surprise at the door.

Bring the item unpacked and we'll box it properly. International packages get handled more times than domestic ones, and a box that would survive a trip across New Jersey is not always the box that survives a trip to Guatemala.

If you've already got a box that's bigger than it needs to be, we can often cut it down to size. Box size affects what you pay, sometimes more than weight does. There's more on that in our guide to paying less to ship a package.

Each country has its own rules about what it will accept, so the details change, but the process at the counter doesn't. Bring it in and we'll work it out.

See our international shipping page for the other countries, or how to ship a package to Mexico if that's where it's going.