Dubai Forums Dubai Expat Forums Dubai Expat Help Forum

When I browse thru for information about Dubai, I come across lots of address with only PO Box number and no proper address [like number, street, suburb etc].

Is this how things done in Dubai? Just use PO Box? Will courier company ok with it, since they normally deliver to the addressee direct, not thru po box?

How one can find an office in dubai if what they have is only a PO Box number?

Bizzare

There is no door-to-door postal system here, it is all done by PO Box addresses. Courier companies will of course deliver straight to the office or home, you have to give them the specific address in that case.

As far as I am concerned there is not "real" post/mail in Dubai.

I get mail every couple of months. So much so that I have had my electricy/water/ shut-off for not paying the bill and just this Friday they shut off my cabl/phone/etc. for the same reason. The problem is that I can't pay a bill I don't recieve (never mind that in each istance I signed up for the automatic credit card payment - that's another story onto itself).

Tell me about it, I've had things take 4 weeks just inside the country to get to my 'work' PO Box, it's ridiculous.

I have found that it is much better to get your own PO Box instead of going through a Company box

yep its kinda irritating specially for the newbies.....the labels/signage outside an establishment wont give you a hint where you are, it is consists only of a name and the PO Box no.

zam wrote:yep its kinda irritating specially for the newbies.....the labels/signage outside an establishment wont give you a hint where you are, it is consists only of a name and the PO Box no.

Yeah Zam, you are correct, however it's just a question of getting used to it.

yep, company names are very irritating, they give you no idea what so ever as to the nature of the business

gulf enterprises ... the could sell chickens, cars, paper wieght, marine insurance ....

i saw a good article in the gulf news on friday about the names of "establishments"/ companies - had a good laugh...

onion, prehaps you'd like to do the honours and start a "hillarious company name" thread - although it should probably go to FC

i thought a fully functioning postal service is a mandatory item when one wants to establish a country? isn't this mandated by the UN or something

just couriered some docs last week thru fedex, with only establishment name, street name and po box. Lo and behold, those docs actually arrived at the promised time. Got to hand it to those fedex guys and gals.

Just curious though, what do you guys put into your business card when it comes to address? just the po box number?

JeepDude wrote:i thought a fully functioning postal service is a mandatory item when one wants to establish a country? isn't this mandated by the UN or something

Established in 1874, the Universal Postal Union (UPU) with its Headquarters in the Swiss capital Bern, is the second oldest international organisation after the International Telecommunications Union.

With 191 member countries, the UPU is the primary forum for cooperation between postal services and helps to ensure a truly universal network of up-to-date products and services. In this way, the organisation fulfils an advisory, mediating and liaison role, and renders technical assistance where needed. It sets the rules for international mail exchanges and makes recommendations to stimulate growth in mail volumes and to improve the quality of service for customers.

Concord wrote:As far as I am concerned there is not "real" post/mail in Dubai.

I get mail every couple of months. So much so that I have had my electricy/water/ shut-off for not paying the bill and just this Friday they shut off my cabl/phone/etc. for the same reason. The problem is that I can't pay a bill I don't recieve (never mind that in each istance I signed up for the automatic credit card payment - that's another story onto itself).

Concord, is the utility company really send the bill or can we do electronic bill payment thru atm or internet? what is the most optimal method of paying your bill over in dubai?

Jeepdude ,from Ian's definition of hijacking, your hijacking your own topic...hmmm but since you are the author of the post, does it give justice? LOL

As for your bill paying scheme Q, enroll all bills/payable to your bank account and have that online banking thing and maybe it would be easy as 1,2,3...

zam wrote:Jeepdude ,from Ian's definition of hijacking, your hijacking your own topic...hmmm but since you are the author of the post, does it give justice? LOL

As for your bill paying scheme Q, enroll all bills/payable to your bank account and have that online banking thing and maybe it would be easy as 1,2,3...

he..he..he..

zam, i would rather call it 'multi-threading' so zam, what do you put on your business card? just po box or complete address, or even a small map at the back of the card?

Hey concord, r u working for postal industry or something? how can you know about UPU?

you guys still use snail mail ? pm me i will introduce you to this cool thing called e-mail.

MaaaD, I am just trying to maintain backward compatibility

Hmmm, you could take a 1-page ad in the gulfnews and put your comment there, address it to all. That would be interesting

JeepDude, refuse to deal with anoyone who doesnt use email most bills today will be in your in box much faster than any snail mail.

Anyway, I find that Abu dhabi has the infrastructure to have a "real" mail system so i wonder if there is a plan sometime within the next 50 years to transition.

so i was right the infrastructre is there its just no one uses it. And now we have to:

http://www.gulfnews.com/nation/Society/10065091.html

Yep I have just heard the same!!!
How strange!!! We are moving out in 2 weeks and have been told to use the Company POBox number.

Is it easy to open a personal PO Box there?

not really strange many cities don't have street addresses simply because of the nature of the infrastucture.

in dubai as they are building so quickly they would have to have a whole department dedicated simply to making up street names. as it is there are street numbers, but as the city has developed more and more streets (and houses) have been squeezed inbetween existing ones, so that they no longer follow any logical sequence.

good expample of this was interchange 4 and interchange 5 on sheikh zayed road, in the last 24 months they have added 2 or 3 more interchanges between these - so they are now "numbered" out of sequence.

in anycase i'd hate to be a postman delivering mail on my little bicyle in 45+ degree summer heat

short awnser is yes - easy to get po box (if boxes are available), passport and visa copies needed - and of course a small fee