Another update: I had to send an important document to my family in Italy. I wanted to play it safe and used DHL. Their rate to Italy is 75 USD, which translates to about 7200 ARS at today's exchange rate (93 official) and back translated to 50 USD at the blue rate (today: 148).
EMS would have cost the same as with my previous shipping, which is 1/3rd of what I paid today. A sore, but these docs are irreplaceable to me. Expected delivery: May 7 or 8. I'll grab a chair.
Today I mailed a letter to the UK using EMS service by Correo Argentino for 2,760 ARS (about 15 GBP). Supposedly, 5-7 days to deliver that in Lynton, UK. So far, it's been 3 hours and it doesn't even show up in the system. I will be saying a little prayer tonight.
Mailed from Buenos Aires on April 21, 2021 and received in Lynton, UK on April 29, 2021. Expected delivery was 5-7 days, and in fact it took 6 working days.
The tracking is still quite detailed. It even shows an image of the recipient's signature on delivery.
The original tracking code was EE........AR and it was reclassified with a EH.....GB code. Still, the tracking worked all the way with the original tracking code.
I regularly mail documents to the US using DHL. Depending on the US location, it may take 1 day longer. They estimate a week to deliver the package to take into account custom delays but they are always quicker.
I mailed on Wed to FL and NY - the client in FL received the package on Sunday (yes, in the US couriers deliver on Sunday! It happened before!), the client in NY received it on Monday.
On Thu, I mailed to CA and NJ. Estimated delivery was by Fri 23, however they both got it on Tue 20.
About 50% of the time, the envelope I drop at DHL before their afternoon pickup time (around 4 PM) has cleared customs in Miami bu the next morning. Then it spends one day sitting at the DHL facility in Miami before being dispatched. If the delivery address is in Florida, it is out for delivery on the next day. If it is going farther, it gets mailed to the Cincinnati Hub and from there to CA/NY/TN etc.
DHL has been slightly faster than previously, however they also increased the price from 40-42 USD to 47 USD, which is fine by me.
Their rate to the UK is not very competitive, though. Even at the blue rate, it was 36 GBP with a 5 day delivery. Which is approx the same turnaround time (5-7) given by EMS via Correo Argentino for 15 GBP. To my surprise, later last night my EMS mailing was showing up in the tracking system and today is labeled as having already been despatched to the UK.
Andreani and FedEx were prohibitively expensive. FedEx quoted me 23,000 ARS, while Andreani was around 16,000 ARS using a simulation tool, and 11,000 ARS using their fare tables.
One thing caught my attention: since my client is based in the UK and doesn't speak Spanish, I wanted to give him an English website to track his shipping. Royal Mail recognized the tracking code as an EMS parcel, and redirected me to this website: https://www.parcelforce.com/track-trace
Apparently, EMS is a beast of its own.
This is the first time I am using EMS and if it really works this good, I may use it more often, as their rate is very competitive. I just have to stand in line at the Correo Office and fill in 3 pieces of sheet by hand, but other than that, it's half the price.
GlasgowJohn , do you have a business account with DHL and get better rates?
Express mail is an expedited mail delivery service for which the customer pays a premium for faster delivery. Express mail is a service for domestic and international mail, and is in most nations governed by the country's own postal administration. Since 1999, the international express delivery services are governed by the EMS Cooperative.
A few updates.
On Nov 2019, a client sent me a letter by priority mail (the cheapest shipping method in the US) and it never arrived. For 2.50 USD, it was to be expected.
On March 18 2021, a client me a USPS international mail (about $38). At USPS, the printed label didn't read ARGENTINA and the tracking said the envelope is now in Lithuania. The handwritten label reads Argentina. However, who reads labels anymore? They are just scanned...
Today I mailed a letter to the UK using EMS service by Correo Argentino for 2,760 ARS (about 15 GBP). Supposedly, 5-7 days to deliver that in Lynton, UK. So far, it's been 3 hours and it doesn't even show up in the system. I will be saying a little prayer tonight.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Lynton,+Regno+Unito/@51.2265424,-3.8424099,16.01z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x486c2b33077614bb:0x2fbe6ff937fe3ac1!8m2!3d51.2296539!4d-3.840102
Aye...and a dead pigeon at that.
Maybe if they let it hang in a ruddy storage facility long enough, it’ll get stamped by a pigeon! 🤣
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I'd like to log in my latest mailing experience from the US to Argentina. This time, with USPS First-Class Mail International®, a simple untracked letter, with no guaranteed delivery times but an estimate of 17-20 days to 190 countries.
My letter was mailed from Los Angeles on November 6 and has not yet arrived. Luckily, it was just 1 or 2 USD and of no value.
I guess it will come sometimes in 2020, when I'll have forgotten completely about it. 
Good luck serafina...at least it's documents and not two packets of loose tea.
It still hurts, doesn’t it? 😶
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Another International economy shipping experience from the US.
The item departed from California on Nov 21st.
It has arrived in Ezeiza this morning according to USPS tracking, whereas Correo Argentino denies it has ever arrived, and cut off the tracking at the last US location.
It means it is currently in the black hole of Argentina's customs. They are just documents, so it should be smooth sailing.
But I don't want to speak too soon....
It is our lucky day, UK Man! We should celebrate with a banana dance smiley! 
I once shipped a tracked mail (Carta plus) to Patagonia. The delivery time should have been from 3 to 5 working days and it took ten days, between a paro, a puente and excluding the day it was shipped. In the end, it really took 5 working days, the issue was that there were so few working days in Argentina...
And the tracking was only at the starting point and at the arrival point, with no updates in the middle. I called customer service and they explained me that the cheapest tracking works like that. 
I just received my mail from the US!
Yesterday there was no movement on Correo's website, but this morning it resurfaced in the system and there was a line saying it was in the hand of the postman.
I was subscribed to USPS tracking, but it was late to update compared to Correo Argentino website. I was (compulsively) checking Correo's website, the news on my parcel was posted at 9 AM and the postman rang my bell al 10:30.
Correo doesn't offer an alert system for shippings, you have to manually enter the tracking code each time.
According to this post explaining the various possible status for a parcel entering Argentina, my packet indeed cleared customs and it is waiting to be given to the postman for delivery.
Still a farce then.
Yes. The interesting thing is that the 12:39 tracking says it has cleared customs on both Correo Argentino website and USPS website, but it says it is in process of being classified in customs on the Correo Argentino app.
Digging a little further: on the Correo Argentino website appeared a second part of the tracking history under a local tracking code.
The same 12:39 tracking is about my item being classified (like it reads on the app).
So, USPS sees it as 'it has cleared customs' when, in facts, it is about to start its custom process.
Talking about double face!
After the long weekend, also Correo Argentino finally admitted that my shipping has arrived. It has cleared custom, and it's being sent to its destination (...) which I don't know if it means that there will be nothing to pay (like last time) or else.
The app gives slightly different results: it says it needs to be categorized (!) so the hardest part has yet to come.
And the app also says that there might be something to pay
I ordered a payoneer debit card last month, arrived without any delay directly to my house! Some time ago I had important papers regarding a house sale mailed via UPS, also arrived without slightest problem or delay.
Would I order a package????? Naaaaaa, no way!!!
I am waiting for my Transferwise debit card. It is in the parcel I am writing about. 
I agree that I wouldn't play my luck with a package.
In 2014 I had my mail shipped from the US. However, part of the shipping contained a cardboard with new checks from my bank. Boy! That thick cardboard box ticked the AFIP radar. My parcel was held in custom and I had to go to Retiro's aduana to collect it.
I didn't have a DNI back then, but everything went smoothly. I paid a fee, waited some three hours, a scientist in a white scrub scrutinised the content of my parcel carefully. He first asked me if I knew what the content was and I replied "my mail, documents!" and he looked at me like I was a narco. Once he was done mingling with my stuff he told me I could go. 
Another time I had documents sent from Italy by courier. I asked my mom to put a rubber kitchen accessory in it (a silicon tie, like a cord) and it was held un custom and I was told I needed to hire an importer or obtain an import authorization for 'Other' kind of forbidden good. Vaffanculo! 
I have another document shipping coming in from the US. The shipping method was USPS International Economy (the cheapest available, about 32 USD) and my parcel departed this Monday from Florida. I just received an update from USPS stating it has arrived in Ezeiza!
Now I have inputed the tracking code on the Correo System (https://www.correoargentino.com.ar/formularios/oidn) but the arrival in Argentina is not yet recorded there. Finger crossed - now is the hardest part!
In March, it took 4 days from Ezeiza to my door.
Who is Toto?
My other shipping. The one from the US with USPS. Just documents.
Toto has arrived to my door and there was nothing to pay.
I feel on a lucky strike I might as well play quiniela.
Toto was a flat rate envelope by USPS sent on March 15, 2019 for around $35 and received on March 25. I think this is the cheapest option available.
Origin: near Jacksonville
Route: Jacksonville-Atlanta-Buenos Aires
Toto has arrived to Argentina this morning. He went through Atlanta from Miami!
I have USPS tracking text alerts and with the same shipping code by USPS, I can follow Toto on Correo Argentino’s website.
Let’s see if the magic will work again.
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(Quote from serafina)
Yes indeed. Which is why I wonder if the damage to the corners of the package were there by accident or caused by custom inspectors to make sure it was books?
On another forum a fellow pipe smoking member who lives in Australia tried to 'beat' the system by ordering tobacco from the US where tobacco is very cheap. His US$60 worth of tobacco was intercepted by Australian customs and he had to pay a US$190 tax to have it released so it's not only here it happens.
It makes sense that some items are regulated, such as tobacco or drugs.
I wondered the same on the torn corners. I guess that if inspected there should have been a label saying so, or maybe they don’t have time or don’t care. Anyway it was not document but books, but it passed anyway.
I am still in an awe over this delivery.
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