Dubai Main Post Office

When I first arrived in the UAE, I was told to have all mail sent to my employer. Like most Westerners, I had been accustomed to having mail delivered to my home, but it was convenient (if somewhat lacking in privacy) to have all mail delivered to my place of work. I was fortunate to have a job where I was only expected to work five days a week, and for those five days, I would find my mail as I passed the mailroom on my way to my desk.

That job lasted a year; then I came to Dubai. I asked a friend from my former employer to pick up my mail and hold it until I could come by and pick it up, so my mail continued to go to my former employer, and I tried to visit my friend every weekend or two.

Shortly after I arrived in Dubai, I was talking to my new supervisor, and he told me he had to go to Sharjah to pick up his mail. I asked him, ‘Why do you get your mail in Sharjah?’

He answered, ‘When I first came to the UAE, I stayed with friends in Sharjah and got my P.O. Box there, and I never bothered to change it.’

‘You drive to Sharjah every day?’

‘No. Here you only need to check your mail once a month or so.’

So I got my own P.O. Box at the main post office in Karama, sent a change of address to all the people I wanted to hear from, and now I go by once a month or so to check my mail.

Today, I went by. Construction is everywhere. What used to be the main entrance is now blocked, so I had to go to the new front, which used to be the back.

P.O. boxes must be renewed before 31 Jan, and I renewed mine on 30 Jan. Today, I found in my box the notice that they had received my renewal, in case I was worried. Since they hadn’t changed the lock, and have continued to deliver my mail, I thought they didn’t bother to inform the owner that his renewal had been accepted, but, in fact, they do inform him. In July. For a January renewal.

Still, I can go pick up my mail.