October 2020 Saint-Barthélemy — International mail and shipping can often be a challenge and sending a letter or package to St Barts has plenty of its own peculiarities and potential pitfalls. The first thing to know is what address are you sending to? For example’s sake, let’s use our own address for Bureau Xavier David. Like most businesses, this information is available on our Contact page.
Postal Mail (USPS, La Poste, etc.)
We utilize a Postal Box (Boite Postal or BP) at the local La Poste in Gustavia. Thus, for example, should you want to mail a letter to someone at our office, perhaps Xavier himself, then you would address it like this:
Xavier David
Saint Jean BP 171
Saint Barthelemy 97095 CEDEX
Please note that the zip code of 97095 CEDEX refers to a French postal system where the zip code is different than the zip code of our actual physical building. This is only to be used in conjunction with our Postal Box 171. Do not use it with other delivery services (Fedex, DHL, UPS, etc.)
Other delivery services (Fedex, DHL, UPS, etc.)
As you might know, private delivery services are unable to deliver to postal boxes located in post offices. In this case, address the package directly to our office. For example:
Xavier David
Bureau Xavier David
Saint Jean
Saint Barthelemy 97133
Additional tips:
1- Do not forget to use the full name of the island: Saint Barthelemy. Shortened versions such as St Barts or St Barth may not work. Postal employees are not always knowledgeable enough to know that when you say St Barts that you really mean that they should be typing Saint Barthelemy into their computer system. Having said that, probably best to avoid the French spelling accents. Officially in French the correct spelling is Saint-Barthélemy but in practice Saint Barthelemy often works best if you are outside of France.
2- As St Barts is a small island (3 kilometer wide by 6 kilometer long) with a small population (less than 10,000 residents), there are typically no street numbers or street names. Instead, simply use Bureau Xavier David or Office Xavier David as the street address. We receive shipments from these delivery services almost daily and the local delivery drivers know exactly where to find us.
3- Most modern computer systems now include Saint Barthelemy as an option within the Country category. However, as recently as 2007, St Barts was still considered part of Guadeloupe (a larger French island to the south). If Saint Barthelemy is not an option in the Country category then look for Guadeloupe instead and use Saint Barthelemy in the State category with Saint Jean as the City.
4- Lastly, don’t forget to include customs forms if necessary for payment of import duties.
If you need additional help sending a letter or package to us, feel free to ask via email: info@xavierdavid.fr
Note: Information is accurate as of date of publication and will be updated as necessary.
