How Mail and Parcels Work in Jerusalem: Israel Post, Lockers and Customs

The single most useful thing to know: in Israel a parcel is usually something you go and collect, not something that arrives at the door. Israel Post delivers letters to your building's mailbox, but most packages go to a branch, a parcel locker or a shop that acts as a pickup point, and you get an SMS telling you where. Once you expect that, the system is quick and cheap. If you wait at home for the doorbell, you will miss the pickup window.

Letters and the building mailbox

Every apartment building has a bank of mailboxes at the entrance. Yours needs your name on it, in Hebrew if possible, or the postman will not know where to put things; the vocabulary guide has the spelling. Official mail from Bituach Leumi, the health fund, the bank and the municipality still arrives on paper, so check the box. Registered mail (doar rashum) leaves a slip when you are out; you collect it at the branch with your ID.

Parcels: branch, locker or pickup point

Israel Post and the private couriers deliver parcels to one of three places, and the SMS tells you which. A branch (snif) is a post office with counter service and, usually, a queue you can book through the MyVisit app. A locker is a wall of numbered boxes in a supermarket entrance or mall, opened with the code in your message, at any hour. A pickup point (nekudat isuf) is a shop that hands over parcels over the counter. Home delivery exists, especially for large items and for courier-shipped orders from Israeli sites, but assume collection unless you were told otherwise.

• Bring your ID card (or passport) to a branch or pickup point; they will not release a parcel without it.
• Collect within the window. The message gives a limited number of days, typically about a week, after which the parcel is returned to the sender.
• Change the destination in the Israel Post app if the chosen branch is inconvenient; you can often redirect to a locker nearer home.
• Someone else can collect with a copy of your ID and a signed authorisation; the app can generate one.

Addressing mail correctly

An Israeli address is street, house number, apartment number, city and the seven-digit postcode (mikud). The entrance letter or number matters in big buildings. Write it in Hebrew when you can, and always include the postcode and a mobile number on the parcel; the number is how the courier reaches you. Find your postcode on the Israel Post site.

Couriers

Orders from Israeli websites usually travel with a private courier rather than the post. The pattern is the same: an SMS with a tracking link, a delivery window or a pickup point, and a driver who phones from the street. Answer unknown Israeli numbers on delivery day. If you miss the driver, the parcel goes to the courier's own pickup point, and the message tells you where.

Sending things

For letters and small parcels inside Israel, any post office branch. For abroad, ask for the tracked service and fill in the customs declaration honestly, including for gifts. Israel Post's own international express and the private carriers are the options for anything urgent; compare the quote at the counter with the carriers' sites before choosing.

Customs on parcels from abroad

Ordering from overseas is normal here, and the tax works in bands by the value of the goods in US dollars. Below the lowest threshold a personal parcel enters free; between the thresholds you pay VAT; above the top one you pay import duty as well, and the parcel may be held until you do. The current figures are on the Israel Tax Authority site and change from time to time, so check before a big order. When a charge is due, the post or courier sends a payment link and releases the parcel after you pay. New olim have customs rights on household goods for a period after arrival; the Ministry of Aliyah and Integration explains what qualifies.

Which sites are worth ordering from, and how they deliver, is in our online shopping guide. If a branch or locker in your neighbourhood has moved, tell us.