Are You There Amazon?
Tough times when you crave cereal and are no bowls in the house
Before I even got on the flight to Santiago I already knew what Amazon could and couldn’t send to Chile. What I didn’t fully take in at the time was the delay due to the holidays and the shear distance of sending items to the end of the earth. Since I arrived in Santiago in the middle of the Coronavirus pandemic I had to undergo a two week quarantine at our house. This meant that I had to find another way to get food, groceries, furniture, adapters, and anything else while never stepping foot inside a store.
First things first - we needed groceries fast. When I arrived at my new home there was not a grain of rice or sprinkle of salt to be found. Fortunately Chile - just like Mexico and loads of other areas of Latin America - has Rappi. For those who are just hearing this glorious name, Rappi is every quarantined human’s dream. Not only do they deliver groceries, but they also deliver food. (Note: UberEats is the popular food delivery service here, coming in third is another service called Pedidos Ya). There are also several stores that have teamed up with Rappi, H&M comes to mind, where you can order items online and Rappi will deliver your items same day. The real thing that separates Rappi from other delivery services though is their courier service. I have had them pick up items at my home and deliver them to the other side of the city. A trip that would take me an hour or more in a car will take them half of that since motorbikes are allowed to split lanes in traffic. In other words they are my go to for anything I need. Not to mention that they also deliver alcohol - even liquor.
When ordering online it’s also important to know the proper way to write out the addresses here. It’s not exactly the same as the USA. There are no states, there are however 16 regions which will correspond to the postal code and locality a.k.a. your neighborhood name on packages.
Line 1: RECIPIENT
Line 2: [STREET NAME] [HOUSE NUMBER], [APARTMENT NUMBER] [APARTMENT]
Line 3: [POSTAL CODE] [LOCALITY]
Line 4: CHILE
Food and life essentials from the grocery store was the first line on my to do list, the next was kitchen items and small furniture. This was a different experience. The main place to go for household items close by is Sodimac. Imagine if Home Depot and Ikea had a home decor/renovation gendered baby….meet Sodimac. Sodimac has literally everything for a home from new outlets and drywall to paintings and flowers. While it’s not far, I didn’t want to lug a bunch of items back and forth across the city so I went to put in a delivery order. Everything was going well until I was asked to put in my RUT. This is crucial information in Chile. It stands for Rol Único Tributario (Unique Roll Tributary). This is your ID number that is tied to everything however, tourists do not have a RUT. One can be requested but the process is not short and it’s even longer now due to several offices adopting new hours due to the holidays and Coronavirus. Fortunately I was able to get some help and get my items ordered online. Without a RUT ordering online can be a no go. Most stores will also ask for your RUT in person. A majority of the time you can simply say that you don’t have one and that’s ok. In other cases they will then ask for your passport number instead so it’s always good to have that on hand.
Below is a list of places I have ordered from so far online - WITHOUT needing a RUT:
Unimarc (groceries)
Jumbo (groceries)
Lider (groceries)
Miniso (yoga mat & office supplies)
Rukafe (adapters)
Homeat (groceries)
Eric Kayser (food/coffee)
Santiago announced on December 7th, 2020 that citywide quarantines will be in effect on all Saturdays/Sundays and all holidays. I’m sure the list of online businesses will continue to grow as everyone adapts to the new normal here.
