UK mail

Ozpat · 05 Apr 2008, 18:41

I received several packages regarding my Sisters collection from some European countries. They all took around 3 days to arrive. A package from Australia took 8 days....

And I am still waiting for 4 packages from the UK from 4 different people.
The stuff has been sent between 11 and 16 days ago......

What in the world is wrong with UK mail.....

Big Si · 05 Apr 2008, 19:01

Ozpat wrote:I received several packages regarding my Sisters collection from some European countries. They all took around 3 days to arrive. A package from Australia took 8 days....

And I am still waiting for 4 packages from the UK from 4 different people.
The stuff has been sent between 11 and 16 days ago......

What in the world is wrong with UK mail.....

It takes just as long on the island too!

Dan · 06 Apr 2008, 03:22

It's not just UK mail that's s**t, its bad the world over. I've sent stuff to Europe with tracked shipping or whatever its called (they only track it until it leaves the country which is a bit crap) and with guaranteed 3 day delivery it took 5 days to leave the country and another 2 to 3 weeks in the hands of some other countries postal service until it finally reached destination. Same happened with a package sent to America - 5 days to leave the country and three weeks to reach final destination. It seems the postal service the world over is just shoddy at times.

A package once took three weeks to travel from Manchester to Leeds but that was by parcelforce so no suprise there!

I once had a postcard sent to me from Australia that took 1 day!

reactiv8 · 06 Apr 2008, 06:02

Ozpat wrote: And I am still waiting for 4 packages from the UK from 4 different people.
The stuff has been sent between 11 and 16 days ago......

What in the world is wrong with UK mail.....

'tis f***ed, my frustrated friend ... I returned an item to a supplier I had contacted via Amazon recently, to Guernsey (does that count as the UK?), and it has 'disappeared' apparently, although I am far from convinced about this ...

All of this sorry mess is another symptom (?) of a very sickly country in its' death throes, surely? Does anyone have a Cure I wonder? Perhaps we need TSOM, eh?

etc.

06 Apr 2008, 08:27

Same here really.
I have posted stuff all over the planet & yet if I post it in Hungary, it takes longer to get to the destination, than it would take me to walk there.

But if it's going somewhere in Europe, then 3 days is the norm.
I did toy with the idea of using a courier for some larger items, but the post was always better.
So, if you're in Hungary & you want to trade, then send me your address & I'll drive the thing over to you.

eotunun · 06 Apr 2008, 12:06

Why don't you try this:
Next time you send a parcel, write on it:
"Dear Mailservice Employees!
Thanks in advance for showing this parcel around the world!
When you are done with that, I know a person who would really cherish to having it. His/Her [choose matching receipient's gender to avoid confusion that leads to further delay] is:
[Insert Receipient's Adress Here]
This is just a suggestion, but I really wouldn't know anyone else who'd know what to do with the contents of this parcel.
Enjoy you trip through the countryside!

Yours,
[Insert Name Here]"

Ozpat · 06 Apr 2008, 12:10

Thanks for the responses. I guess I will have to be patient some more instead of worrying that stuff got lost.

psichonaut · 06 Apr 2008, 12:30

once HisSwimmiNess, who is belgian i guess, sent me a package twice....and the second pack never arrived

.....and once in Italy i sent a letter which arrived 1 year later

Eva · 06 Apr 2008, 13:12

Well, don't get me started on mail service...

Our postman has tried twice to insert records (vinyl albums) into the too small letter box which of course lead to former perfectly mint(!) NEW records looking as if they had been eaten by a dog. Twice in two days. Apparently they can't read cause we have a sign in red writing THAT SIZE on our letter box telling the postman to ring and if nobody's home take the parcels back to be collected from the post office by us later. At least they were reasonable enough to give us the money spent on the records because they damaged them.
And I've returned an item back to the UK last October as a registered parcel. I could trace it until it arrived at the UK border. Where it disappeared suddenly. The Swiss and English post offices apparently both went looking for the parcel for the past 6 months, but it never surfaced. Luckily that means that I get all the money I spent for the parcel, twice postage, registering etc. back from the Swiss post office, whereas I would have had a loss getting money back from the initial seller of the item...
Initially I blamed it on the strike there was in the UK some time last year, guessing they've majorly f**ked up so many letters and parcels that they're still wading through an ocean of undelivered mail from last May, but I was wrong. The Swiss and German post offices are perfectly capable of loosing the most important stuff too. Especially registered(!) letters.

eotunun · 06 Apr 2008, 13:22

Some postmen seem to have had dreams about irregularities in timespace's consistence in letterboxes. Or have some pattern in their heads saying "If it's flat shaped, it's a letter. And letters go into the letterbox."
A postman once forced a book into my letterbox. He should have notice he did it wrong when the door of the box broke. But he broke the back of the book as well instead.
The private services out here aren't much better than the "oficial" mail service.
Mail delivery trolls..

06 Apr 2008, 13:24

It's not just the postal services either.
You try TNT, or DHL, or, worse still, FedUp.
If they lose it, they will spend weeks arguing that they didn't before breaking off contact.
FedUp is possibly worse.
If they deliver to the wrong place, they have no procedure in place to go back & pick it up & re-deliver it.

Eva · 06 Apr 2008, 16:20

@EOTUNUN: At least you have other choices (especially Hermes) in Germany. They're so much cheaper than the crap mail monopoly we have here....

@Pista: Oh yes, DHL... A former boyfriend of mine once tried to send me a cd-r with photos of us via DHL from London to Zurich... Not only did it take them 3 weeks and three attempts to find my address, they also tried to charge me import taxes for the photos....

Of course I didn't pay but instead wrote them a rather harsh letter pointing out their crapness regarding speed of delivery and their inability in finding streets in a village like Zurich. Never heard back from them...

eotunun · 06 Apr 2008, 16:39

Eva wrote:@Pista: Oh yes, DHL... A former boyfriend of mine once tried to send me a cd-r with photos of us via DHL from London to Zurich... Not only did it take them 3 weeks and three attempts to find my address, they also tried to charge me import taxes for the photos.... Of course I didn't pay but instead wrote them a rather harsh letter pointing out their crapness regarding speed of delivery and their inability in finding streets in a village like Zurich. Never heard back from them...

You do remember that what used to be Bundespost is DHL now?

That leterbox-story was brought to me by an employee of said three lettered premoition of hell.

Eva · 06 Apr 2008, 18:06

eotunun wrote: You do remember that what used to be Bundespost is DHL now?
That leterbox-story was brought to me by an employee of said three lettered premoition of hell.

I didn't know that! For me, DHL like UPS etc. are "Kurierdienste"...

eotunun · 06 Apr 2008, 18:11

Well-Initially. Post and DHL have fusioned a few years ago. The two buttocks of one pittyfull arse now.

6FeetOver · 06 Apr 2008, 21:35

It takes 3 days for stuff to get to my brother in Los Angeles from my dad's house in Connecticut, or vice-versa (a distance of roughly 3000 miles); it takes at least a *week* for stuff to get from Chicago to my dad's (and vice-versa) - a distance of roughly 900 miles. Go friggin' figure.

MadameButterfly · 06 Apr 2008, 21:59

The post within Holland is excellent!

Even getting stuff from international countries does very well!

Although our side is quick and done properly the countries sometimes receiving are delayed as the system there is just not up to standards!

Only problem I've had in more than a decade living here is at xmas time some post is delievered to the wrong house by number or street. I'll just blame the postman for that mistake though.

psichonaut · 06 Apr 2008, 22:57

in Italy now i have to admit things are better than some year ago, as i mentioned above, i send packages all over Europe in 3/4 days, on the other side of the pond in 7/8 days, but i always use the priority-mail option. the only thing that sometimes happens is my postman try to put in my mailbox all the stuff i receve and he broke some CD.

Ghost · 07 Apr 2008, 00:07

Airmail to Portugal usually takes a lot too when not in small letters. Most vinyls I order from UK take more than a week to arrive, and 2 weeks for usa stuff.

Spiggy's hat · 07 Apr 2008, 11:46

I find that sending things from the UK, to Southern Ireland is one of the slowest postal deliveries possible. It regularly takes over 2 weeks & once took 3 weeks, for a cd to arrive!

It can only be 3/400 miles tops & probably much less.

mh · 07 Apr 2008, 18:42

Spiggy's hat wrote:I find that sending things from the UK, to Southern Ireland is one of the slowest postal deliveries possible. It regularly takes over 2 weeks & once took 3 weeks, for a cd to arrive!

It can only be 3/400 miles tops & probably much less.

Agreed.

I'm fairly convinced it's our postal system - we Irish seem to "organize" things by creating a bottleneck and then trying to channel everything through it. Genuinely dreadful.