StevieAus

[StevieAus]

We have lived in Fang,North of Chiang Mai for over 6 years and until recently never had any problem with the mail.

Since about December last year I have calculated that about thirty letters ( cards etc) mainly from Australia but some from the UK have failed to arrive. In fact only one card from Australia has arrived in two months. None of the items contained anything worth stealing and mail from within Thailand continues to arrive as normal, outgoing mail to Australia and the UK is delivered without a problem.

The local post office is unable to shed any light on the matter and our postman always very obliging.

I was wondering if anyone else in the region has been experiencing similar problems or can shed any light on the matter.

[Ruffian Dick]

Maybe your friends are addressing their mail incorrectly? It's very common in international mail.

[luther]

Live near the Mae Rim Post office.  Many cards and letters from the US have never arrived.  My Thai landlord says this post office is horrible. 

[StevieAus]

7 hours ago, Ruffian Dick said:

Maybe your friends are addressing their mail incorrectly? It's very common in international mail.

That’s a good point as it has occurred but two of the regulars have address labels that I sent and a couple of the others the addresses have always been ok

Its bizarre really as never been a problem in the past and 3 items arrived late yesterday after me posting the issue on here so maybe some hope

[prism]

I haven't had much luck on receiving mail from overseas unless it's sent using some kind of tracking. 

[StevieAus]

1 minute ago, luther said:

Live near the Mae Rim Post office.  Many cards and letters from the US have never arrived.  My Thai landlord says this post office is horrible. 

It’s very frustrating but we know most of them at our post office as I always have a joke with them as they speak English also we look after the regular postman so don’t think he is the problem

I haven’t had any problem with outgoing mail it’s very strange. Only one Xmas card arrived this year never happened before

[StevieAus]

6 minutes ago, prism said:

I haven't had much luck on receiving mail from overseas unless it's sent using some kind of tracking. 

I agree but from Aus it’s not cheap anymore and you can’t expect everyone to register the letters

Last year I had an item I sent registered to Aus tracked it leaving here in Thailand then it never arrived Aus Post don’t track overseas mail received it seems

 Maybe the problem is worldwide nobody cares 

[Justfine]

Use emails and online webcams. Xmas cards are from last century.

[stillhereandlovinit]

Ive had a PO Box at Chang Klan post office since 2004 and Ive never had anything go missing, costs 500thb a year for the box but worth it in my opinion. Only downside is I moved ot of town so I have to make a special drive in if I know something has arrived, or I just check it when im passing. If parcels are larger than the box they just keep it inside the post office and put a slip in your box saying so.

[StevieAus]

7 hours ago, Justfine said:

Use emails and online webcams. Xmas cards are from last century.

Thanks for suggestion but it's the incoming mail that is the problem and some people prefer to do things the traditional way and cannot handle new technology

Also if you pay for a service surely you are entitled to the result

[StevieAus]

6 hours ago, stillhereandlovinit said:

Ive had a PO Box at Chang Klan post office since 2004 and Ive never had anything go missing, costs 500thb a year for the box but worth it in my opinion. Only downside is I moved ot of town so I have to make a special drive in if I know something has arrived, or I just check it when im passing. If parcels are larger than the box they just keep it inside the post office and put a slip in your box saying so.

Thanks for the suggestion 

[tifino]

 Get missus to create a label, that has all the local addressing information, written in Thai

 

only the '  (postcode...1234... Thailand') bit of the label needs not be in the Thai script, as all you want is for the thing to get from falangland, into country, and the rest will then fall into place...

[Air Smiles]

What tifino said   ...only the word "Thailand" & postcode should be in English.

 

[tifino]

even though the topic relates to an aussie originated mailing problem (hence your English) the concept I was aiming to moot, applies to any non Thai speaking land of mail origin

[BawBae]

Same problems for me in Fang.

[NancyL]

If the mail originates from a Aussie gov't agency it could be that they can't fit the Thai address "style" into their formats.  I assist Americans with issues related the Veterans Administration, pensions, Social Security, banking, etc, helping them to fill out forms, often trying to wedge a Thai address into an online form.  Sometimes it's amazing what the final results are.  

 

These agencies refuse to use email, insisting on postal communication, but some will fall back on email if post fails.  One recent failure had input the person's address with the as something like this:

Person's name

condo name

Room #XXX

Muang, Thailand 

 

This is definitely NOT what was submitted in clear handwriting on their application form.

 

No wonder this person wasn't receiving the mailings from the gov't agency.

 

 

[Dipterocarp]

In Feb 2017 I lost a FEDEX letter sent to Chiang Mai from the US, just a document no particular value. Received refund and written apology. Then the letter arrived without explanation in December, 10 months late!  Something wonderful about this place.

 

 

Edited February 11, 2018 by Dipterocarp

[StevieAus]

16 hours ago, NancyL said:

If the mail originates from a Aussie gov't agency it could be that they can't fit the Thai address "style" into their formats.  I assist Americans with issues related the Veterans Administration, pensions, Social Security, banking, etc, helping them to fill out forms, often trying to wedge a Thai address into an online form.  Sometimes it's amazing what the final results are.  

 

These agencies refuse to use email, insisting on postal communication, but some will fall back on email if post fails.  One recent failure had input the person's address with the as something like this:

Person's name

condo name

Room #XXX

Muang, Thailand 

 

This is definitely NOT what was submitted in clear handwriting on their application form.

 

No wonder this person wasn't receiving the mailings from the gov't agency.

 

 

I did have that problem a few years ago but these are all from private individuals, the difficulty  is that it’s impossible to work out where the problem is occurring 

A friend in Australia told me that last year he sent post a cards to Aus when visiting Europe, they took three months to arrive and had gone via the Philippines 

[StevieAus]

18 hours ago, BawBae said:

Same problems for me in Fang.

That’s where we are but don’t think it’s the local post office that’s the problem

[Ricardo]

The delivery-service where I live, a village near Mae-Jo, has been bad for the past six months or so.

 

Not one single Christmas-card has yet arrived, deliveries are less than one per-week, I'd say that at least a third of overseas-letters are currently failing to arrive here.

[StevieAus]

On 2/12/2018 at 7:18 AM, Ricardo said:

The delivery-service where I live, a village near Mae-Jo, has been bad for the past six months or so.

 

Not one single Christmas-card has yet arrived, deliveries are less than one per-week, I'd say that at least a third of overseas-letters are currently failing to arrive here.

That seems to be about the same problem here one Christmas card arrived  3 birthday cards failed to arrive.

Has never been like this before problem is what is the solution?

[suzannegoh]

36 minutes ago, StevieAus said:

That seems to be about the same problem here one Christmas card arrived  3 birthday cards failed to arrive.

Has never been like this before problem is what is the solution?

One solution is to use a mail forwarding service that will receive mail for you in your home country and once every so often send you accumulated mail to you in Thailand by DHL.

[luther]

I have a friend who works at an international school.  If friends send mail there, it always arrives.

[pgrahmm]

Service has been dismal for about a year - packages especially no matter the country of origin.....

Tracking numbers seem meaningless once it get here & all the prime/$$/unusual stuff is not getting through, (although the same address template is used for all, starting with my wife's name).....

Prior to this there were occasional hiccups = but never like this....

[StevieAus]

On 2/15/2018 at 4:40 PM, suzannegoh said:

One solution is to use a mail forwarding service that will receive mail for you in your home country and once every so often send you accumulated mail to you in Thailand by DHL.

Thanks for the suggestion will make enquiries

[XGM]

If the problem is with your local post office, isn't it possible to rent private mailbox in one of the bigger branches?

 

I found this:

 

Edited February 16, 2018 by XGM

[StevieAus]

13 hours ago, XGM said:

If the problem is with your local post office, isn't it possible to rent private mailbox in one of the bigger branches?

 

I found this:

 

I really don't think the problem is with the local post office as they know us well as does our regular postman

The problem is elsewhere which seems to be confirmed by posts from other regions

Strange that it has only started the last few months no problem over several years

[BawBae]

A friend sent me something internally, at regular parcel rate, and that didn't come either. It would only take a few days at most to get from Pattaya to Fang.

 

[StevieAus]

10 hours ago, BawBae said:

A friend sent me something internally, at regular parcel rate, and that didn't come either. It would only take a few days at most to get from Pattaya to Fang.

 

The overseas mail seems to have returned to normal wondering if the problem is from Aus and UK as they massive increase in mail in Dec due to Xmas

[NancyL]

Yup, probably so.  Hubby and I used to take on seasonal work with USPS back in the U.S. when we had a greenhouse/nursery business and didn't have much to do around Christmas.  It was run, run, run to get the packages moving through the sorting facility near the Detroit airport.  And they decided Hubby was a bright bulb and would keep him on longer, well into March, when he was part of a small team that shut down their Christmas seasonal facilities and would discover all the stuff that hadn't been delivered because it had been kicked to the side or left in a bag that had been thought empty.    They were instructed to simply put any undelivered items back into the mail stream without any note or explanation.  Christmas cookies from Grandma for Easter?