This morning a motorbike pulled up outside and called out, surprise was it was mail.

I had a letter all the way from Oz from Centrelink addressed in English.

I eagerly opened it and found it was dated the 8th August, so it had taken eight weeks to get here.

Its the first time I have ever received a letter here apart from Tesco.

My worry is getting a letter from Centrelink for some compliance and not completing and then they stop my pension.

Seeing I live in the sticks is this a normal timeframe or was it someone put it in the to hard basket because it’s written in English till someone who cares found it?

 

 

 

You don't have internet access? Of course you do, you are posting here. I do all my Centrelink stuff online. That includes mail, although they do send the same stuff in paper form. They are required by legislation to have a paper trail.

4 - 8 weeks is normal delivery for overseas mail, depends on the priority it is given. I get herbal supplements posted from America, and they usually only take two weeks.

I would not worry too much about Centrelink stopping your pension. You can always phone the international help line direct. I go back to Australia every six months, and I update my asset details in person. They don't seem to have a problem with me saying nothing to them for five and half months in a row.

I ship small parcells to USA regular standard airmailwith sales from my E.bay i usualy get feedback under 1 month so i reckon 8 weeks is way too slow by a long shot.

Any late delivery issues are usually as a result of the Postman, not the postal service to the post man. If you have or are likely to receive time sensitive items, get your self a PO Box (500 baht yr) and that will usually remove the postman issue.

8 hours ago, Lacessit said:

You don't have internet access? Of course you do, you are posting here. I do all my Centrelink stuff online. That includes mail, although they do send the same stuff in paper form. They are required by legislation to have a paper trail.

4 - 8 weeks is normal delivery for overseas mail, depends on the priority it is given. I get herbal supplements posted from America, and they usually only take two weeks.

I would not worry too much about Centrelink stopping your pension. You can always phone the international help line direct. I go back to Australia every six months, and I update my asset details in person. They don't seem to have a problem with me saying nothing to them for five and half months in a row.

 

I have changed assets etc online, I have emailed Centrelink numerous times with no reply. 

Centrelink sent me a mystery payment on the 8th August I have no idea what and why and they don’t reply when I email.

My wife orders something online from China and it gets here via Kerry Express in days.

I have sent mail outwards and it gets to Oz in about a week to a week and a bit.

If it’s 4 to 8 weeks as you say obviously Thailand does not give a rats <deleted> about farang mail, because the frigging Tesco letters only take days.

 

13 minutes ago, Brer said:

I have changed assets etc online, I have emailed Centrelink numerous times with no reply. 

Centrelink sent me a mystery payment on the 8th August I have no idea what and why and they don’t reply when I email.

My wife orders something online from China and it gets here via Kerry Express in days.

I have sent mail outwards and it gets to Oz in about a week to a week and a bit.

If it’s 4 to 8 weeks as you say obviously Thailand does not give a rats <deleted> about farang mail, because the frigging Tesco letters only take days.

 

Best to get on to "myGov" nowadays...

https://my.gov.au/

Otherwise I agree with you-receiving overseas mail was a bit touch and go..

Edited October 5, 20196 yr by Odysseus123

Definitely My Gov only way to go.

As a matter of interest.. why would Centrelink have your Thai address ? Don't you retain an Aussie address ? Relative or friend. As far as Centrelink are concerned, I'm travelling, not residing overseas. As mentioned above, MyGov is the way to go.

The post is generally good but it all depends on the postman/woman. Last year I applied to my bank in Germany for a new ATM card, I waited 3 weeks, nothing came so I wrote them an email complaining, they wrote back and said they had sent it but they would send another one, again I waited for weeks before writing to them again, again they said it was sent the day they got my email so they sent a third one, after two weeks the postman delivered 3 envelopes each containing an ATM card. He was too lazy to deliver out to the villages and so waited until the pile he kept at home got too big to ignore so he delivered them. I complained at the post office and he was sacked immediately, now a woman has taken over his round and she is very good.

I get package almost daily with all major mail carrier including Thai post. Works fine 99.9% of the time. Only recently I got a package of US seeds stuck in Bangkok with Fedex. For some reason they don't want to deliver to my adress that is 3h from Bangkok and they charge me a daily fee for storage. 

Edited October 6, 20196 yr by Tayaout

I've never had a problem with Thai post, despite living in a small village.  When we first moved up country, I had a bunch of address labels printed in Thai and sent them to various family members to sick on letters and parcels they were sending to me, but now I don't even bother with that.  Everything arrives addressed in English.  Of course, there may be items I don't know about that have gone missing, but every letter and package that I knew should be arriving from overseas, whether from family, banks or other businesses, has arrived intact and on time.  There was one issue I am aware of, though, when a letter from the Australian Taxation Office, that I wasn't expecting, arrived late.  However, that letter was addressed simply to Mr ballpoint, 27 Buri Ram, Thailand (obviously with my real name instead of ballpoint for the pedants).  Thai post managed to send it to the correct address, and, the letter was stamped by Taiwan post as having arrived there and returned to origin before it was correctly sent on to Thailand.  Score 1 for Thai Post, -1 for Australia Post for sending a Thailand addressed letter to Taiwan, and -1 for the ATO.

19 hours ago, Liverpudlian said:

I ship small parcells to USA regular standard airmailwith sales from my E.bay i usualy get feedback under 1 month so i reckon 8 weeks is way too slow by a long shot.

 

I also ship things globally. Mostly the USA but a lot to Europe and Australia. I have found the slowest postal services to be :

 

1) Canada

2) Italy

3) Australia

 

Quite honestly , unless you live in a major city with international airport the postal systems in these countries is not up to par.

 

Australian customers regularly have to wait 4-6 weeks for delivery compared to 1-2 for Europe.

 

From the last 5 years of using Thailand post to ship thousands of items I would say they are pretty good unless you live deep in the boonies and have a bent postman. Not too common but there are one or two.

OP, the chances are 96.3% estimated.

Your welcome ????

28 minutes ago, Denim said:

 

I also ship things globally. Mostly the USA but a lot to Europe and Australia. I have found the slowest postal services to be :

 

1) Canada

2) Italy

3) Australia

 

Quite honestly , unless you live in a major city with international airport the postal systems in these countries is not up to par.

 

Australian customers regularly have to wait 4-6 weeks for delivery compared to 1-2 for Europe.

 

From the last 5 years of using Thailand post to ship thousands of items I would say they are pretty good unless you live deep in the boonies and have a bent postman. Not too common but there are one or two.

That's curious-i live in a regional Aussie country town and generally only order (these days)books from ABE (Advanced Book Exchange) or Ebay..

 

From order to delivery is generally about 2 weeks.

 

I budgeted for a 25% "loss" in Thailand..and a month for delivery.

11 hours ago, Odysseus123 said:

Best to get on to "myGov" nowadays...

https://my.gov.au/

Otherwise I agree with you-receiving overseas mail was a bit touch and go..

I use My Gov etc, it’s just if you email Centrelink, which they tell you to do on My Gov, you do not get a reply, only the computer generated instant reply to say someone will get back to you which never happens.

3 minutes ago, Brer said:

I use My Gov etc, it’s just if you email Centrelink, which they tell you to do on My Gov, you do not get a reply, only the computer generated instant reply to say someone will get back to you which never happens.

Wow!Sorry about that as it would be incredibly frustrating.

 

Best of luck to you,cobber.

1 hour ago, Odysseus123 said:

That's curious-i live in a regional Aussie country town and generally only order (these days)books from ABE (Advanced Book Exchange) or Ebay..

 

From order to delivery is generally about 2 weeks.

 

I budgeted for a 25% "loss" in Thailand..and a month for delivery.

 

That's good. I can't figure why my stuff takes so long ( except Sydney ) especially as what I send is in an envelope not a carton. Maybe customs suspect drugs coming from Asia ?

 

Canada post was so bad last year due to industrial action and slow customs that I refused orders from there for 6 months until things were sorted.

 

Fastest delivery I have sent anywhere was Hawaii ( ??? ) in only 4 days from Thailand. Go figure .

THERE is a saying "one only gets what one pays for" ever heard of it??

in May I posted a number of docs to the Uk....cost 1504 baht via Fedex....they arrived in 5 days....6000 miles away ....so I can not complain except for the price...

Sometimes mail gets held up due to Customs....

also depends on how god sorting office is in the country to which one has posted to??!!

Edited October 6, 20196 yr by essox essox
after thought

2 hours ago, malt25 said:

As a matter of interest.. why would Centrelink have your Thai address ? Don't you retain an Aussie address ? Relative or friend. As far as Centrelink are concerned, I'm travelling, not residing overseas. As mentioned above, MyGov is the way to go.

When you have to deal with the disposal of assets and explain to Centrelink where the money went, cars and houses overseas etc not talking a few dollars the truth is always best. I now reside in Thailand as far as I am concerned.

Anyway the meagre amount part pension they pay is still appreciated just wish they would tell me why they deposit unknown amounts of money in my bank account.

My mother in law said this morning there are numerous people delivering the mail here, sometimes kids as someone is to lazy to do it. Just another Thailand thing.

 

2 hours ago, Tayaout said:

a package of US seeds

Tomatoes, beetroot or chillies?    LOL

59 minutes ago, wgdanson said:

Tomatoes, beetroot or chillies?    LOL

https://www.trueleafmarket.com/collections/seed-assortment-products/products/conventional-heirloom-deluxe-garden-30-pack?variant=4109251936297

 

https://www.trueleafmarket.com/collections/seed-assortment-products/products/organic-herb-collection-8-pack?variant=4109154287657

 

Also some corn and okra. 

Edited October 6, 20196 yr by Tayaout

3 minutes ago, Tayaout said:

https://www.trueleafmarket.com/collections/seed-assortment-products/products/conventional-heirloom-deluxe-garden-30-pack?variant=4109251936297

 

https://www.trueleafmarket.com/collections/seed-assortment-products/products/organic-herb-collection-8-pack?variant=4109154287657

 

Also some corn and okra. 

And six plants for the family to grow!

From and to Germany it's usually 7 to 10 days.

Biggest delay at German customs.

 

But recently it took about 7 weeks for a letter from Germany.

BUT: even though I gave them a perfectly written address (in "English"), the last line read:

0 Khon Kaen

Stupidos! (stupid inflexible IT system?)

There was a handwritten "Thailand" on the envelope and a handwritten "Khon Kaen 40xxx" in different colors. So it obviously went through two "address evaluation" departements.

Then gave the stupidos a "<myname> c/o <friendsname>" adress in Germany.

And what did they do: send it to <myname> without c/o. Return, unknown.

Stupidos working at an IT/SW company!

Edited October 6, 20196 yr by KhunBENQ

19 hours ago, Brer said:

I have changed assets etc online, I have emailed Centrelink numerous times with no reply. 

Centrelink sent me a mystery payment on the 8th August I have no idea what and why and they don’t reply when I email.

My wife orders something online from China and it gets here via Kerry Express in days.

I have sent mail outwards and it gets to Oz in about a week to a week and a bit.

If it’s 4 to 8 weeks as you say obviously Thailand does not give a rats <deleted> about farang mail, because the frigging Tesco letters only take days.

 

The mystery payment could have been an adjustment due to a change in the deeming rate, or,  if you own shares, an adjustment due to a fall in value. There is also an adjustment related to the exchange rate of the baht to the AUD, if you are reporting your Thai bank accounts.

For <deleted> sake, stop being such a worrywart. Enjoy your life here. I do.

Edited October 6, 20196 yr by Lacessit