Mailing Overseas

Upcountry · April 10, 2007

I thought I knew the system, but the last couple of times I went to the post office, I realized I may have forgotten some things or never under stood them.

1. For mailing packages and letters overseas, is it possible to use either EMS or registered mail (where you get a receipt documenting the package)?

I think EMS applies to packages and letters, since I at least mailed packages that way, and today it seemed on offer when I mailed my tax envelope to Uncle Sam. But what about Registered mail?

First I asked the clerk if I could use registered mail. I said "dai mai?" since I wasn't sure. The postal clerk, who has helped me many times before, didn't seem to understand me this time (maybe I was just too tired to enunciate well). Finally a Thai person seemed to explain it, and I got a small square piece of paper to fill out with the destination address. That's what I was looking for, but I had a funny feeling he was just giving it to me to make me happy. It cost me 110 baht to mail the envelope.

2. Boxes for mailing, strings tied around them, etc.

It seems that the post office STRONGLY prefers the boxes they sell, with the red and white string tied on. I tried to use an older version of that box, with new addresses pasted on, but they made me put it inside a larger box.

What's going on with that? Is it true, as a Thai person said, that maybe the old box was more likely to get opened? I was mailing the package to the U.S. What sort of regulation requires this? I did mail some holiday packages a while back in old beer boxes wrapped in white paper, and string. They took those.