Hi all,  lately I've been sending 100gm padded envelopes by surface to USA,  Australia & New Zealand all costing 30 baht.  Now Thai post are wanting 540 baht!  Delivery time quoted has also doubled,  anyone know anything behind this? 

This is Thailand...when times are difficult...your customer base diminished...raise your prices to a ridiculous amount...with little to no service...and watch the customers pour in...

 

Convoluted? Yes!  Predictable?  Yes!

4 days ago Thailand Post stopped accepting code 150 (letter and small parcel) surface deliveries to the USA.  The representative I spoke with said the USPS was charging more for the domestic delvery portion of this class than their rates and they were now losing money on every package. So they suspended that service and now only have the large parcel surface mail option available. The lowest weight class for this is several kgs, and the minimum fee is 540 baht. So whether you send 100 grams or 5kgs your cost is now the same. The delivery time hasn't changed though. It is still 8 week - 3 month delivery.

 

So until regularly scheduled international passenger aviation begins again and they restore normal SAL services, there is basically no mail service to the USA except for their extremely expensive Courier Post with prices beginning at 1000 baht.

 

 

The latest services available are stated in the PINNED topic at the top of the forum.

 

 

Looks like there have been some changes.

 

Previously all my small packet mail to the USA was sent by registered air mail, cost was around 300 - 400 Baht. Today I went and sent the same size packet and they charged me 950 Baht, for EMS they wanted 1.400 Baht

 

Also sent a small packet to Italy by EMS and that cost 1.760 Baht

Unfortunately normal airmail service to USA is still not available even after update of Jun 2.

See post #4.

I doubt that the 540 Baht were charged for "surface" shipment.

Maybe sent as parcel post by air?

8 hours ago, KhunBENQ said:

Unfortunately normal airmail service to USA is still not available even after update of Jun 2.

See post #4.

I doubt that the 540 Baht were charged for "surface" shipment.

Maybe sent as parcel post by air?

Your doubt would be incorrect. 540 Baht is the current minimum rate for surface mail. This is for anything for 1 gram up to 5 kg.  The cheapest airmail service to the USA is courier post at 950 baht.

 

There are no cost effective tariffs to the USA right now for ordinary mail.

 

On the plus side, normal airmail services have been restored to most of the EU and UK as of today. Do not trust the official announcement in post #4. It is very out of date. You should ask directly at the counter to see if a rate has been opened in the Thailand Post computer system.

 

I was shocked today when we went to send mail to the UK expecting surface, and they checked for us and said airmail is now available. The same check yesterday resulted in a no, so it just changed this afternoon.

 

So anyone who has mail to the USA, please always ask for ordinary airmail at the counter and report back here.  Thailand Post will likely NOT make an announcement when they open the service. It remains to be seen how long it will take them to notify everyone that they have now restarted airmail to most of the EU and UK.