'Covid surcharge' @ postal service

[visacrack]

Today I sent 2 registered letters to the european theatre. I expected to pay a little over two hundred baht, but was surprised to hear that it would cost me 322 THB. 

 

Upon checking the slip, I saw that on top of the postage (121 THB), another 40 THB were charged. I asked what it was and heard it was a 'covid surcharge'. I asked to explain in details, with the foreseeable result. 

 

Are the some people here who would know more? 

[Lacessit]

Probably the charge for wiping down with disinfectant. A nice little earner.

[visacrack]

34 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

Probably the charge for wiping down with disinfectant. A nice little earner.

 

So am I the first to whom this has happened? I made it clear that I did not consider this appropriate, and that I would not just accept my fate   .)

 

[ukrules]

I sent a 1.9 KG box to the UK earlier this week, cost about 1300 Baht which wasn't bad.

 

They say it will arrive in about 2 weeks, we shall see. DHL price was apparently about 4500 Baht.

[jackdd]

3 minutes ago, visacrack said:

 

So am I the first to whom this has happened? I made it clear that I did not consider this appropriate, and that I would not just accept my fate   .)

 

No, we recently had another thread here on Thaivisa about this, I don't know where this thread is now.

Back then the poster said he wanted to send it unregistered, but his receipt showed a tracking number, so back then i suspected that this extra charge was for "registered", and the clerk at the post office did something wrong.

 

But following your report, and that you planned to send it registered, but was charged more than you expected, I assume that this is indeed some "covid charge" or whatever. I don't know what it is exactly, but here was at least one other person who was also charged such a fee.

[rabas]

Looking at the Thaipost website, they offer two air-letter services to, say, France.

 

12.   Int’l Letter-Air  24 baht

14.  Int’l Letter-Air  121 baht (registered)

 

Registered offers two extra 'addon services'

  1) the standard orange 'advice of receipt' card for 20 baht

  2) a SURCHARGE for 40 baht

 

I suspect SURCHARGE is now mandatory to cover extra covid handling.

[visacrack]

1 hour ago, rabas said:

 

Registered offers two extra 'addon services'

  1) the standard orange 'advice of receipt' card for 20 baht

  2) a SURCHARGE for 40 baht

 

I suspect SURCHARGE is now mandatory to cover extra covid handling.

 

Could be. I wrote to them, let's see if they're ready to share their thoughts with us  .)

 

[KhunBENQ]

1 hour ago, rabas said:

I suspect SURCHARGE is now mandatory to cover extra covid handling.

Must indeed be new. Can't remember having seen this before.

I compared with letter to Germany and same 40 Baht surcharge.

[KhunBENQ]

It IS a Covid surcharge.

Explained here in the pdf from thaipost:

https://file.thailandpost.com/upload/content/_Surcharge - ENG_5f6da0728024a.pdf

In effect since October.

[KhunBENQ]

The pdf says no surcharge for letters. They obviously changed their mind.

 

[rabas]

I also see the same air-letter services and 40 baht covid charge listed under Thaipost mail to the US.

 

This is surprising because for a long time there was no air-mail anything to the US via Thaipost except expensive EMS or special courier service. Everything else went surface with 3 month delays.

 

Can I now mail air-mail letters to the the US?

Were EU countries and the UK also restricted to surface mail before?

[rabas]

7 minutes ago, KhunBENQ said:

The pdf says no surcharge for letters. They obviously changed their mind.

 

The website has surcharge for registered letters and no surcharge for ordinary unregistered letters. See lines 12 and 14 on the mail calculator and press the + character.

 

https://www.thailandpost.co.th/index.php?page=rate_result&country_code=FR&weight=6&language=en

Edited December 25, 2020 by rabas

[visacrack]

15 minutes ago, KhunBENQ said:

It IS a Covid surcharge.

Explained here in the pdf from thaipost:

https://file.thailandpost.com/upload/content/_Surcharge - ENG_5f6da0728024a.pdf

In effect since October.

 

Thank you! It would however be interesting to know how they justify such a seemingly exorbitant rate...

 

[impulse]

2 hours ago, visacrack said:

Thank you! It would however be interesting to know how they justify such a seemingly exorbitant rate...

 

Doesn't seem that exorbitant when you factor in how few flights they can choose from nowadays.

 

Edit:  And that's on top of any hygiene precautions they may (or may not) have implemented.

 

Edited December 25, 2020 by impulse

[internationalism]

other post offices around the world did introduce covid charges long ago.

Running costs are higher, but there is lower turnover. So they are not offering the cheapest sending options.

Still, thai PO is much cheaper than what they charge in europe. 

While is europe PO are closing down their branches, shorten working hours (saving operating costs), Thai PO is expanding working hours, that includes weekends. 

Companies might be switching from PO services to couriers, because of faster delivery time. 

[Mister Fixit]

21 hours ago, ukrules said:

I sent a 1.9 KG box to the UK earlier this week, cost about 1300 Baht which wasn't bad.

 

They say it will arrive in about 2 weeks, we shall see. DHL price was apparently about 4500 Baht.

 

Last month, I sent three large boxes to the UK, all weighing about 1600 to 1700 grams and costing about the same in baht.  All by normal air mail and also had a 40 baht surcharge but no one could explain what it was when I asked them.

 

The first went on 10 November and took just over 24 days.  The other two went on the 13th November and one took 28 days and the other 29 days.  They also had a 40 baht surcharge but again, no one could tell me what it was for.

 

A few days before, I asked the Thai PO to see what was happening to the latter 2 parcels but in the meantime I put the receipt numbers into their tracking system and they had all left Thailand within 2 days of leaving  the PO.

The delay was obviously with the Royal Mail - no surprise there, it's been rubbish for years.

 

In my opinion, 17 years ago Thailand post was also very good, but in the last 6 months it has deteriorated.  The counter staff don't seem to know a thing.  At my local PO in Nonthaburi, at the main PO, they do not know what the UK is and the difference between that and Great Britain or England!  I have to explain every time, but I never used to have to do that.

 

[Mister Fixit]

19 hours ago, KhunBENQ said:

The pdf says no surcharge for letters. They obviously changed their mind.

 

It's the old 'left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing' thing so prevalent here. just like one Immi office will do things completely differently to another Immi office.

[ukrules]

9 minutes ago, Mister Fixit said:

The delay was obviously with the Royal Mail - no surprise there, it's been rubbish for years.

Interesting, I'll be keeping an eye on mine, right now it says 'Departure From Outward OE' on the Thai post tracking system.

 

When I look at Parcel Force tracking it says it's been despatched to the UK on Dec 25th.

 

So something I mailed just a few days ago appears to have left Thailand yesterday after just a few days and it's probably sitting in a warehouse in the UK right now.

 

 

[Mister Fixit]

3 minutes ago, ukrules said:

Interesting, I'll be keeping an eye on mine, right now it says 'Departure From Outward OE' on the Thai post tracking system.

 

When I look at Parcel Force tracking it says it's been despatched to the UK on Dec 25th.

 

So something I mailed just a few days ago appears to have left Thailand yesterday after just a few days and it's probably sitting in a warehouse in the UK right now.

 

 

 

Yes, exactly what happened to me.  Left Thailand next day and lurked in some UK warehouse for the next 3 weeks before taking another few days for delivery.

 

 

[donmuang37]

Unbelievable whinning about 40 baht!

????☹????

[hotchilli]

On 12/25/2020 at 4:29 PM, visacrack said:

Today I sent 2 registered letters to the european theatre. I expected to pay a little over two hundred baht, but was surprised to hear that it would cost me 322 THB. 

 

Upon checking the slip, I saw that on top of the postage (121 THB), another 40 THB were charged. I asked what it was and heard it was a 'covid surcharge'. I asked to explain in details, with the foreseeable result. 

 

Are the some people here who would know more? 

Gouging.

[salsajapan]

what else you need to know ? which word you do not understand ? covid or surcharge ?

 

[cormanr7]

There is no surcharge for unregistered airmail letters, send some to Netherlands, Germany and UK earlier this month. Cost: 24 Baht/letter (which it has been for quite a few years). 

[ukrules]

On 12/26/2020 at 3:51 PM, ukrules said:

Interesting, I'll be keeping an eye on mine, right now it says 'Departure From Outward OE' on the Thai post tracking system.

 

When I look at Parcel Force tracking it says it's been despatched to the UK on Dec 25th.

 

So something I mailed just a few days ago appears to have left Thailand yesterday after just a few days and it's probably sitting in a warehouse in the UK right now.

 

My package was delivered in the UK on January 4th, took less than 2 weeks to get there over Christmas and New Year - that's pretty good even at the best of times.