Why are there so many mailboxes in Thailand?

[Captain Monday]

I have never seen anyone using post boxes or the postman collecting from.

 

So I sent a picture postcard, bought stamps at a mall PO, dropped in a local mailbox. Maybe they are not checked daily it took 3 weeks to reach a US address the cost is astronomical for a bit of card stock. Cargo planes never stopped flying to Thailand during the covid-19 crisis, I use Fedex to send anything important things. Takes  2-3 days. 

 

[CharlieH]

Seems like a quite normal service for such an item. Parcels etc generally 10-14 days dependent on final destination.

Thaipost generally relied on Passenger planes which have been cut dramatically. It is believed that most mail now goes through courier services for International destinations.

[fangless]

16 hours ago, Captain Monday said:

I have never seen anyone using post boxes or the postman collecting from.

Why not send a letter or postcard to yourself to see whether it is efficient or not.

[1FinickyOne]

Fed Ex is faster, more relaible and more expensive... great service.. you get what you pay for...

[wpcoe]

I wonder how much international mail to/from Thailand still goes by boat?

If it makes you feel better, when I lived in Mexico in 2014 my sister "express mailed" (U. S. Postal Service) me a small package from San Diego and it took five months to get there.  I think a bicycle could have arrived more quickly.

[AgMech Cowboy]

4 hours ago, fangless said:

Why not send a letter or postcard to yourself to see whether it is efficient or not.

I thought the same thing. So I'll make an additional suggestion. Have a  Thai friend address an envelop to your address using Thai instead of English to check the efficiency. :) 

[Burma Bill]

4 hours ago, Sticky Rice Balls said:

Before the internet came out all the bargirls would sent letters about sick buffalo to their sponsors abroad ????

and house for mother and motorbike for brother!!!

[Captain Monday]

So why are there so many, nobody uses, large red things blocking sidewalks. I'd say they are pretty well used in the US  one often notices people with handfuls of mail dropping by.

 

[bluejets]

On 3/16/2021 at 7:06 PM, Captain Monday said:

dropped in a local mailbox.

Didn't pop it in a spirit house by mistake....????

[brianthainess]

The Last place I lived, here thought I would test the mail delivery, so I posted a letter to myself, at the PO box 2klm away outside 7/1 1 it took 6 WEEKS to arrive, I moved closer to 7/1 1 now no mail at all ever arrives from anywhere. 

[Maliproto]

On 3/16/2021 at 4:06 PM, Captain Monday said:

I have never seen anyone using post boxes or the postman collecting from.

Just because you say that you've never seen them being used doesn't mean that they're not being used, unless you're monitoring them 24/7!  Perhaps the fact that they are there, maintained and emptied regularly is an indication that they are used.

They're there to provide a service directly linked to the sole reason for the existence of Thailand Post.  I can imagine the uproar here if TP suddenly announced that the most convenient method of posting mail in the country for many people was being discontinued.

[wpcoe]

I don't know if this is specific to one particular Thai post office, but when I lived in Hua Hin, it was mentioned on an online forum that when a mail carrier went on vacation nobody was assigned to cover their route, so mail for customers on the route just stacked up until their return.

Even worse, on one route the carrier quit and wasn't replaced for a long time and, again, mail piled up.

On the second floor (I think it was...) of the main post office was a mountain of mail you could paw through looking for yours.

It was speculated that when mail delivery resumed (on a route where the regular carrier was either on vacation or had quit) that the stockpile of undelivered mail was never tackled.  i.e. The undelivered mail was never delivered.  Ever.

[rickudon]

Hardly any Post boxes in Udon Thani ....... If i want to post a letter i do it at the post office. Also, never had any mail fail to arrive in 10 years ( maybe 5 items a year!)

[starky]

On 3/19/2021 at 2:32 PM, rickudon said:

Hardly any Post boxes in Udon Thani ....... If i want to post a letter i do it at the post office. Also, never had any mail fail to arrive in 10 years ( maybe 5 items a year!)

Only 1 for me and an important one too. Funnily enough I have a house out the village where I'm well known and a house in town in Udon. 9 years never missed anything at the farm, paid tax, things gone missing. My place in town? I have to continually go to the post office, ask where things are, pay ridiculous taxes on things so I've redirected all my mail back out the farm lol.