Thailand Post System-Lessons Learned

[Mark1066]

On 4/23/2023 at 6:50 PM, In the jungle said:

 

I had a similar situation with a UK bank.  "If we do not receive a reply within 28 days your account will be suspended."

 

The letter arrived after the 28 day deadline.  The account was suspended and it could only be reactivated by a visit in person to a branch of the bank in the UK.

You shouldn't be using an ordinary onshore bank account in the UK if you don't live there so I don't see a problem with that at all.

[treetops]

21 hours ago, Mark1066 said:

You shouldn't be using an ordinary onshore bank account in the UK if you don't live there so I don't see a problem with that at all.

<deleted>.  I and many others keep and use accounts in countries we visit frequently, all quite legally.

Edited May 22, 2023 by treetops

[new2here]

I agree with the others, it can really vary depending on the last-mile situation- ie your local PO and their staff etc

 

For me, as I live in the Bangrak district of Bangkok, all the staff; from counter to delivery, have a fairly solid comprehension of english- be that written or spoken, so rarely is there cases of mail that just isn’t delivered… Sure, some staff are more … professional and “service minded” than others, but overall, i myself haven’t really experienced rampant service failures- but cede that perhaps in more rural areas where english/foreign language skills may be lower, the issue may become more prevalent. 

[Presnock]

retired here 20 years ago and during the entire time, I have received mail regularly without any

problems.  This includes banking, official US govt and some private.  If I did miss anything then

it obviously (to me) wasn't that important.  Of course, I have used several addresses here, but

either Bangkok or Chiang Mai and possibly since they are major hubs in this country then that

might be why I never had any problem (that I know of).  I also have sent quite a bit of mail but

never had any problems there either.

 

[Henricus]

Go paper less and tell your family, Friends, pension company and banks to use mail SAVE TE WORLD!!!!! 

[Bangkok Barry]

On 4/23/2023 at 2:08 PM, Celsius said:

 

Strange. Maybe after 10++ years you still don't know how to write your Thai address?

What an idiotic statement. I assume, if you had known how to write correctly, you meant to say his address in Thai. Are you sure that the US postal authorities where he posted the letters from understand Thai? The OP, I am sure, wrote his address in English because it is a universal language which even the Thai postal authorities understand. 

[Bangkok Barry]

On 4/23/2023 at 3:06 PM, ukrules said:

I once went about 2 years without receiving any mail even though I was signed up to various services which billed me monthly and definitely mailed out invoices / statements.

I once went 18 months, same situation. Turns out it was too much trouble for the postman to actually deliver the mail so he burned it. Now the postman is a family member and delivery is guaranteed. In my native UK the postman would have been jailed for delaying the Queen's/King's mail, but as far as I know he was just allowed to retire.

[Hakuna Matata]

OMG, who is is sending old style letters nowadays? ????

[Bangkok Barry]

On 5/21/2023 at 8:42 PM, Mark1066 said:

You shouldn't be using an ordinary onshore bank account in the UK if you don't live there so I don't see a problem with that at all.

Strange that you tell a stranger how he should be conducting his banking. You obviously write from ignorance, as UK banks do allow long-standing customers to continue banking with them even if they now have no UK address. I am one. It's called grandfathering.

[Celsius]

11 minutes ago, Bangkok Barry said:

What an idiotic statement. I assume, if you had known how to write correctly, you meant to say his address in Thai. Are you sure that the US postal authorities where he posted the letters from understand Thai? The OP, I am sure, wrote his address in English because it is a universal language which even the Thai postal authorities understand. 

 

 

 

You put the address in Thai and country as "Thailand" in English.

 

But i guess that was too difficult for you to figure out.

[Bangkok Barry]

24 minutes ago, Celsius said:

 

 

 

You put the address in Thai and country as "Thailand" in English.

 

But i guess that was too difficult for you to figure out.

You clearly haven't thought this through. You expect all the other people and companies from all over the world that send mail to Thailand to write the address in Thai? With only the country name in English? That might be quite a challenge. Anyway, thanks for ignoring what I said about the Thai postal authorities understanding English, as they really have no choice. Because of what I've written here. The entire world sends mail to Thailand addressed in English. Perhaps you didn't know that.

 

Your original post was simply an ill-disguised sneer at someone you think should understand Thai after living here for 10 years. So here's something else you don't understand - not everyone has a talent for languages. Some even struggle with English, as you did in being unable to accurately state what you actually meant in your sneering comment about the OP.

Edited May 27, 2023 by Bangkok Barry

[foreverlomsak]

On 4/23/2023 at 4:28 PM, Liverpool Lou said:

Perhaps USPS had something to do with the issue?   I get normal post from the UK to Bangkok with no issues, takes about 5 days normally.

Doing better than me.

Monthly bank statements from UK arrive in 2's and 3's, if they actually arrive. Internal mail is no better, the CAT Wi-Fi invoices often arrive 2 at a time.

Bangkok, as I understand it, has a consecutive house numbering system, we have 3 houses in our family compound, all built at different times, the numbers are 182, 35 and 63/1 (63 itself is nowhere near), house numbers in the village are allocated by picking from a list of unused numbers or using /1, /2, etc. showing family links.

[foreverlomsak]

37 minutes ago, Bangkok Barry said:

wrote his address in English because it is a universal language which even the Thai postal authorities understand. 

I had a package sent (by international carrier) from Singapore to my address in Phetchabun, it was returned to the sender because "there is no such address in Bangkok", it was resent using the same address label in English and successfully delivered by ThaiPost. 

[BritManToo]

1 hour ago, Bangkok Barry said:

What an idiotic statement. I assume, if you had known how to write correctly, you meant to say his address in Thai. Are you sure that the US postal authorities where he posted the letters from understand Thai? The OP, I am sure, wrote his address in English because it is a universal language which even the Thai postal authorities understand. 

Do most foreign countries even have access to Thai script?

I think not!

[nickcar]

I live in Nakhon Nayok, parcels and EMS mail received. No ordinary mail ever received.

[chilly07]

On 4/23/2023 at 6:40 PM, NE1 said:

I just received a letter from UK Pensions , it arrived yesterday , the date on the letter head is the 13th March the post mark on the envelope is the 16th March.

In the first paragraph of the letter it states " I must return the document within 25 days ".

 

Yeh okay.

Still waiting for my life certificate letter from DWP. My frozen  pension got cancelled  this mth despite me not moving  for 10yrs. My other pensions allow  emailed responses.  DWP say they mailed to  my address  in their  records but despite  doing this twice before nothing  has come.  Their contact Nos is always  busy so I used their query email to get a blank form but they won't accept an email  back so after 7days still waiting for my EMS to get to their mailing address. Next year I will send them a Life Cert in Feb even if they don't ask for it! Chronic  maladministration! Too busy  paying out inflated 2000gbp to expats in the Phillipines to bother with my frozen 800gbp

[ericthai]

When staying in BKK I never had issues. However, in Surin it was hit or miss if mail would make it. 

[Surasak]

On 4/23/2023 at 6:40 PM, NE1 said:

I just received a letter from UK Pensions , it arrived yesterday , the date on the letter head is the 13th March the post mark on the envelope is the 16th March.

In the first paragraph of the letter it states " I must return the document within 25 days ".

 

Yeh okay.

I would lay blame squarely at the feet of Royal Mail. With their strikes and lack of any consistency over late Feb/March, any overseas post was severely delayed.  

[Luuk Chaai]

We get U.S. mail all the time   standard snail mail   and  Priority mail ..    Wang Phong / Pranburi

  a phone # supplied and the  delivery man or woman  always calls to tell us they are on the  way 

we meet them at the  gate and it gets hand delivered  same for the  Shoppe/Lazada/Kerry packages

 only thing that ever gets into the  actual mail box is  the PEA bill and lizards

 

We often send packages back to the  U.S. , thru Thailand Post  EMS ...   never a problem 

[LittleBear57]

Here in Bang Saray I have found it awful.

First I got a letter from my pension provider giving me 3 months to decide if I wanted to take my pension as a lump sum, great deal too! It arrived a month after the deadline date. A tax info letter took 6 months to arrive. Yesterday I found in my bank statement (internet)  that my other pension had increased in April but had no letter advising future payments which is normally sent around December. I also have had no tax forms sent so it looks like I will have to download the forms locally and print them off.

But of course the worst thing is you never know if something has gone missing and it's unexpected, but important.

No wonder UK banks will not send bank or credit cards to Thailand.

[ThaiFelix]

I have been living here in Thailand for over 20 years.  Prior to that I was a frequent visitor coming 2 or 3 times a year for 15 years.  I have family back in Oz including a daughter.  Over that 35 odd years I have used Thai post quite a bit, especially when my daughter was younger to send her clothes toys etc.  I also found it easier and cheaper to post stuff back to OZ rather than carry it on my travels.  Only ONCE in those 35 years have I lost a thing.....one parcel sent to Oz never made it.  Lost here or there who knows.  Incidently I always used the cheapest post as in no hurry to have it delivered so long as it gets there and it almost always has.

[topt]

9 hours ago, LittleBear57 said:

I also have had no tax forms sent

Apparently these are not being sent out automatically anymore - according to the person I spoke to when I ordered mine. They only took 2-3 weeks to arrive.

[nglodnig]

As pointed out in a previous post, our "Proof of Life" letters from a pension provider have not been received for a few years now (new postie?)

 

Previously they would send me an email but this year seem to have given up and the first I knew was when the payment was stopped. I phoned them, explained the situtation AGAIN and asked if they could email us instead.

 

"We're not really setup for that 21st century stuff" was the reply. I said I will keep a copy of the blank cert and email it every January which they agreed was for the best.

 

I looked into getting a PO box in our local Post Office (Hang Dong) but was told they had none available. I'll try again.

[Captor]

On 4/24/2023 at 10:36 AM, Bangkok Barry said:

I assume you meant to say 'your address in Thai'. And nor does anyone else in the entire world outside of Thailand. Which is why the postal authorities need to/are supposed to understand English.

As it it, I wanted to send a letter from the Nana post office in Bangkok to Kalasin, and she wanted to know what country Kalasin is in. So they appear to not know very much.

I think it is down to the local posties ability in reading english AND Thai! And how lazy they are. We are still getting mail to the old owner of the house we bought 6 years ago. We told the postie and he said: just through them away! We have actually start to do that now as now we have become lazy.

[topt]

On 5/28/2023 at 6:20 PM, topt said:

Apparently these are not being sent out automatically anymore - according to the person I spoke to when I ordered mine. They only took 2-3 weeks to arrive.

Seems to be a left hand/right hand thing. Just received today a tax return with the notes and my details printed on the front which suggests they are still sending them out.................

 

Too late however as my completed return was received by HMRC last week. Using EMS tracked took 12 days in total and cost me 290 baht.

[AAArdvark]

I have learned that sending mail into Thailand  creates issues because the sender cannot figure out how to forman the Thai address even if you give it to them cirrectly

[pollyog]

To Bangkok Barry's post  specifically

 

Do you actually have an email address for the UK pensions?   My UK pension has not been paid into my account for 2 months so can only assume that the last 'proof of life' documentation never reached me.  Their website is useless and I cannot find anywhere I can email them or phone regarding non-payment of an existing pension.

[jcmj]

We used to have issues a few years ago, but for the past 5-6 years we have had no problems receiving any mail or packages using the regular mail sent from the US. This is in Pattaya so it seems to be issues with where you live. Sure they can take some time, but they all arrive. 

[TigerandDog]

It's not just mail posted from overseas to Thailand, it's also mail posted in Thailand to a Thai address. This year after submitting my Thai tax return in January and receiving a text message stating that my refund cheque had been mailed I had to visit the local Revenue Office 3 times to advise that my cheque had not been received. The only way I managed to receive my cheque was to have a replacement cheque (2nd one) sent to the local Revenue Office in one of their courier bags and I collected the cheque there.

[pattaya1234was]

On 4/23/2023 at 6:40 PM, NE1 said:

I just received a letter from UK Pensions , it arrived yesterday , the date on the letter head is the 13th March the post mark on the envelope is the 16th March.

In the first paragraph of the letter it states " I must return the document within 25 days ".

 

Yeh okay.

Something similar. Birthday Card posted in UK on 13th March arrived 25th May.