If you are waiting for an important letter......

[Tropicalevo]

Just thought that I would mention that there are large piles of undelivered letters at the sorting office near Makro in Chaweng.

A friend is waiting for three very important letters (one is a replacement credit card).

He went to the sorting office and was told to 'look in the back room'.

Lots of undelivered post. Lack of staff since Covid.

He eventually received six letters going back to January (including the cc) but still a lot missing.

Up here at the pointy end of Samui, people that I talk to say that they have received no post all year.

[PoorSucker]

On 6/24/2023 at 11:28 AM, Tropicalevo said:

Up here at the pointy end of Samui, people that I talk to say that they have received no post all year.

Postman knows where you live... ????

[Tropicalevo]

2 hours ago, PoorSucker said:

Postman knows where you live... ????

Yep. Been delivering here for more than 20 years. Drew the maps and everything.

Just stopped this year???

Looking at the piles and piles of letters in the office, it's a sorting office problem. We are expected to go and look for ourselves.

[dingdongrb]

Who in their right mind would have a credit card delivered by regular post......  It's DHL or FedEx..... The only way!

[Bill97]

20 minutes ago, dingdongrb said:

Who in their right mind would have a credit card delivered by regular post......  It's DHL or FedEx..... The only way!

Not true.  Regular mail works just fine for most. Got five that way so far this year.

[Liverpool Lou]

42 minutes ago, dingdongrb said:

Who in their right mind would have a credit card delivered by regular post......  It's DHL or FedEx..... The only way!

A local bank would.  In this case the postal delivery was successful so it's safe to assume that the sender was in his right mind.

Edited June 25, 2023 by Liverpool Lou

[dingdongrb]

13 minutes ago, Bill97 said:

Not true.  Regular mail works just fine for most. Got five that way so far this year.

To be more specific I was talking about credit cards (or debit cards) issued outside of Thailand (like from your home country).

 

International mail deliveries to Thailand has a 'hit or miss' result. I would never trust standard delivery service for something so important. 

 

I have personally sent items in the mail from the USA to Thailand that never arrived at the addressed location. And just last week I received mail from the USA SSA (Social Security Administration) that arrived a little over a month later than the date recorded on the letter.

 

I would never chance it but, 'to each their own'.

 

Hmmmmmm... 5 credit cards... wow!  (So far this year!!!!)

[dingdongrb]

5 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

A local bank would.  In this case the postal delivery was successful so it's safe to assume that the sender was in his right mind.

I just posted more details regarding my original post, I was referring to international delivery of a credit card. For a local credit card (or debit card) then I understand but even so I would personally pick up the card at the bank and get it myself.

 

NOTE: I have just 1 Credit/Debit card from my home country bank and 1 debit card from BKK Bank. My card from the USA was just recently re-issued. I had my bank send it to my brother's house in the USA and then he forwarded it to me using DHL. My BBK Bank debt card was handed to me personally at the bank........easy peasy......safe and secure!

[Tropicalevo]

56 minutes ago, dingdongrb said:

Who in their right mind would have a credit card delivered by regular post......  It's DHL or FedEx..... The only way!

That decision is down to the bank.

All of mine are delivered by post, but to a UK address and then couriered to me.

My friend's bank would only deliver to his home address (from HK).

The other two important documents are also 'post only'.

Both are 'proof of address'.

Edited June 25, 2023 by Tropicalevo

[Liverpool Lou]

7 minutes ago, dingdongrb said:

International mail deliveries to Thailand has a 'hit or miss' result.

As a generalisation that is just plain wrong unless the recipient chooses to live in the out-of-the-way sticks

[Liverpool Lou]

10 minutes ago, dingdongrb said:

I have personally sent items in the mail from the USA to Thailand that never arrived at the addressed location.

Why suggest that was the fault of Thailand Post when USPS is a service that is not exactly well-reputed, perhaps the blame should lie at their feet?  

[dingdongrb]

4 minutes ago, Tropicalevo said:

That decision is down to the bank.

 

The decision is YOUR choice, not the bank's. If a bank would not abide by where/how I want the card delivered then I would be choosing a different bank.

[Tropicalevo]

3 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

As a generalisation that is just plain wrong unless the recipient chooses to live in the out-of-the-way sticks

The problem here on Samui is the house numbering system.

It tells you when the house was built, not where it is.

You then have to go to the post office and draw a map (or two) showing where the house is.

As I said earlier, I have been receiving post OK (albeit late) for more than 20 years. So have my friends.

The problem is that the sorting office is not getting the letters to the postie. There are piles and piles of unsorted post at the sorting office.

It seems that if you are waiting for an important letter, you have to go there and find it yourself. ????

[dingdongrb]

6 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

As a generalisation that is just plain wrong unless the recipient chooses to live in the out-of-the-way sticks

Is Hangdong in Chiang Mai "out-of-the-way sticks"?

 

......and it wasn't a 'generalization', it was fact based on personal experience.

[dingdongrb]

6 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Why suggest that was the fault of Thailand Post when USPS is a service that is not exactly well-reputed, perhaps the blame should lie at their feet?  

You could be right. However, everything I sent for many years from the USA to Germany and New Zealand always arrived....... and in a timely fashion. I don't recall any missing mail or mail delivered extremely late to those two destinations.

 

Hmmmmmm........

[foreverlomsak]

17 minutes ago, dingdongrb said:

And just last week I received mail from the USA SSA (Social Security Administration) that arrived a little over a month later than the date recorded on the letter.

It's not only foreign mail that has a problem, my CAT WiFi bill issued on April 5th to be paid by April 30th, has still to arrive, not a big problem CAT are very amenable to accepting this month against a previous bill, and they don't know why the bill does not arrive during the month it was sent.

[foreverlomsak]

6 minutes ago, Tropicalevo said:

It seems that if you are waiting for an important letter, you have to go there and find it yourself.

I'm way north but think I might need to give it a try, apparently our Tambon has a post office but nobody knows where it is, and contacting the local delivery man doesn't help, it just encourages him to (in one case only to my knowledge) to bring the parcel a couple of days later.

Have thought about getting a Box No in the local town, but my pension providers have advised that using PO Boxes as addresses are not acceptable. 

[dingdongrb]

21 minutes ago, foreverlomsak said:

It's not only foreign mail that has a problem, my CAT WiFi bill issued on April 5th to be paid by April 30th, has still to arrive, not a big problem CAT are very amenable to accepting this month against a previous bill, and they don't know why the bill does not arrive during the month it was sent.

Why have a paper bill come to the house for local services? 

 

Hopefully some day PEA will step up to the modern times and submit monthly billings online.

[Gulfsailor]

21 minutes ago, dingdongrb said:

Why have a paper bill come to the house for local services? 

 

Hopefully some day PEA will step up to the modern times and submit monthly billings online.

PEA smartplus app. Usage history, bills, payment process, notification of planned outages, report problem, and many more features in one very handy app. 

[swerve]

53 minutes ago, dingdongrb said:

NOTE: I have just 1 Credit/Debit card from my home country bank and 1 debit card from BKK Bank. My card from the USA was just recently re-issued. I had my bank send it to my brother's house in the USA and then he forwarded it to me using DHL. 

This is off-topic, but a good idea. I used to do the same regarding credit cards from Canada.  Have the bank mail it to a relative (my bank mailing address) who would then send it to me in Thailand by courier.  Cost me $100 CAD.  If you phone the bank, they might send the card directly to you and cover the cost of the courier.  I did this for my last credit card replacement.  Bank paid and I saved $100.  

[dingdongrb]

5 minutes ago, Gulfsailor said:

PEA smartplus app. Usage history, bills, payment process, notification of planned outages, report problem, and many more features in one very handy app. 

I didn't realize that. I'll have to check it out, thanks!

[Tropicalevo]

10 hours ago, Gulfsailor said:

PEA smartplus app. Usage history, bills, payment process, notification of planned outages, report problem, and many more features in one very handy app. 

No use to me.

I live on a private development.

No PEA or PWA.

[foreverlomsak]

11 hours ago, dingdongrb said:

Why have a paper bill come to the house for local services? 

 

Hopefully some day PEA will step up to the modern times and submit monthly billings online.

Because that's how they work, sometimes CAT gives me a replacement bill sometimes not.

Digital banking is changing this slowly in some areas, too fast in others for my liking.

[khunPer]

Problems with post delivery must be local, I seem to have no problems in Maenam – i.e. I'm not missing anything – and I regularly see Postman Pat on motorbike with lots of mail...

[Tropicalevo]

Problem solved.

 

No staff during Covid. Many left the island.

Lots of the staff in the sorting office are new and the post office is slow to train them.

Meanwhile, the piles of undelivered post are growing every day.

My friend has found a partial solution.

He speaks fluent Thai and he goes to the sorting office every day with a jar of cookies for the staff. He tells them that he still has not received the urgent letters that were sent to him last year would they please carry on looking.

The next day he receives a batch of letters. In fact, today, even I received half a dozen letters. All sent in January. Including January's credit card statement and last year's annual summary.