A registered letter to Australia takes 2 weeks?

[giddyup]

I had to send a completed form back to Centrelink in Australia and figured registered post was the safest way to send to be sure it would get there. I was a little surprised when told that it would take 2 weeks. Has international post really become that slow? I can remember when it only took 4 days for an airmail letter from Australia to the UK. Mind you, the letter from C'link took 7 weeks to get here! It arrived the day I was supposed to have it returned by.

[hadock]

 I often send registered letters to HK, Singapore, Germany...and everytime i ask how long it will take, the answer is two weeks....I think this is a kind of auto reply....mostly the letters will arrive in a week or so..

[KhunBENQ]

Last registered letter to Germany took 4 days to arrive at Germans customs clearance.

Took another 5 days to final delivery.

Not bad compared to previous experiences.

Once a letter took three weeks from Germany to here.

 

A mate's letter from 19. July took 7 days to German customs clearance and not yet delivered. At least one more day in Thailand compared to mine.

[bluejets]

Don't be surprised to find the delay is at the Aussie end.

China parcels track as arriving in Aus 2 to 3 days after dispatch but then take up to 4 weeks within Aus.

Recently sent a parcel to West Aus from Qld, over 1 week as "normal post".

Once queried the time from Qld to NZ, was told "you sent "normal mail" instead of express.

Now as far as I am aware, it all goes by airmail, so I asked if they were still using Tiger Moth aircraft.

Just received a perplexed look ( no sense of humour)

 

[swm59nj]

Late last year I sent a registered letter to the United States.  It took almost four weeks. 

[Lacessit]

Australia Post's standard of service with letters has declined significantly over the last decade, as the parcel trade is more lucrative. Executive bonuses must be maintained.

[HighPriority]

Express delivery inside Australia is ordinary.

In Darwin we pay the same fee for overnight delivery but it takes 4 days minimum. 
Second others experiences re parcel delivery. 

[scorecard]

EMS to Australia is faster. 

[Haveasay]

I posted a letter in Sydney recently to a location about 10 kilometres away and it never arrived! 

[JimHuaHin]

A couple of weeks ago I sent a letter to Adelaide from Hua Hin (EMS, registered express?), it took 12 days to be delivered.

[Expat68]

I recently posted something to UK, the lady said normal 2 months, registered 2 weeks. I did not believe her and told her so, I posted normal, it arrived in 7 days

[brianthainess]

1 hour ago, Haveasay said:

I posted a letter in Sydney recently to a location about 10 kilometres away and it never arrived! 

6yrs ago I posted a letter to myself at my local 7/11 post box, 1.5 klm from my house ,to see if my new address would be ok. It took 6weeks to arrive. since I moved to my new house NOTHING EVER ARRIVES!  THAI POST, KOH CHANG . 

[mark5335]

If it's an important document, for both speed and safety reasons I use DHL to send from Bangkok to Sydney.

[McTavish]

13 minutes ago, mark5335 said:

If it's an important document, for both speed and safety reasons I use DHL to send from Bangkok to Sydney.

The only safe solution 

I had an important document mailed from AKL Central to Adelaide POBox.  It took 3 months to be delivered.  Homing pigeons are faster than Australia Post.

ThaiPost by comparison is incredibly fast, cheap and efficient (except on Koh Chang).

[MikeN]

My wife recently sent an important document to her sister in USA by EMS, according to the tracking data it was "with the airline' for 3 weeks and took just over a month in total. Yesterday I got a "know your customer" form to fill out from my bank in Australia (to verify my ID or else) that was posted 30th May, and had to be completed by 7 July. Luckily I've already done it online.

[brianthainess]

3 hours ago, McTavish said:

 

ThaiPost by comparison is incredibly fast, cheap and efficient (except on Koh Chang).

A lot of people who live up a small Sois all over Thailand seem to have the same problem with Thai post, yet all delivery companies seem to have no problem. 

Email to head office no mail for 2 yrs after 3 days, 6months of mail turned up. where on earth do they keep it all?

nothing since of course.

[orchidfan]

1 hour ago, MikeN said:

My wife recently sent an important document to her sister in USA by EMS, according to the tracking data it was "with the airline' for 3 weeks and took just over a month in total. Yesterday I got a "know your customer" form to fill out from my bank in Australia (to verify my ID or else) that was posted 30th May, and had to be completed by 7 July. Luckily I've already done it online.

I also has to do the " verification of ID" for my Oz bank (which they more or less froze until my ID was confirmed)...BUT it required a notorised copy of my passport done by the Oz  Consulate in  Bkk.

Only option was to send it and their form back by EMS.

I think they got it in a week or so.

 

Don't know how you did this "online"??

[AgMech Cowboy]

Yes, it can easily take 2 weeks. They're government employees on both ends and have no incentive to 'get things done'.  I sent a letter by EMS, to a Western country, which took 7 (or was it ???? days to arrive.  Next time I needed to send something asap, which was a couple of weeks later, I sent it by DHL (3 days), and was floored when I discovered it was cheaper than EMS.

 

I quit send letters by registered mail 2 years ago when I sent out a bunch (8 letters) on the same day. Half of them I sent registered. Some of the unregistered letters arrived before the registered ones.

[jacko45k]

1 hour ago, brianthainess said:

Email to head office no mail for 2 yrs after 3 days, 6months of mail turned up. where on earth do they keep it all?

nothing since of course.

Yeah... I had not received mail for a while and asked the Mrs to go ask at the P.O.....next day a delivery put quite a few in my home mailbox. Were they keeping it in a box at the P.O. until it got too full?

[brianthainess]

3 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

Yeah... I had not received mail for a while and asked the Mrs to go ask at the P.O.....next day a delivery put quite a few in my home mailbox. Were they keeping it in a box at the P.O. until it got too full?

Maybe under the postman's. bed.

[connda]

A registered letter from Thailand to Wilkes-Barr, PA USA took 2 months.  That problem wasn't on the Thai side which took less than 48 hours to transit Thailand and get loaded on a flight to the US.  If it's registered you can track it.  Find out where it got held up.  My guess - not in Thailand.

Personally, if something is important?  Use a private courier or EMS.  Registered is only good for stuff you don't care about time-wise.

[connda]

1 hour ago, orchidfan said:

Only option was to send it and their form back by EMS.

I think they got it in a week or so.

What do you mean "I think."  EMS is trackable.  You should know exactly where it went and where it got held up.

https://track.thailandpost.co.th/?lang=en

 

[connda]

6 hours ago, Expat68 said:

I recently posted something to UK, the lady said normal 2 months, registered 2 weeks. I did not believe her and told her so, I posted normal, it arrived in 7 days

Exactly.  I post my annual SSA 7162 (Are You Still Alive) via regular post.  In the past I did it twice using registered and it took over 2 months, and the tracking showed it got hung up between the International Airport in NY and then again (for weeks) in Wilkes-Barr, Pennsylvania which was it destination.  The post office just sat on it for weeks.

[scorecard]

8 hours ago, scorecard said:

EMS to Australia is faster. 

But it has changed.

 

Several years back I mailed many letters, giant envelopes (X Rays) and cardboard tubes to the DVA in Hobart by EMS, all received in Hobart in 3 to 4 days.

 

Much more recently I was back in OZ for a while, I did a lot of online shopping, sites in Oz and in China.

 

Some items ending up in the hands of Aust.Post for the final leg of the delivery.

 

Regularly got e.mails from Aust.Post about delays, staff shortages, often mentioning 14 day delays.

 

And in some cases I got a message that my package had been delivered to a 'nearby' PO and I needed to go to that PO to claim my package.

 

I'm in a whellchair and I had paid for delivery to my address not to a PO.

 

I called them and objected. That call (live call) goes to a national HQ number for Aust.Post and the caller gets told a list of excuses plus details of postal laws etc., saying the PO can do this.

 

I refused to accept this and stood my ground. Several times I had to call back and get angry at the lack of service and lack of respect for customers. Eventually they renigged and my package was delivered to my apartment.

 

Totally disgraceful service and totally disgraceful service from their telephone staff.

[orchidfan]

2 hours ago, connda said:

What do you mean "I think."  EMS is trackable.  You should know exactly where it went and where it got held up.

https://track.thailandpost.co.th/?lang=en

 

Thanks. Yes I know that. I send and receive letters  and packages  by EMS a few times a year.

This one to the Oz bank I wasn't overly concerned about and it was a while ago.

At 73 I don't recall the exact day/date it arrived there, but recall that it was "about a week or so".

Bottom line is that they got it in good time and f I n a l l y released my account for full use.

PS. I've had this account for over 40 years and suddenly they want me to confirm who I am!!

EMS service to /from Thailand I've found to be excellent.

Thai  EMS Post guy# even calls me to say he's on his way to my house!

Of course, nothing to do with the B100 tip I give him????

#I think a different guy than normal daily postie. 

[MikeN]

4 hours ago, orchidfan said:

I also has to do the " verification of ID" for my Oz bank (which they more or less froze until my ID was confirmed)...BUT it required a notorised copy of my passport done by the Oz  Consulate in  Bkk.

Only option was to send it and their form back by EMS.

I think they got it in a week or so.

 

Don't know how you did this "online"??

With Westpac I had to log in normally then provide 2 of my passport number, Aus drivers license, medicare card or Aus birth certificate. Passport was easy, but luckily the system accepted the number of an expired drivers license ! Those numbers are checked with an electronic data verification system, which might be worrying for the tinfoil hat brigade. Then I got an email saying all ok :

 

We're happy to let you know that we successfully confirmed your identity online using the electronic verification services of one or more of the following entities:

• Equifax Pty Limited;

• Equifax Australia Information Services and Solutions Pty Limited (EAISS), operator of Equifax's electronic verification service; and/or

• Experian Australia Credit Services Pty Ltd (Experian)

It did make me wonder about the 100 point check needed to open an account originally, some 30 or more years ago.....have I changed my ID since then ?

[biggles45]

I sent a personally signed, one page form via LBC couriers from Manila to a business in the Melbourne CBD. It took 5 days and cost me $A42, a licence to print money they have. With the local postal service here it probably wouldn't have made it tho. 

[nglodnig]

Trying to change my UK bank account now Barclays are going to cancel me (I rang them and complained this was a POLITICAL move like Farage with Coutts but didn't get very far ???? ) anyway.... here's the point - sent our our notarized docs to Lloyds Bank Int'l in the Isle of Man by REGISTERED post - took nearly two weeks to get there!

 

But no, I didn't send from Thailand - I sent from ultra-efficient SWITZERLAND. Tracked it - took several days before it even arrived in the UK and then nearly a week to get across the Irish Sea.

 

So - this is basically NORMAL for all postal services - and they wonder why people prefer to send things ELECTRONICALLY. 

[drgoon]

I find the Australian postal service to be really quite good, but, at times is a shocker.

Mail received from the UK, 7 days, from NZ, 27 days. I'm not saying Aussie post is to blame entirely as I have had the same issue with courier to Isaan. A4 envelope to Kaset Somboon....  60 days.

Tracked envelope from Holland to Perth, 5 days to mail sorting depot. 11 days from there to delivery.

 

[JimHuaHin]

22 hours ago, MikeN said:

My wife recently sent an important document to her sister in USA by EMS, according to the tracking data it was "with the airline' for 3 weeks and took just over a month in total. Yesterday I got a "know your customer" form to fill out from my bank in Australia (to verify my ID or else) that was posted 30th May, and had to be completed by 7 July. Luckily I've already done it online.

Westpac?