Slow mail from UK recently ?

[Denim]

As per title. I have been waiting for something important for 3 weeks now and am beginning to fear the worst.

 

Last letter from UK took 2 weeks back in April. Is this just local to Petchabun or anyone else waiting on something ?

[Andrew Dwyer]

I find it is very hit and miss.

My daughter posted a couple of letters to me here in Ayutthaya from the U.K..

Identical method of posting, weight, size etc, 1st one took 19 days, 2nd took 42 !!

 

On the first occasion after @ 19 days i went to the post office, who redirected me to the main sorting depot for the city, they knew nothing about it, was delivered an hour later !

On the second occasion went back to the depot after 25 days and again after 35 days, again they knew nothing about it and i began to believe it would never appear, a week later it did.

[Negita43]

I would never trust redirection or direct post to Thailand - I redirect to a very good Spanish friend who scans and emails to me.

[Denim]

1 hour ago, Negita43 said:

I would never trust redirection or direct post to Thailand - I redirect to a very good Spanish friend who scans and emails to me.

 

Unfortunately this is a physical  thing that cannot be scanned.

[Denim]

1 hour ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

I find it is very hit and miss.

My daughter posted a couple of letters to me here in Ayutthaya from the U.K..

Identical method of posting, weight, size etc, 1st one took 19 days, 2nd took 42 !!

 

On the first occasion after @ 19 days i went to the post office, who redirected me to the main sorting depot for the city, they knew nothing about it, was delivered an hour later !

On the second occasion went back to the depot after 25 days and again after 35 days, again they knew nothing about it and i began to believe it would never appear, a week later it did.

 

Thanks. At least I know it's not unusual as Tom Jones would say.

 

Strange to think that back in 1980 when I was in Khon Kaen I often used to get mail from the UK in 5 days ! Mine was the only international mail to the Amper  and was treated as something exotic.

 

Times change I guess.

[SamSaraburi]

I got a small package in 6 days last month.

[Andrew Dwyer]

I would recommend going to the post office to make them aware that you are waiting for it.

While it might seem fairly obvious that mail should be delivered to the address on the package/letter i get the impression that the staff at the post office need reminding occasionally.

 

My True Internet/Visions bill doesn’t arrive every month, usually they wait for a few to mount up and then deliver them together, I once got 5 in one go, and am missing probably 50 %, I live in a moobahn not far from the city centre not out in the sticks either !!

[johng]

The fastest I ever had a letter arrive was 1 day !

Sent from London England  to Bangkok late 1990's 2000 amazing 

How we have actually gone backwards in some respects.

[Denim]

27 minutes ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

I would recommend going to the post office to make them aware that you are waiting for it.

While it might seem fairly obvious that mail should be delivered to the address on the package/letter i get the impression that the staff at the post office need reminding occasionally.

 

 

Yes. The last letter I received was delivered to a house in the middle of our soi because the new postman was ' confused ' by the English writing ?

You would have thought he understood the clear numbers though. Luckily that house was a friend of my wife so she phoned us about it.

 

The next day I went to the post office and personally gave the new postman a photo of our house with a simple map on the back.

 

Our last postman lived next door but one and knew us well. Lovely man.

Tragically he died a few months ago from high blood pressure  complications. Only 34 years old leaving a wife and two children.

[Cardano]

If the item is so impotant then get it sent by courier, yes a bit expensive but received in 4 days and fully traceable, alternatively get it sent by royal mail registered post usually arrives in one week and can be tracked so you always know where it is.

[Denim]

6 minutes ago, Cardano said:

If the item is so impotant then get it sent by courier, yes a bit expensive but received in 4 days and fully traceable, alternatively get it sent by royal mail registered post usually arrives in one week and can be tracked so you always know where it is.

 

Yes. From now on registered will have to be the way to go. Luckily not a life or death thing just an unexpected inconvenience. I ship a lot of things from here to the UK by regular mail. Seldom longer than two weeks.

[Negita43]

2 hours ago, Denim said:

Unfortunately this is a physical  thing that cannot be scanned.

Actually he has also received physical things and if a credit card just sends a pic and then I can use the data to make payments (or use it with Google pay in a shop).

Also a couple of times he has couriered something but that is expensive

[Zaphod Priest]

I subscribe to a fortnightly periodical from the UK.  I regularly get them arriving in pairs, the earlier issue having been held up for 14 days longer than the other.  No idea what's happening there.

[newbee2022]

At the moment there is a shortage of trained doves 😂

[Expat68]

I noticed that my last two letters came via Germany!!

[Man Mart]

It’s been appalling in Surin where I live. For the past year I’ve received no post at all from the UK and I know that two bank cards have been requested etc. It’s not just me it’s other foreigner friends from all over Europe who have found the same. It never used to be like this. I’ve complained to the Thai post office to no avail. What is going on? Seriously, is someone with a grudge binning our mail!

[Scouse123]

It seems to be OK going the other way, I sent additional information to HMPO on May 27th, and they received it June 4th.

 

Thailand Post track and trace but not EMS

[Blueman1]

On 6/4/2025 at 6:07 PM, SamSaraburi said:

I got a small package in 6 days last month.

I Got My " Life Certificate " in 5 Days,But I'm Still waiting for an IMPORTANT Letter from The DWP For almost 6 WEEKS Now !!

[Blueman1]

2 hours ago, newbee2022 said:

At the moment there is a shortage of trained doves 😂

Well Gotta start training Some Pigeons then....

[Surasak]

I don't use Thai mail and my family in the UK don't use Royal Mail, due to the overly excessive time it takes.

We now use DHL and in most cases is around the same price, but only takes 4 to 5 day max either direction.

A couple of months ago, my UK bank posted a replacement Debit card. I believe it may be on its way to Mars.

After much persuasion, I manage to get the bank to agree for my grand daughter to collect the replacement.

Needless to say, 4 days later DHL delivered. 

[Expat68]

6 minutes ago, Blueman1 said:

I Got My " Life Certificate " in 5 Days,But I'm Still waiting for an IMPORTANT Letter from The DWP For almost 6 WEEKS Now !!

I waited for my visa debit card 7 weeks, it had already expired when it finally arrived 

[alfredwilliams]

On 6/4/2025 at 6:09 PM, johng said:

The fastest I ever had a letter arrive was 1 day !

Sent from London England  to Bangkok late 1990's 2000 amazing 

How we have actually gone backwards in some respects.

When the suez canal was blocked they said this would impact on delivery times from china to the uk, my parcels from china got to me in half the time during this period, just saying

[Toby1947]

Apparently the Thai side Opening and Resealing department know as the OAR. are reported to be on a go slow. Due to not enough actual cash being found 😡🤬

[Guderian]

On 6/4/2025 at 4:32 PM, Denim said:

As per title. I have been waiting for something important for 3 weeks now and am beginning to fear the worst.

 

Last letter from UK took 2 weeks back in April. Is this just local to Petchabun or anyone else waiting on something ?

 

You're lucky that you're getting anything. Barclays in Jersey sends me a bank statement every month, but historically only around two-thirds of then have ever arrived here. So far this year, I've received just a single statement, and precious little other mail from anywhere. The Thai authorities are trying to digitise everything faster than makes sense given their limited IT abilities, and I guess they're not doing much to nurture the paper mail delivery service.

 

Mind you, it's not only at this end there are problems. My brother recently used the Royal Mail track and trace service to send a jiffy bag with birthday cards for me. It got to the Langley HWDC within 20 hours of posting and then just sat there for the next two weeks with no updates at all. Then there was an update saying the item is leaving the UK, and four days later it arrived at Lak Si in Bangkok. It eventually arrived here in Pattaya at noon on my birthday, so all's well that ends well, but given that the service cost north of £12 it wasn't exactly a great performance. 

 

Then, of course, there are the well-documented problems with postnl delivering proof of life forms for the DWP to Thailand. A few years ago they were taking over four months to reach here so a lot of people were finding their pension payments suspended as they hadn't received the form. I wish all these idiots would just use e-mail or a secure web portal and abandon paper mail. 

[Red Forever]

I subscribe to Private Eye in UK and it sometimes arrives here in 5 days. Never more than 10.

[Anthony mellows]

Got 2 bank cards sent from the UK. to Nakhon Phanom province in 7 days., sent from, family member.Cost about 8 pounds . Royal mail international track and trace.Could trace it online all the way.

[SamSaraburi]

6 hours ago, Blueman1 said:

I Got My " Life Certificate " in 5 Days,But I'm Still waiting for an IMPORTANT Letter from The DWP For almost 6 WEEKS Now !!

That’s very slow.

[Freddy42OZ]

I receive mail from all over the world as part of a global mail testing service. 

I received an airmail item from the UK a few days ago that was mailed on May 28th, 8 days from the UK to Bangkok.  Postage on it was 3.20 GBP (!!!) for a standard envelope.

I sent some documents from Bangkok to our family lawyer in the UK and they took 2 weeks (registered, A4 size)

I've not noticed any slowness compared to normal timings.

[johng]

3 minutes ago, Freddy42OZ said:

I receive mail from all over the world as part of a global mail testing service. 

That's ( Steve Davis) interesting  can you elaborate a bit  as I never heard of such a thing before.

[Maybole]

I used to work seasonally for Royal Mail at a sorting office. Many compaies (icluding DWP) outsource their mail to computerised companies. This mail is then run through a Postcode reading machine which checks the amount of postage paid against the destination and, if they do not match rejects the item. At the end of the shift these rejects are collected, sorted and returned to sender, Many of the company computers were not programmed to put any more than UK 2nd class postage on all and could not distinguish the need for extra postage on overseas items. What happened to those returns, I do not know, but I would be surprised to find that there was any mechanism to send them out again with the correct postege.