I still haven't received a letter my brother in Washington State posted on Oct. 8 to me in Bangkok. I am wondering if it is lost -- or is anyone else experiencing such long waits?

 

 

I was waiting for a package mailed by my son in August untill I found out a few days ago he didn’t mail it.

I've received two "letters" (new credit cards forwarded from family) from the U.S. - standard international air-mail (Forever Stamps) - in the last two months. Total time was 13 days, and 17 days.

 

These go to my Thai Post Office PO Box.

 

Do you receive mail at your address from domestic (Thai) sources? From the U.S. ever? EMS?

 

How was the letter mailed?

 

 

Letters from Oz to here in south Surin take anything from 2 weeks to 2 months to arrive. 

 

Very difficult to get some organisations - banks in particular - to do business by email ...

US to Thailand, that is too long. Received a letter/card last Tuesday (November 25), mailed November 10th from Olympia WA. 

2 hours ago, bamnutsak said:

I've received two "letters" (new credit cards forwarded from family) from the U.S. - standard international air-mail (Forever Stamps) - in the last two months. Total time was 13 days, and 17 days.

 

These go to my Thai Post Office PO Box.

 

Do you receive mail at your address from domestic (Thai) sources? From the U.S. ever? EMS?

 

How was the letter mailed?

 

 

Mine also new credit card. My brother addressed to my Thai Post Office P.O. box also. Standard air mail. Maybe time to report card lost?

On 11/29/2025 at 5:06 PM, david_je said:

I still haven't received a letter my brother in Washington State posted on Oct. 8 to me in Bangkok. I am wondering if it is lost -- or is anyone else experiencing such long waits?

 

 

Last week I received an envelope from the company I retired from in the US.  It was metered mail and it was dated October 2.  Lately it’s been taken a lot longer to receive mail from the US.  Last year it usually took about 4 weeks.

15 minutes ago, statman78 said:

Last week I received an envelope from the company I retired from in the US.  It was metered mail and it was dated October 2.  Lately it’s been taken a lot longer to receive mail from the US.  Last year it usually took about 4 weeks.

Thanks, maybe I will wait for a few more days then before reporting the card lost.

On 11/30/2025 at 10:08 AM, mfd101 said:

Letters from Oz to here in south Surin take anything from 2 weeks to 2 months to arrive. 

 

Very difficult to get some organisations - banks in particular - to do business by email ...

Mail from Centrelink took 2 months to arrive.

I gave up on Airmail from USA long ago. Today it is possible to handle most things online and if you need something urgently (like a new credit card) it should be sent by express mail. 

Same here. Centrelink sent 'Proof of Life' forms on 3 separate occasions the last being on 5 Sept. None arrived.  They stopped my pension. They refuse to send the form as an email attachment only to a physical address. In the end I had my son email the form to me  As of today I still haven't received any letters from Centrelink  The good news is they restored my pension with backpay last  week so my grandkids will get some money for Christmas. 😀

I sent my daughter a packet and it sat in the post office for ages ,she had to collect it, because the only guy that could read English was on holiday 

Maybe the staff can’t read English?

Today (Dec 4), I received two letters from Chase Bank, my credit card company, one dated Sept 9, and one dated Nov 28, not metered, but pre-printed  "Jersey Post Priority" one dated 11/20.25, the other undated.  When I expect Chase to send out renewal cards (about two months before my card's expiration date) I always call then to request the cards be sent Priority Mail-Trackable and I usually get them in 7-10 days.

There was a period when I was getting mail on time. A short period. Most of my mail now goes to a friend that remails. My bank won't mail to Thailand. New cards go to a friend for remail. And that mail takes its own sweet time getting here. Packages have been a real problem as many companies will not mail to Thailand. Again the same, mail to friend who remails to me. As I am able to watch progress in the states, it is there the problem comes from. I just watched a package sit in Houston for a week and spend a few days "in transit to a location". It now sits in Chicago, the place where packages go to die. I have had packages that had to have been deliberately destroyed the damage was so extensive. Several have disappeared into the US postal system, never found. All in Chicago. I hope somebody is enjoying the New Mexico and Cajun spices etc. Most fishing gear has to be remailed and the customs scam charges just about doubles the price. Automotive is the same way. I have a '22 Mustang that is barely broken in and I can't fine the speed parts here in Thailand I need. They may be available in BKK but everything I have checked has been in Thai and I can't read Thai. Once/if my package gets out of the states it doesn't take long to pass through the customs rip off here and on to either my house, or the PO for pick up as the PO often refuses to deliver. 

 

When it came time to vote earlier this year I sent my ballot thr. the Embassy, did not trust US mail upon arrival.

 

A note on "customs". They once tried to charge me 300 USD for a 75 USD cowboy work hat. I filed an appeal and won. The worst was trying to charge me over 100USD for my own old clothes that I worn or taken with me to the VA Hospital in Minneapolis for my Agent Orange throat cancer operation. New clothes, ok I'll pay your scam but my own used clothes, no way and I didn't pay. 

 

Frankly once away from the customs scam and into the real postal system here the service is much better and quicker than the states. 

When my salary slip was sent to me in surin it took 2-3 months before it arrived.Sent from Scandinavia.

Then i learned a new way to make it much faster.I was sending a ATM card to my exwife in surin and not to her adress but her name and used POSTE RESTANTE to Prasat post office.Took only 4-5 days before she could pick it up.We used the same address when we sent something to her mother.Allways arrived fast.Allways POSTE RESTANTE to Prasat post office.The reason it took months before was that the postman didn't bring mail before he had collect many other letters before he brought it to the village.

A parcel sent from UK reached my door here in remote Ubon in 8 days.

Here’s a tip: if you tell the sender to put a minimal value of the goods on the form you won’t pay tax this end.

Yesterday I received 2 big envelops from the US VA.   One was sent on Nov, 13 and the other on Nov. 25th. 

Why when sent 12 days apart, did they arrive on the same day.

Thai post seems to be the problem.

Neither envelope was time sensitive...so no loss.

Just saying.

6 hours ago, Red Forever said:

A parcel sent from UK reached my door here in remote Ubon in 8 days.

Here’s a tip: if you tell the sender to put a minimal value of the goods on the form you won’t pay tax this end.

 Not completely true.

Wife sent some clothes to her grandkids and a handbag for the daughter in law from Australia and put a value of $50 on the declaration.

When DIL went to pick them up she had to pay 1500 baht tax. Wife had left the price tag on the handbag (150AUD).

Somebody had obviously opened the package to check.

Not sure why people can’t understand that the address is in English and the postman only speak Thai so can’t understand 

So there are no issues mailing things from America to Thailand? Overall had mail show up here months late and likely much disappeared over the years. Perhaps teach Thai postal workers to read English maybe even speak it.

On 11/29/2025 at 5:06 PM, david_je said:

I still haven't received a letter my brother in Washington State posted on Oct. 8 to me in Bangkok. I am wondering if it is lost -- or is anyone else experiencing such long waits?

 

 

FYI, it finally arrived today, 62 days after it was mailed.