Postal Service Dependable?

[Rob5060]

I have a house at Laguna Home but as yet only spent holidays there

I am now preparing to move and starting the process of visas etc

I am going to have to get some important documents sent to Thailand later and wonder how dependable the postal service is seen to be

Thinking maybe it could be worth having them delivered to a po box number at a central post office

Anybody use a service like this or is not needed

Cheers

[Loaded]

Very unreliable imo. If you want 100% reliability use a courier service. Over the last 2 years I have lost around 5 registered letters sent via the post office near wararot market to the states and the UK. Going in with a receipt gets you the standard bs: mai rue, mai hen, mai kaojai, next please

[Priceless]

Very unreliable imo. If you want 100% reliability use a courier service. Over the last 2 years I have lost around 5 registered letters sent via the post office near wararot market to the states and the UK. Going in with a receipt gets you the standard bs: mai rue, mai hen, mai kaojai, next please

The OP's intention was to send letters to Thailand, not from. My experience has been very good as far as receiving letters goes, though I must agree with you about sending letters from or within Thailand. My experiences have been particularly bad with the private "sub-" post offices.

I have e.g. handed in, and paid for, an EMS letter which was subsequently sent by regular mail. Considering that the EMS postage fee is 44 baht and the regular postage is 5 baht, that constituted a nice little profit for the post office

/ Priceless

[Mapguy]

I have a house at Laguna Home but as yet only spent holidays there

I am now preparing to move and starting the process of visas etc

I am going to have to get some important documents sent to Thailand later and wonder how dependable the postal service is seen to be

Thinking maybe it could be worth having them delivered to a po box number at a central post office

Anybody use a service like this or is not needed

Cheers

Never had a problem. To Europe: less than a week. To North America: not much longer. Just to be sure, I send important material by registered mail. I have never thought that a lost registered mail problem was worth following up. Just save a copy of what you send and give the recipient a copy of your receipt. Big deal. But I think sending registered is very cheap insurance for "special handling." No problem with sending or receiving mail for me so far. Locally? Mail is VERY fast.

Not to worry. Sure, you want to use a courier? Very good couriers here, like DHL. But you will pay a lot of money. On one hand, some day you might lose something. On the other hand, (with DHL, at least) you might have many more problems with customs depending upon what you send or receive. DHL takes customs very seriously!

Take your pick!

What's the old story? Great Britain sent the crown jewels to North America early on in WWII by regular post? So, what is anyone worried about, really? Thai post does just fine.

[papajohn]

I have a house at Laguna Home but as yet only spent holidays there

I am now preparing to move and starting the process of visas etc

I am going to have to get some important documents sent to Thailand later and wonder how dependable the postal service is seen to be

Thinking maybe it could be worth having them delivered to a po box number at a central post office

Anybody use a service like this or is not needed

Cheers

Hi, Although I never had a problem with the mail here, letters or parcels, to and from the US, but if it is important stuff I always use FED EXPRESS. Cost a little more but you get a tracking number and fast service. Peace of mind well worth a little extra sawadee kup

[steve__C]

We have had loads of stuff go missing that was sent from the UK to Chiang Mai. At my old house we were only getting about 50% of the packages that Granny sent to my kids.

If it is important I would use a courier.

[SamSipEt]

My UK based credit card is up for renewal and the issuing company will not send it to Thailand under any circumstances. They will only agree to send to a friend or family member in the UK who I vouch for and who can physically carry it here when visiting. They emphasise that I should not have it sent to a friend who will then post it on to me or even use a courier service. Sounds a bit extreme but then they are sending lots of mail and must monitor how much goes missing and who it was addressed to.

Up to you but I wouldn't send them via the post.

[vagabond48]

My UK based credit card is up for renewal and the issuing company will not send it to Thailand under any circumstances. They will only agree to send to a friend or family member in the UK who I vouch for and who can physically carry it here when visiting. They emphasise that I should not have it sent to a friend who will then post it on to me or even use a courier service. Sounds a bit extreme but then they are sending lots of mail and must monitor how much goes missing and who it was addressed to.

Up to you but I wouldn't send them via the post.

I guess it must be a hit or miss for some. I have only been here under 2 years and I get very few letters or parcels mailed to me here Several letters and 3 small parcels that were mailed to me via USPS, arrived rather quickly including a credit card in a regular envelope. Most recently I received a letter contained a debit card but that came via FDX which the financial institute chose to use.

[Loaded]

Never had a problem. To Europe: less than a week. To North America: not much longer. Just to be sure, I send important material by registered mail. I have never thought that a lost registered mail problem was worth following up. Just save a copy of what you send and give the recipient a copy of your receipt. Big deal. But I think sending registered is very cheap insurance for "special handling." No problem with sending or receiving mail for me so far. Locally? Mail is VERY fast.

From the sub office we use it takes usually 2 weeks States or Europe. What office do you use?

[vagabond48]

Did I read here that some post office stations are privately owned?

If that is true, how can I determine which is run by the government?

I am thinking of renting a PO box so can I assume that dealing with a government run PO might be more reliable and less prone to theft or is it a "flip of the coin" that determines that?

[p1p]

Did I read here that some post office stations are privately owned?

If that is true, how can I determine which is run by the government?

I am thinking of renting a PO box so can I assume that dealing with a government run PO might be more reliable and less prone to theft or is it a "flip of the coin" that determines that?

Toss of a coin. I have given up with having things sent FROM the US or UK. Too many go missing. Always use a courier, preferably a family member!

[Maejo Man]

From the sub office we use it takes usually 2 weeks States or Europe. What office do you use?

I use the PO in the old city near the Three Kings monument, also Prahsing PO and Suthep Road, and all get to the UK or Australia in 5-6 days. Packets to the US normally 8-10 days, and nothing gone missing in years.

[leemo]

Never a plobrem to UK. I've also had to send $1000 cash through the post in a regular envelope, arrived 3 days later, and packages I frequently send to a remote village also arrive intact within a few days...oh yes, cheap too.

[ProThaiExpat]

Those who have had problems, it would help if you would identify where you live and what post office is involved.

Many of us have lived here for many years and never missed a single mailing, going or coming.

I recently had a delivery from New York via UPS and their online tracking service was incredible, locating the package every few hours in the three days it took to come through Europe to Chiang Mai. Even showed BKK arrival and ship out to Chiang Mai. Delivered to my door six hours after it left BKK.

I do believe that FedEx and UPS use a bulk customs duty approach that pays scant attention to the actual value of your goods. I doubt if you can ever escape duty via these couriers, while with regular mail, often no duty is imposed. A pro-rata share of the bulk loaded package duty paid is assessed by these couriers. I don't believe they get into assessing duty on each package on a planeload, just assess duty pallet by pallet. More information on this process would be enlightening.

My "duty" bill seemed, government receipt, to be only 240 Baht but by the time UPS added its charges for handling, etc. at this end of the transaction, I paid 450 Baht to the driver who showed up at my door.

This was in addition to the $45 paid by the shipper for the shipment at the other end. Granted, I never knew what was actually was paid to UPS by the seller, only what he charged me for "shipping and handling".

[Ulysses G.]

Did I read here that some post office stations are privately owned?

If that is true, how can I determine which is run by the government?

I am thinking of renting a PO box so can I assume that dealing with a government run PO might be more reliable and less prone to theft or is it a "flip of the coin" that determines that?

The privately owned ones are pretty obvious - little hole in the walls mostly.

[cloudhopper]

Less than 50% of my Scientific American magazines have made it to my PO box in Pai, but parcels and letters have all made it, as far as I can tell anyway...

[Tyke]

Great Britain sent the crown jewels to North America early on in WWII by regular post? So, what is anyone worried about, really? Thai post does just fine.

Sounds like an old wive's tale to me.

Have tried to send and receive loads of stuff in the last 4 years to and from the UK - about half of it arrived. Doesn't seem to matter if I register it or not. I don't see what keeping or sending the receipt for registered mail to the recipient is going to do and so have never done that - just accepted the fate. I have just assumed that registered mail would somehow be more secure, but actually it is not - I now assume that it has something to do with reclaiming insurance if the mail gets lost, rather than making it more secure. But does anyone really believe that registered mail in Thailand going to lead to a recovery of lost post? We are on planet Earth here.

All valuable mail sent to and from Thailand should be sent by courier post. Full stop.

[Tyke]

My UK based credit card is up for renewal and the issuing company will not send it to Thailand under any circumstances. They will only agree to send to a friend or family member in the UK who I vouch for and who can physically carry it here when visiting. They emphasise that I should not have it sent to a friend who will then post it on to me or even use a courier service. Sounds a bit extreme but then they are sending lots of mail and must monitor how much goes missing and who it was addressed to.

Up to you but I wouldn't send them via the post.

I guess it must be a hit or miss for some. I have only been here under 2 years and I get very few letters or parcels mailed to me here Several letters and 3 small parcels that were mailed to me via USPS, arrived rather quickly including a credit card in a regular envelope. Most recently I received a letter contained a debit card but that came via FDX which the financial institute chose to use.

Strange,

my bank would only send my cards to the address they have in the Uk and UK courier companies refuse to handle it. I tried sending it in a letter without telling them but the courier companies insist of seeing the contents of anything carried by them.

[MrBrad]

I've sent gifts as well as ATM cards from Minneapolis to Chiang Mai with no problem...one week service. I will say though that I do not send such things to a home address, but rather to the address of a business (actually a government office). It seems to me that a business would experience fewer misrouted items. Maybe I have just been lucky.

Oh, let me add that this was by insured air mail at the US post office, not courier.

Edited June 21, 2008 by MrBrad

[john b good]

My UK based credit card is up for renewal and the issuing company will not send it to Thailand under any circumstances. They will only agree to send to a friend or family member in the UK who I vouch for and who can physically carry it here when visiting. They emphasise that I should not have it sent to a friend who will then post it on to me or even use a courier service. Sounds a bit extreme but then they are sending lots of mail and must monitor how much goes missing and who it was addressed to.

Up to you but I wouldn't send them via the post.

I guess it must be a hit or miss for some. I have only been here under 2 years and I get very few letters or parcels mailed to me here Several letters and 3 small parcels that were mailed to me via USPS, arrived rather quickly including a credit card in a regular envelope. Most recently I received a letter contained a debit card but that came via FDX which the financial institute chose to use.

The majority of credit card issuers (in the developed world) will not send credit cards to Thailand.

Why not? Because you cannot trust the postal services (and or their employees) in the realm.

Sad, Yes, but it's a fact of life.

[iang]

Sent all my last Christmas cards in bulk from the 'private' post service at Carrefour (SuperHighway) and guess what - not a SINGLE card arrived at its destination! I guess I should have watched them sticking the stamps on! I am surmising the whole lot went in the bin (after checking contents of course!) and the operator pocketed the cash.

I've learned my lesson & now only use REAL post offices and always watch them print out & affix the stamp / sticker. Have not had any issues - outbound that is, since.

As far as incoming mail is concerned, at least a couple of times a year I fail to receive phone accounts, which then results in service being disconnected (even when only a couple of hundred Baht!) and then am inconvenienced in trying to pay the account & get the service reinstated.

Reliable - hmmmmmmm........

[p1p]

Great Britain sent the crown jewels to North America early on in WWII by regular post? So, what is anyone worried about, really? Thai post does just fine.

Sounds like an old wive's tale to me.

Myth it is. The Crown Jewels and bullion supplies were on board ship in the far North Atlantic throughout much of the war. I have family members who were deeply involved in the operation - and in the insuring of the gold etc.

[FolkGuitar]

I have a house at Laguna Home but as yet only spent holidays there

I am now preparing to move and starting the process of visas etc

I am going to have to get some important documents sent to Thailand later and wonder how dependable the postal service is seen to be

Thinking maybe it could be worth having them delivered to a po box number at a central post office

Anybody use a service like this or is not needed

Cheers

In seven years in Chiang Mai I never lost a single letter or parcel, either going out or coming in using the Thai Postal Service. Anything of value was sent via EMS which gives a tracking number and you can even follow it on-line. I've received credit cards from VISA, Mastercard, and AMEX, sent and received cash with no worries, packages all arrived on time at both ends... Nothing but the highest regards for the Thai Post. BUT.... I always sent from a main post office, never a private operator.

I remember a film we were shown in grad school about the DeBeers Diamond Company. It seems they send the majority of their diamonds to jewelery companies via ordinary parcel post. They said they found it to be the most reliable. I don't know if they send to Thailand though....

[Tyke]

Great Britain sent the crown jewels to North America early on in WWII by regular post? So, what is anyone worried about, really? Thai post does just fine.

Sounds like an old wive's tale to me.

Myth it is. The Crown Jewels and bullion supplies were on board ship in the far North Atlantic throughout much of the war. I have family members who were deeply involved in the operation - and in the insuring of the gold etc.

So your family members were sworn to secrecy then?

I know this is off topic, but, if you do a google search for crown jewels WW2, you will see that your family were not the only ones to tell a tale. It seems doubtful the main symbols of UK soveriegnty would be left floating on the atlantic, vulnerable to sub attack. More likely they were offloaded in Canada. I bet they never considered sending them to Thailand by airmail as it would have taken them forever to arrive

[Flapman]

Over the last 3 years I've bought stuff over the internet and had several small boxes (e.g. motorbike spares, computer battery) delivered "sign for" to my house. I'd notice if an order never arrived, and it all did, and no import duty so far (fingers crossed).

[Maejo Man]

I Just had an e-mail from Scotland saying that a packet I posted last week had arrived. So that's five and a half days from Chiangmai to Glasgow by regular mail. The item was posted at Suthep Road PO

[Tyke]

On 22 May I sent a SIM card to a friend in the UK from the main post office in Silom Road by ordinary post and it never arrived. I phoned the number today and it was not in service.

This tells me that it was probably lost rather than stolen and used by someone, although there is still time for further developments and I will phone again later. It was a good thing I didn't add any credit to the card before I posted it.

Some financial statements sent from Ireland to me here every 3 months used to arrive but have not arrived now for over 9 months - got no idea why.