And so the exodus of quality expats begins. This time it's personal

[sk1max]

I've been having real problems receiving my mail lately, from England and the US. If it is sent priority or express or priority no problems but standard of first class it just doesn't show up. I have about 10 pieces of mail missing. I've been to the post office in town and they said, in not so many words, if it's not recorded then your on your own. Any one had a similar problem or useful solution? Cheers

[luvulongtime]

Hi, <BR><BR>I live in 'Taboon Suthep' & I've had every problem that you could possibly have with lost correspondence.<BR><BR>Don't consider anything other than 'Recorded' when sending through the coventional Postal Service , but that's not a lot of good outside of Thailand & I've had 'Recorded' mail lost too...At the post office all they will say is, "sowwwy"... & 'if' you do get any compensation it will be pittyful.<BR><BR>Use a well known, world wide courier & send through a 'head office' rather than a franchise office. An A4 letter should cost somewhere around 700/900 baht, that's to the UK, at any rate... And get yourself a tracking number!<BR><BR>If 700/900 sounds expensive, think about this, it's about 35/50 quid coming the other way.<BR><BR>Finally, my place has got about 3 different ways in which the name can be written down, so I don't even get my phone bills half the time... I get everything sent to a mate in the old city who's got an easy address to write down or remember.<BR><BR>Happy posting (So to speak)<BR><BR><BR>

[caf]

If not recorded, there is little the Thai post office can do. The mail could be lost inside or outside the country

In response to another poster, within Thailand why not use Thai script for your address. Because there is no official transliteration script in Thailand ( unlike Pinyin in China) writing in Roman can give problems

caf

[grin]

As a test when I was back in the US this year I sent two first class letters (.98 USD postage each) to my home in Chiang Mai. On one I only put the address in English and on the other I put the address in both English and Thai. I printed the envelopes so handwriting would not be a problem. They both arrived exactly two weeks after I mailed them. This seems to me like a really long time.

One thing I have noticed is that the addressing is pretty flexible. Some of our mail has about 5 lines which seems like a whole paragraph of an address. When I signed up for a member card for one retailer I purposely only put the house number, moo number and the mail code. The post office had no problem delivering their flyers. BBL uses the wrong zip/mail code on our mortgage statement and it still arrives.

Most bills/statements arrive only 2 or 3 days after the billing/statement date so that seems reasonable. And so far to our knowledge no mail has been lost. I.e. all regular mail or expected mail has always shown up.

[Sparkles]

For my first 8 years in Thaiand I never had a problem with mail, to and from, England and Australia.In the last 2 months 2 packages have gone astray, one incoming the other outgoing. The incoming contained material which is irreplacable and my cousin is kicking herself it wasn't registered.I don't belive mail can just disappear,sign of economic times or mail being dumped ?

[YTP]

Earlier this year I had a document sent to me from Canada.

Processing time was 2 weeks. Delivery time was quoted as "one month".

I didn't need it immediately, so I said OK.

I told them to inform me of the tracking number once it was shipped out, but of course the lazy idiots couldn't be bothered to follow this instruction.

Nearly 2 months later, I had given up hope. I had no idea where in the world it was and no tracking number.

More than 3.5 months later, it magically appeared in my mail box!

Don't get your hopes up, but you still might get your mail. Good luck!

[searcher22]

I had a similar problem. On June 4, 2010, I mailed a skin care product in a small, padded envelope via standard mail, from Canada to someone in Chiang Mai. Now, almost three months later, it hasn't arrived. I learned my lesson.

[OriginalPoster]

Earlier this year I had a document sent to me from Canada.

Processing time was 2 weeks. Delivery time was quoted as "one month".

I didn't need it immediately, so I said OK.

I told them to inform me of the tracking number once it was shipped out, but of course the lazy idiots couldn't be bothered to follow this instruction.

Nearly 2 months later, I had given up hope. I had no idea where in the world it was and no tracking number.

More than 3.5 months later, it magically appeared in my mail box!

Don't get your hopes up, but you still might get your mail. Good luck!

I had a similar case recently. I have someone my mail in the US and sent to me once per month by the US Post Office's "Priority Mail'. After moving the Chiang Mai, for the first 2 months the shipment took about 10 days to 2 weeks to arrive. However the last shipment took seven weeks to arrive. I was all but certain that it had been stolen or discarded by someone at the post office, but finally it did arrive. Apparently there are some efficiency issues that hold things up Thai mail in Thailand at times.

[Ricardo]

I'm struck by the implicit-assumption that the mail-delivery here is daily ? We see our own postman, in a village near Mae-Jo, at least twice per week !

And typical transit-time from the UK varies between 1 & 3 weeks, unless it goes via Beirut (I kid you not !), thanks to the UK Post-Office.

[OriginalPoster]

I'm struck by the implicit-assumption that the mail-delivery here is daily ? We see our own postman, in a village near Mae-Jo, at least twice per week !

And typical transit-time from the UK varies between 1 & 3 weeks, unless it goes via Beirut (I kid you not !), thanks to the UK Post-Office.

I suspect that what happens is that if the local postman is at all confused over the address, or considers that address to be out of his way, that the item is likely to be set aside (or perhaps even discarded) instead of being delivered immediately.

[delboy]

Several years ago I complained to my local Post Office when the postman left some expensive books out in the rain and they were ruined, although I was home at the time. Following that I did not get a delivery for several months even though I knew letters and parcels had been sent to me.

I got a Post Office Box in another nearby Post Office and, so far, have never knowingly lost any mail. It costs me just 150 baht for a year (although some people have been charged more for a similar service), and if I get a large parcel, or something that requires my signature they just leave a note in the box and I call in the office to receive my post.

It has the advantage that the Post Office doesn't have to work out where my house is, they just have to be able to read my PO Box number.

It's slightly more inconvenient than home delivery but I do pass the Post Office about once a week and it's much more reliable.

Edited September 1, 2010 by delboy