Lost Mail

[oldsailor35]

Has anyone had problems with lost mail recently. I have had two small packages sent ordinary mail from Australia to Maenam Post Office lost, with no trace of them at Maenam.

[khunPer]

I seem to be missing two letters from Denmark, a letter with a new Master Card that has not arrived, and a normal letter from a ministry - however can be lost anywhere en-route and not neccessary in Maenam...

[oldsailor35]

Yes this appears to be the problem, Just ave to forget about it !

[ocejanic]

Is the risk of lost mail any different for incoming ( into Thailand) and outgoing mail ( to home country)?

I ask because we have accumulated quite a bit of toys for our baby since we are here. We therefore are thinking about sending some of them, plus various other things we had packed but never used ( baby bed) home to Germany.

[khunPer]

When I send mail out (to foreign countries) I normally send it Registered - then it's signed for all the way en-route, and the surcharge for Registered is very low here (in Thailand), think it's around 80 baht - never lost any.

By the way, if you have any excess toys for kids not worth the postal charge to send back, I saw in the news today that “The Special Needs Schol of Samui” may find use for it...

http://www.samuitimes.com/special-needs-school-samui-christmas-day/

[Tropicalevo]

We have had very few problems with sending stuff out of Thailand but we do not do it often because of concerns about the post in receiving countries.

(You can post a motorbike or a fridge in Thailand - it usually arrives. In England........????????)

The only stuff that I send registered (EMS) is money.

Nice idea about the Special needs school, but more needy are the Thai schools on the island. They get no local support. The SNS gets support from a number of local organisations. But that is just my personal view. Whatever you do would improve someone's life.

Edited December 16, 2014 by Tropicalevo

[Rooo]

Off topic post removed. Please do not hijack thread, start a new topic if you wish.

[khunPer]

We have had very few problems with sending stuff out of Thailand but we do not do it often because of concerns about the post in receiving countries.

(You can post a motorbike or a fridge in Thailand - it usually arrives. In England........????????)

The only stuff that I send registered (EMS) is money.

Nice idea about the Special needs school, but more needy are the Thai schools on the island. They get no local support. The SNS gets support from a number of local organisations. But that is just my personal view. Whatever you do would improve someone's life.

Yes , the article in Samui Times also say that:

»Any toys that your kids are not using anymore can be also given to many school in need on the Island,...«

(sic.)

[Tropicalevo]

I have just received two parcels in two days.

One registered from Germany posted 27/11 - arrived yesterday.

The second EMS from Phuket. Posted Monday - arrived today.

The trouble is - how do we know if stuff has not arrived? Friends and family send us Christmas cards from all over the world. If we do not receive it - is it lost or fotgotten? Was it lost at source, in transit, in Thailand?

We send approx 50 to 60 cards every Christmas. It is very rare for one not to arrive but it does happen now and again.

On the receiving side - Christmas cards to us stilll arrive well into February.

[khunPer]

I regularly receive mail, but we don’t know if we are missing post, unless we know it has been sent to us, or the sender asks us why we don’t reply to their letter.

However, we also don’t know if it’s Maenam, Thai Post, or anywhere else en route.

I just realized yesterday that I’m missing yet one more Plastic Card from Visa, as I was going to use a Danish company card for a Xmas greeting gift and found out it had expired in 2012. I asked my Danish bank if I had forgot to renew, but they said that it’s done automatically. They could see a new card was mailed (as normal letter) in 2012, but never used (activated).

I can imagine that letters with for example credit cards may have interest to nick for someone, somewhere...

It did also happen occasionally in Denmark that we lost mail – even Denmark is supposed to be a highly reliable post country – cases like a stack of letters fallen down behind a counter and found years later; lazy Postman Pat college not bringing all the post out, but dumping some of it somewhere; and one day a big brown envelope from Danish post arrived filled with business magazine we subscribed to, in a letter stapled to the envelope the Post excused delivering these magazine 2 years late, but the overseas 20-feet container were forgotten and by mistake stored among empty containers...

That’s why, when sending something abroad or important stuff, I always spend the little extra money (here) for registered (or EMS) – unfortunately the other way round, from Denmark to Thailand for example, the surcharge is quite high and saved by the sender.

[Tropicalevo]

That’s why, when sending something abroad or important stuff, I always spend the little extra money (here) for registered (or EMS) – unfortunately the other way round, from Denmark to Thailand for example, the surcharge is quite high and saved by the sender.

Not sure about the 'little extra money' khunPer.

I decided to send 20 GBP (1,000 baht) to my granddaughter for her birthday.

Fee was 1,200 baht!

(I am not sure about the difference here between registered and EMS.)

[khunPer]

The difference between Registered and EMS (Express Mail Service) is that the latter is a speedy delivery service with Track & Trace, whilst Registered also can be ordinary surface mail if no airmail surcharge is paid. Domestic we have used both EMS and Registered, but when I (air)mail letters abroad, I always ask for Registered and pay around 80 baht flat fee, no matter weight or size. Also Denmark, that I was used to, have a flat fee for Registered, but you will not receive a (full) compensation based on content/value if lost, typically a small maximum compensation; registered just mean they sign (today I presume scan a barcode) along the route from sender to receiver, which normally gives you a guarantee that the letter/parcel don’t disappear (or is forgotten in a container), and the receiver also sign for it.

If mail is insured or send as value mail the fee will be depending of value. To my knowledge most postal service around the World is based on similar International mail standard; originally an old French codec, I read many years ago in a leaflet from Danish Post that also said International postal language is French.

Postman Pat’s Thai college has a homepage in English:

http://www.thailandpost.com/

-with Track & Trace for some EMS service. They seem to differ between “Domestic EMS”, “EMS International”, “International Insured Mail”, “Domestic Registered” and “Register International”.

[phetphet]

Just did a trial run.

A friend posted me an Evening Standard via Royal Mail on 29/11/14. Delivered today.

Edited December 19, 2014 by phetphet

[Tropicalevo]

Just did a trial run.

A friend posted me an Evening Standard via Royal Mail on 29/11/14. Delivered today.

That is about normal for this time of year.

[Higgins]

Generally i find if writing on envelope is Thai then it arrives. If writing is Falang then it does not

[samuijimmy]

I don't agree with that statement about being in Thal... I have received mail without problem from Maenam PO....

One thing, though, I notice many houses here don't have the house number.... that could be part of the problem?

[Higgins]

I will put it another way... I have a house number and never had post arrive safely when sent from outside of Thailand when written in English. Maybe i am unlucky

Or maybe I gave up sending after a few lost mails. I might experiment

[oldsailor35]

Just did a trial run.

A friend posted me an Evening Standard via Royal Mail on 29/11/14. Delivered today.

Who in the heck in the Thai mail service would be interested in an old Evening Standard.

[oldsailor35]

I don't agree with that statement about being in Thal... I have received mail without problem from Maenam PO....

One thing, though, I notice many houses here don't have the house number.... that could be part of the problem?

Definately not mine Jimmy, so you can rule that theory out .

[CaptainS]

At a friends business location she receives plenty of mail which is not for her. Its mostly for people around there, but often also completely wrong, last week even a letter from Singapore with a Phuket receivers address arrived there. My friend usually doesn´t bother, she says its not her duty to be responsible for correct mail delivery.

Maybe there are more locations like that, some maybe receive the mail which you miss.