Who has had post lost or stolen ?

[Gutterboy]

Couriers are ok but you're at the mercy of the crooks in customs. ThaiPost are shameless criminals - for the first 3 years I lived here my parents and sister sent me birthday and Christmas cards every year and I never received a single one.

[bobthomas]

Who has post lost or stolen? EVERYBODY. I'd like to hear from anybody who has lived here for any lenght of time who can state otherwise.

Obviously didnt read my post above.

Everybody....with an occasional exeption.

[PaulHamon]

never had any domestic or international post go missing.. but others that have.

[Always18]

Anyone who says nothing ever gone missing has been extremely lucky.

I have lost count over the last 17 years i have lost items, or they have been opened.

Somethings taken somethings not.

Same story with me and my family.

Numerous international non-deliveries to our home, despite them being trackable to Thailand Post.

On TWO occasions our local village postman has been caught red-handed FORGING my wife's name on the receipt slip! - no action taken against him by his superiors although the local Thailand Post boss did visit us and beg us not to think that all Thai postmen were thieves!

Now we invariably ask for international post to be sent Poste Restante to our main provincial Post Office which, at least, cuts out the thieving local P.O.S.

[Gentmartin]

I must say, only a big up to the Thai postal service. My wife sells books online, and only had one go missing out of hundreds of parcels we send and receive. (and i suspect that one item was just the customer scamming us !). Also never had anything go missing either sent or received from UK either. A little lucky i guess but nevertheless, no complaints from me !

.....but please dont start me on the customs lot when we get our monthly pallet of books from UK grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

JUst forgot to add, my local main post office is Rangsit. Big up to the counter girls there when the falang turns up on his motorcycle each day with an assortment of passa doo tama dahs, EPS and sing dtee pims !!

Edited January 29, 2015 by Gentmartin

[jacko45k]

I have lost my confidence having stuff sent here, I had 3 items arrive fine, then 2 went missing in succession.

Having tracking numbers I did my best to find them. One item, so it appeared, just got sent back to China from Bangkok.

Another I managed to get off the local post office, who said I wasn't in when they called, (I was), and claimed they put a notification card in my mailbox (no you didn't). All were addressed correctly, but in English of course.

I expect you are okay with the International couriers.... although they like to charge taxes, but I feel disinclined to order anything of much value.

Edited January 29, 2015 by jacko45k

[tinhead]

Registered mail and FedEx reach regular mail with anything of value, no.

[kingalfred]

Registered mail and FedEx reach regular mail with anything of value, no.

fedex lowest price shipping from the US to Thailand is 45$

[tinhead]

So, suck it up, buttercup. If you need a credit card sent, electronics or important documents, does cost really matter?

Nay I say. Annual invitation to piss up back home or letter from bill collector on the other hand ...

Registered mail and FedEx reach regular mail with anything of value, no.

fedex lowest price shipping from the US to Thailand is 45$

[kingalfred]

Well " head of tin cup" I decide if the value is enough to pay higher shipping costs!

Edited January 29, 2015 by kingalfred

[maidee]

sadly happens all the time

those pesky mailmen, when they see a letter from abroad, they think it might contain money

many times mail delivered from neighbours house away in the wrong box

i might be a good samaritan and go drop in their mail box, but i guess many thais just bin them , sadly enough

[bowerboy]

I find this forum bizarre at times....its as though some people are living in a parralel universe.

I have been here 10 years and international mail goes missing ALL THE TIME. Thai mail is ok.

My new credit card from Australia was sent 3 times to Thailand and never arrived....finally i got them to send it to our office in China and it arrived first time and within 3 days.

Multiple.packages from uk have never arrived. All sent with tracking and mysteriously dissapeared.

It is a huge problem....

[SoiBiker]

I find this forum bizarre at times....its as though some people are living in a parralel universe.

Maybe it varies from place to place? Sounds like those who've lost stuff seem to live in the sticks.

[gk10002000]

Nothing big to report but I would say 50 50 on post cards mailed from Thailand to the USA by either method. Sometimes I stamped and mailed them from the Pattaya Post Office, some times I bought the stamps at the book store and asked them to mail the cards. Book store where I would buy my daily newspaper was a bit more reliable.

[KhunAussie52]

When i first arrived in Thailand,all my mail was delivered to my home address. Over a period of 6 months a number of letters and parcels went missing.

I had had my address translated into English for delivery. I decided to register a complaint at the post office. The person i spoke to,said that his staff,for the most part,could speak and understand English. But many could not read English.He suggested that i pay for a post box to try and alleviate the problem. No investgation was carried out into the missing mail.

He said to me,to use the word "Central post Office" in the address. I have lived here over 10 years since then.Only 3 parcels have gone missing.

Last year Surin Post Office was moved from the CBD. The new Post Office appointed a new staff member to handle all the registered mail and post boxes.Within the space of 3 weeks 2 parcels had gone missing. tracking was used to trace them to the post office.Apparently this new employee,could not read English. She had changed to post box number 4 times,and then gave up,leaving the parcels in an ajoining room.Without my sons help. i would still be looking for the parcels. A week later she was gone!!!

Just maybe, a post box address might help alleviate the problem!

[Johnny S]

I had 2 parcels coming from UK but never got anything - dont know who stole it but I never order anything to be send here Again, there is just too many people with "long fingers" in LOS

[draftvader]

We have found that anything sent registered from abroad gets "special attention". We have had a number of items of value posted by air-mail making sure they are repackaged poorly in an old cornflakes box or similar. Does wonders in removing interest from customs!

My worst case of postal rip-off was in Paraguay. It is not just a Thai thing. 2 days, PLENTY of bribes and it came out of a side door at a 1/4 of the original suggested duty....which was 100% of the value of the items AS NEW!! Seriously the odd thing that has been sent registered....opened/dutied/etc.

[Ducking and]

I was surprised a bit to hear of any problem like this in Bangkok. The problem is nowhere near so big as it is out in the sticks. I've lived in Lamai on Samui for a lot of the time over the last 12 years and it hasn't got any better. Many times letters have got lost, never arrived. A couple of years ago, through thoughtlessness or ignorance some important documents were sent to me, to be signed for. After I had made many trips to the post office and received denials of its arrival and asking many questions I eventually discovered the postie had misread the envelope and delivered to a number (xx/xx) which was one digit different from mine, which is an address the other side of the mooban. When I went there I found it was a Brit's place opposite some girly bars. Nobody being at the address the postie got one of the transient females, at the girly bar opposite, to sign for it (name recorded just as "Pen"). I did locate her but she just said she had delivered it to the farang address. The friendly Brit who actually was known to me (same forename) knew nothing about the letter and it was not located even after a thorough search of his premises. Never trust anything to get delivered by the post office over here.

They still do not deliver promptly when items arrive. Often I have been to the post office and collected some awaiting delivery. Recent deliveries which I did receive were something from Tesco telling me about an upcoming event the date of which had passed, Bangkok Bank (letter dated about three weeks earlier) giving me "prior" notice of a deduction they were going to make from my bank account to clear credit card purchases, the date of the deduction having already passed by almost a week, and a letter from the land office telling me my neighbour was going to partition his land and I could go to a planned onsite meeting, except that date had passed too. I think the postal workers are just too lazy to deliver anything unless they have got a certain quantity of other things to deliver nearby. This Is Thailand. The majority. Thank Buddha for the few who do work hard and conscientiously. No "Protestant work ethic" here. Any letters from temples begging for money seem to get delivered straightaway, though.

This is just another way that this country is "different" from (never say "worse" than) farangland. Either you stay here and develop strategies to reasonably cope with the differences most of the time, or you don't. As the people say in this beautiful land they are so lucky to live in, "up to you".

[KhnomKhnom]

You are dealing with at least two Thai services... mail (word post has been hijacked by Internet) and customs.

All incoming packages and some fat envelope mail is inspected by customs to see if a duty can be collected. That can take a month or more and even contact with you to explain what is in the package.

Then the item goes to Thai mail service which brings it to your given address. I have never heard of stealing at customs.

[smccolley]

Who has post lost or stolen? EVERYBODY. I'd like to hear from anybody who has lived here for any lenght of time who can state otherwise.

Mail to my house here in Pattaya is hit or miss. In the last year I have received about 50% of my AMEX (Thailand) bills, and the ones I did get usually arrived after the due date. Same with my AIS, 3BB and ToT bills.

It normally takes @20 days for mail send normally to arrive from my office in Bangkok, certified mail is much better.

I use EMS (in Thailand) or Fedex (outside Thailand) and that has always worked great.

[transam]

I had a Christmas card from the USA, which was posted on the 12th December, arrive at my place in LOS yesterday..

.28th January..

[lopburi3]

Who has post lost or stolen? EVERYBODY. I'd like to hear from anybody who has lived here for any lenght of time who can state otherwise.

I have lived here continually since 1992 and intermittently from 1969 and know of nothing lost here in Thailand. Anything not received has been resolved as happening outside Thailand. China office of largest freight forwarder read Bangkok as Belfast. Dallas PO has lost mail on several occasions - one received a year later - most recent was returned from Trinidad the next month. The real geo-idiots seem to be outside of Thailand in my experience!

That said I know people have and do lose items here - not surprising really as many addresses are less than clear and most postman are not overpaid. But in general believe Thailand is as safe for mail as most places - and more so than many.

[wayned]

How was the package sent, obviously not by airmail it was accepted at Ft. Lauderdale on the 23rd and didn't arrive at LA until the 27the, but it was Christmas weekend. If it was sent surface mail, it might not have arrived yet in Thailand. Also the LJ prefix indicates some kind of outgoing customs clearance required. I've sent many things from the US and nothing was ever lost, but it disappears form the USPS tracking website when it leaves the US and goes into a black hole until it appears on the Thai Post website.

I'm in the process of shipping 400 kilos from the US which is being consolidated into a container,LCL, and is leaving LA on Saturday. It's not due to arrive in Bangkok until 26 February.

[Isan Farang]

The whole corrupt edifice! Thailand Post and Customs have a record of "Stealing"! If its not adding some imaginary customs charge, as I had once for a used notebook shipped, worth no more than 50$ but had to pay 500 baht to get it out of customs. A long way to go General Prayut, you wont change it in your lifetime !

You have used the wrong type of shipping if you wanted to track your shipment from end to end.

On the tracking number beginning with L the item can only be tracked to when it left the USA, there will be no record of the tracking for Thailand. Priority mail International have different options. If your package had the first letter starting with C it would have shown when it entered Thailand.

I have never lost any item sent my EMS or Priority mail International using the fully track able option, but I have had 1 package go missing from the USA using the part tracking L first letter option. This is a lower cost service than the other options available.

[RayD]

I've been here 12 years and lost about 50% of mail. Even within Thailand and asking the PO guy to write the address for me so there's no wiff of falang about it. If it's not signed for it's lost.

Top tip for anyone building a house: The PO maintains a database of all valid addresses within Thailand. If your address is not on this list you cannot receive international mail, but national mail is unaffected. When you register your new build the PO should be informed automatically, but sometimes they forget. I was unable to receive international mail for 3 years until I finally figured that out.

[mrmicbkktxl]

it looks like it never arrived in thailand,at thai post tracking it shows"item not found".i have always problems with usps,very slow and they like to lose things

[tsigane]

My express mail was sent OUT of Thailand to Switzerland and never delivered.

Never pursued the issue since I knew nobody would care about anything.

[Saan]

I have never received any male at my home address in Chiang Mai - no local mail, nothing.

I have a PO box now and have never missed a thing.

[chris2004]

Who has post lost or stolen? EVERYBODY. I'd like to hear from anybody who has lived here for any lenght of time who can state otherwise.

Me. I've lived here for 8 years, had dozens of letters/parcels in and out of the country. Never lost one.

[Isan Farang]

it looks like it never arrived in thailand,at thai post tracking it shows"item not found".i have always problems with usps,very slow and they like to lose things

If you do not have the item sent with full tracking the item will not be shown on the Thai tracking system.

I have never had any problems with USPS, you pick the method you want it sent from the states. If you pick full tracking the USPS website will show the item end to end, and the Thai tracking will show when it reached the sorting office in Bangkok

If you want fast service use EMS that has full tracking.

At the Thai sorting office these people know that various parcels will not be tracked and if they are scanned and they find something of value inside these are the ones more likely to go missing.