Hangdong Postoffice - mail that never arrives

[Coffee Pot]

I seem to have mail consistently disappearing before it arrives in my mailbox at the Hangdong Post Office. Since September 2014 i know of 4 pieces of mail, in this case letters, that have not arrived. i have gone to the post office and inquired about the possibility of unclaimed mail being there, but they denied having any such thing. The mail that never arrived was sent by people who have sent mail before and it arrived without any trouble. The mail was sent from different countries, Canada and USA, and different Post Offices there. I believe the mail is disappearing after it arrives in TH. I have been here for many years and have experienced one or two letters / packages not arriving. I just figured that i need to leave room for human error. This however seems to be a consistent problem. It's difficult to send gifts by email attachment.. I wonder if anyone else has experienced such trouble in recent months? Does anyone know where mail is sorted before it is delivered to the Hangdong Post office? is there a central post office in Chiang Mai where all the mail goes before it is distributed to surrounding areas?

[CharlieH]

MOVED to Chiang Mai forum

[gerry123]

unless it was sent with a tracking number you don't stand a chance

[WinnieTheKhwai]

Yes, request to have it sent as tracked/registered mail.

I receive fairly expensive stuff just fine, as long as there is a tracking number.

It's not expensive either, though it does mean that if you're not home when the mailman arrives that you have to visit the post office and wait while they dig it up.

[Coffee Pot]

I am not asking for a discussion about tracking numbers. International tracking is another issue. Someone can start another discussion on that if they want to.

I will summarize here the questions that i posted above.

I wonder if anyone else has experienced such trouble in recent months? (at the Hangdong Post Office)

Does anyone know where mail is sorted before it is delivered to the Hangdong Post office?

Is there a central post office in Chiang Mai where all the mail goes before it is distributed to surrounding areas?

[trainman34014]

I've never lost anything from the UK in 8 tears through Hang Dong including monthly parcels. However; i've got three American friends who say they always have trouble receiving mail from The States. It either takes months or doesn't arrive at all, which leads one to think that perhaps the problem is at the US end and not in Hang Dong. Just sayin'.

[Benjie]

I must receive stuff weekly from all over the world, never any issues. nothing lost. Hang Dong post office.

[Beetlejuice]

I am not asking for a discussion about tracking numbers. International tracking is another issue. Someone can start another discussion on that if they want to.

I will summarize here the questions that i posted above.

I wonder if anyone else has experienced such trouble in recent months? (at the Hangdong Post Office)

Does anyone know where mail is sorted before it is delivered to the Hangdong Post office?

Is there a central post office in Chiang Mai where all the mail goes before it is distributed to surrounding areas?

If your post office is in Hang Dong, then the mail first arrives at the main sorting office in the town somewhere, (not sure where) then the main sorting office in Lamphun from where it is distributed to the Hang Dong and San Pa Tong areas.

Regarding what you describe as gifts being sent, depending on what types of items these gifts are, they could be held at Bangkok by the Customs and Excise department The`re getting very strict on this nowadays. If you do check with the main sorting offices and no luck, perhaps worth contacting the Customs and Excise in Bangkok as a last resort.

Lamphun Post Office

Mueang Lamphun District, Lamphun, Thailand

www.thailandpost.com

053 530 330

Edited May 8, 2015 by Beetlejuice

[circusman]

I've never lost anything from the UK in 8 tears through Hang Dong including monthly parcels. However; i've got three American friends who say they always have trouble receiving mail from The States. It either takes months or doesn't arrive at all, which leads one to think that perhaps the problem is at the US end and not in Hang Dong. Just sayin'.

Finest mail delivery in the world in the usa. Don't know why you would say such a thing as maybe the problem there.

[PostmanPat]

I have suffered exactly as the original poster, many times with Hang Dong Post Office. Each month I always receive a monthly pension statement from my UK Company, and it always arrives, but it comes in the proverbial boring plain brown envelope. This tells me that there is nothing wrong with the system IF they choose to deliver it.

However, almost every other item sent to me from UK disappears without trace, things like Birthday Cards, Christmas Cards etc which can generally be identified as the envelopes are usually bigger, or a different colour. I must have had about twenty such envelopes disappear in the past three years, to the point where I have advised family and friends not to send such greetings now, instead we do our greetings by emails.

In the past when I was a kid, it was often the case that greetings cards from a relative would often include a currency note, as a gift, and it makes me wonder if greetings cards and the like are routinely opened here to see if theres anything of value inside.

And before anyone says it, no the items are not disappearing at the UK end. My family tend to post all Christmas Cards etc en bloc, and everyone elses, including some people who live abroad always arrive. Only mine disappear with great regularity.

[arunsakda]

Official looking bank letters and your pension statement is one thing. I however think what happens if it is Farang mail and has no tracking number like letters, small personal parcels postcard, etc., and it would involve the SLIGHTEST effort or time to deliver it is too tempting to just discard. After checking for valuables of course.

Hangdongs' canals and drainage ditches are probably clogged with thousands of such discarded refuse. Christmas cards indeed. You think a local letter carrier knows from Christmas?

[Saan]

Maybe this is the problem.

Postman fired after lost mail found at his home
By Coconuts Bangkok



BANGKOK: -- Thailand Post, the organization known for folding, breaking, throwing and totally losing mail, fired a postman yesterday after a customer, who was sick of waiting for her mail, visited the postman’s home to find a bunch of undelivered packages.

Facebook user Watchareeporn Sasawat shared a photo of the undelivered mail hidden at the home of Chantaburi’s local postman after she decided to go look for an EMS package she was supposed to receive nine days ago.

Watchareeporn said her family knew the postman personally, so a relative went over to his house and found her package, along with a pile of other undelivered letters and packages.

[Torrens54]

Hi Coffeepot, I just made a similar comment and then discovered your post about Hang Dong.

Will get my wife to go "rattle the cage" at the Post Office near Makro and see if things improve. My material was from people in Australia who have sent mail previously, without any problems.

[Chicog]

Have a look at this thread...

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/823646-thai-postman-fired-after-lost-mail-found-at-his-home/

[mikewet88]

Never had problem with Hang Dong Post Office for past 3 years and even recently. Had few packages from iherb.com, many from aliexpress.com and local package. All delivered without problem.

1 tip: Get to know your postman and treat them cold drink or 2 in hot sunny day will goes a long way. We alway buy cold drinks to our postman or security guards. Not as bribe but as a token of appreciation to their hardwork.

[Dante99]

Never had problem with Hang Dong Post Office for past 3 years and even recently. Had few packages from iherb.com, many from aliexpress.com and local package. All delivered without problem.

1 tip: Get to know your postman and treat them cold drink or 2 in hot sunny day will goes a long way. We alway buy cold drinks to our postman or security guards. Not as bribe but as a token of appreciation to their hardwork.

Give them 500 Baht at Sonkran too.

[Sparkles]

Never had problem with Hang Dong Post Office for past 3 years and even recently. Had few packages from iherb.com, many from aliexpress.com and local package. All delivered without problem.

1 tip: Get to know your postman and treat them cold drink or 2 in hot sunny day will goes a long way. We alway buy cold drinks to our postman or security guards. Not as bribe but as a token of appreciation to their hardwork.

7 years with regular parcels from Petchabun,letters from oz bank etc in Hang Dong never a problem although the parcels come EMS which we obviously sign for.Because of our location if we are not home its a trip to the PO down past Kad Farang but we send from PO near Makro as its closer.

Guess all you can do is to make some polite enquiries. The PO near Makro is handling a huge amount of mail,inc large parcels, outgoing. Its outgrown it tiny office,in the time we have been here. Were 20 people waiting last Wednesday with 2 staff handling the mail,simply not enough space for more staff.

[Coffee Pot]

Thank you for your responses. Most of you were kind and your comments were well intended. The Post Office i am referring to is the one between Kad Farang and Hangdong City limits.

At least two more pieces of mail have not appeared just in the last couple weeks, birthday cards this time. We are getting really tired of not having received a single card since September last year, and during this time 4 of the 5 of us have had birthdays. Of course the only mail we know has not arrived is what senders have told us they put in the mail. They contact us because they wonder if we received their card.

In the near future, I will likely get another PO Box at one of the main post offices downtown. Over a period of a few months, this will reveal if the problem is local or broader.

I am thinking of paying a respectful visit to the Manager of the Hangdong Post office (between Kad Farang and Hangdong city limits). I plan to take my whole family with me. If you want to join me and my family at this Post Office please let me know. I speak Thai sufficiently to express concerns adequately, but if you have a thai spouse who could help represent our group and can speak from personal experience as well,, that would be great. I don't expect to make a lot of progress, but if the problem is local it may change some behavior.

A couple of you mentioned the "Hangdong" Post Office across from Toyota Nakhorn Ping. I go there from time to time. From my experience, they do a pretty amazing job considering the volume of mail that they process compared to the amount of staff they seem to employ there. I have not had a negative experience there that would warrant a complaint.

The Post office that i am talking about is also a small Post office but their employees behind the counter tend to be VERY slow. The long lines build because of the slow processing speed.

Edited June 12, 2015 by Coffee Pot

[NancyL]

Thai postal codes look like U.S. postal codes and it's very possible that your mail is ending up somewhere in the U.S. unless your family members are writing THAILAND in very big letters at the end of the address and putting the postal code above the name of the country.

[circusman]

over two years and all my mail and packages arrive to my house from HD postoffice.