Missing Mail

[ianf]

Does any other expat suffer from missing mail?

 

1. January-March 2016: Very small bicycle part (a special screw) from Northampton, UK. : This was mailed to me 3 times in a padded envelope with a hand written but correct address. Each time it did not arrive. It cost me a lot of money, it cost the sender money and I never received it.

 

2. July this year: My daughter sent me a hand written birthday card to the correct address which contained a photo of my Grandson at school. It never arrived.

 

3. July this year: My son sent me a small padded envelope which contained a medal of no commercial value, but it was of sentimental value as it was his first medal as winner of a Karting championship race when he was a small boy. It never arrived.

 

4. August this year: My sister sent me a cheque for a small amount of money drawn on a British bank. This was money gifted to me by my father who died this year. It never arrived. The cheque was never cashed according to the bank. They cancelled the cheque and I was paid via bank transfer. The sad thing about this is that there was my father's last letter to me in the envelope and I will never see this and I will never know what it says.

 

5. Early September: My friends in New Zealand sent me a special gift of a free cycling shirt. It has not yet arrived. This was a very special shirt from a cycle race in New Zealand. It was gifted to me because of the help myself and my Thai wife gave to these friends when they were on holiday in Chiang Mai.

 

I have had similar problems last year. However, any post that arrives looks "official" or is recorded. I have no problem with bank statements etc. The only problem is that anything sent to me that has a hand-written envelope and cannot be traced NEVER arrives. This has now been happening for 3 years.

 

I live in Chiang Mai in a secure gated community. There is no possibility that the mail is taken from our mailbox, as that is simply not possible.

 

(Incidentally: I have asked friends and family to use a recorded delivery service and when they do things arrive. The above incidents are when they forgot or in the case of No 5 because I could not tell them to do so as I did not know they were sending it.)

Edited November 8, 2016 by ianf
More explanation

[Dmaxdan]

Birthday cards are notorious for going missing simply because people assume there is money inside. Anything you desperately need or is important should be sent EMS signed for, just to be on the safe side.

Are you over complicating the English translation of your Thai address? As far as I know the postmen require a Moo Ban number, not a name. A name will just confuse them.


Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect

[ianf]

Nothing wrong with how the English translation of the address is shown: Magazine subscriptions, Amazon parcels, bank statements, credit card statements, professional notifications etc all arrive unhindered. In my opinion there is some systematic stealing going on in the post office somewhere. And it's getting me down.

[phetphet]

Might be worth getting a P.O. Box. At least it will cut out the delivery postman.

[ukrules]

How do you send it. I've never had anything go missing but I always use the 'International signed for' service.

 

With this particular service you can send 2 KG of package for about 22 pounds, it's much less if the weight is only a few grams, I think it starts off at around 7 pounds.

 

You can track it on the royal mail website until it leaves the country, then a few days later you can track it on the Thai post office website.

 

I have one going through the system right now, it disappears for a couple of days while in Customs then appears as being at 'Lak Si Mail Center'. It will generally arrive 2 days after it arrives at Lak Si for me.

 

[Shot]

My Mom sends my two kids birthday cards each year. The cards go missing 50% of the time. She never sends money, just a nice card with a hand written note. She finally gave up and sends post card now.

[ianf]

This story is about mail being stolen within the system. My wife thinks the mail is stolen in Bangkok while it is being sorted to come to Chiang Mai. The reason she says that is because of the nature of the service here where we have met a few of the sorting workers as opposed to the continually changing staff in the mail sort centre in Bangkok. Our postman has been the same one for the whole time we have been in this house (8 years) and we know him quite well. She has spoken to him about this problem. I have explained above about 'signed for'. If it is signed for then it is rarely if ever stolen. The problem is reminding people, telling people to send signed for. I am quite angry about this because this year it really has messed me up.

[robblok]

18 minutes ago, ianf said:

This story is about mail being stolen within the system. My wife thinks the mail is stolen in Bangkok while it is being sorted to come to Chiang Mai. The reason she says that is because of the nature of the service here where we have met a few of the sorting workers as opposed to the continually changing staff in the mail sort centre in Bangkok. Our postman has been the same one for the whole time we have been in this house (8 years) and we know him quite well. She has spoken to him about this problem. I have explained above about 'signed for'. If it is signed for then it is rarely if ever stolen. The problem is reminding people, telling people to send signed for. I am quite angry about this because this year it really has messed me up.

 

Strange that i never miss anything and not all is signed for. I buy tons of stuff on ebay.. obviously much of that is signed for. 

[lungbing]

I receive test letters for the Universal Postal Union from all around the world.  I am told  how many letters  and when they were posted and have to log them in on arrival via a code in the letter.

 

I actually receive about a third of the letters posted to me.  Letters from Singapore can take 2 weeks and a letter from Europe 10 days.  There's no pattern to it.  Letters can arrive in Bangkok sorting office and are back-stamped on arrival, but then take 2 weeks to get to Khon Kaen.

 

I suspect, but can't prove, that a high proportion of mail addressed to foreigners is considered fair game in BKK, a perk of the job so to speak.  

 

I just hope that the UPU have a go at Thailand Post and tell them to improve.

 

[ianf]

How can I inform the UPU???????