Delays sending small packets to North America

[dundas]

I've written about this in the dim distant past, but the problem seems to have got worse. Two small packets we airmailed to the US on 23 November still have this status message in the usps.com tracking: Origin Post is Preparing Shipment. The same kind of lengthy delay is also happening for several items sent around the same time to Canada.

If I track the the same tracking numbers in the Thailand Post site, it's clear the item has left Suvarnabhumi, and is, presumably, waiting for US Customs to look at it, and so it's temporarily out of the tracking system.  

 

We've got any number of items sent to the US and Canada where progress isn't happening, and I'm expecting a heap of demands for refunds for non-delivery. 

 

Not all -- some items are getting through in normal time -- around 14 days. 

Wonder what other people have experienced.

 

 

 

Edited January 19, 2017 by dundas

[Bill97]

High variability, not advised when reliability is important.

[cmsally]

Last month their seemed to be problems with USA East Coast. I had 2 parcels stuck in customs and it was 6 weeks before they suddenly appeared!

This month the problem seems to be more West Coast in that one is probably stuck in customs and the other for some reason came back to me without being delivered (on tracking it never seems to have got to the delivery stage). Weird as I have never had so much of a problem sending to USA.

[Dante99]

It is Donald's fault.

[oldcarguy]

We had a package mailed Nov 29 from BKK that finally arrived at customer Jan 10  East Coast USA

 

this was small packet SAL ,  not sure if the SAL makes  it quicker or not :)

Edited January 19, 2017 by oldcarguy

[cmsally]

Wow that is slow for SAL, but it does (usually) depend on how far they are from an airport.

If I send SAL to UK (SE, so close to the airports) it takes the same amount of time as airmail; which is 10-14 days.

[oldcarguy]

Thai Post tracking and USA  tracking  is so bad , SAL small packet

 

you mail the package from  and get tracking number , and see the package go to a couple places around BKK in the next day or two....

never does say it was placed on a  plane !

 

then it  disappears until it comes out of US customs ( be nice to know when/where it landed in USA ) and a day or 2 later it is delivered

 

I guess if I wanted "real time" tracking I could pay for Fed EX or UPS  :)

[CNXBKKMAN]

I sent a bundle of xmas cards to the UK on Dec 3. They arrived within a week normal airmail. At the same time I sent a small packet airmail signed for to New York. That arrived on New Year's Eve or the day before. At least it arrived though and didn't disappear.

[HaleySabai]

I'm wondering about the same thing. Sent 3 homemade crafted Christmas cards made by our daughter to Canada.

Posted them in the 11th hour and paid the extra for 7-day delivery. As far as I know to date,all have not arrived.

I'm confident that they got out of Thailand, but I'm not about them leaving the sorting depot in Vancouver.

They were oversize and slightly weighty envelopes so may have appeared to be worth shuffling out the back door by an over-payed under worked unionized postal worker. I'm speculating in the negative here, but it is well known that the Canadian postal system SUCKS on several levels.

[Rotweiler]

Deliveries during the Christmas season are always slow - for me at least.  Thin packet to Canada - sent Dec 3rd by registered airmail, still hasn't arrived. Irritating but somewhat understandable - for Canada at least.  Canada Post did not hire extra sorters this Christmas the way they have every previous year.  A mountain of mail is still waiting in Vancouver and Toronto sorting centers (according to Canadian media).

 

 

[dundas]

I've been a bit slow as the OP responding to this, but I want to say thank you to everyone. What's been said here fits with our experience -- it's the US and Canada that mostly are the problem. Of the items we airmailed (small packet service) on 23 November, one has already returned to Thailand because the customer refused to accept late delivery. The other arrived a few days ago. I hope delivery gets better now the Christmas rush is (presumably) over. No, I don't think we can blame Donald for it. I'd describe it as government agencies externalising their costs -- not hiring extra sorters for Christmas is treating customers with contempt. 

[HaleySabai]

Sent 3 Christmas cards on Dec.18.....they all arrived to their destinations today in Western Canada (Feb.10th).... 54-days...yup, I'd call that "snail-mail"!

[elektrified]

On 1/20/2017 at 10:00 AM, oldcarguy said:

Thai Post tracking and USA  tracking  is so bad , SAL small packet

 

you mail the package from  and get tracking number , and see the package go to a couple places around BKK in the next day or two....

never does say it was placed on a  plane !

 

then it  disappears until it comes out of US customs ( be nice to know when/where it landed in USA ) and a day or 2 later it is delivered

 

I guess if I wanted "real time" tracking I could pay for Fed EX or UPS  :)

The post office has all the information in their computer system; including what flight the packages were placed on, who signed for them etc. They will only share this information with you if you know someone at the P.O. well. I was able to get the guy I know to print it all out for me one time when two packages were lost for 5 months - but eventually delivered.

[elektrified]

I just received a Christmas card on Wednesday that was sent to me from the USA on December 12.

[MMan]

I've experienced this sending my Tax Return to the IRS, using Thai Post Express Mail.   Normally it would arrive within a few days, but one time it took about 5 - 6 weeks.  In the meantime the tracking site had the last known location at Suvarnabhumi outgoing mail.

 

[dundas]

On 11/02/2017 at 11:08 PM, MMan said:

I've experienced this sending my Tax Return to the IRS, using Thai Post Express Mail.   Normally it would arrive within a few days, but one time it took about 5 - 6 weeks.  In the meantime the tracking site had the last known location at Suvarnabhumi outgoing mail.

 

About one in five of the small packets we've sent would end up taking this long, or longer.