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Post by Deleted on Jan 19, 2010 12:43:47 GMT
I sent some mail to Spain about a week before Christmas and my friend has informed me that it only just arrived yesterday. That means that it took over a MONTH to get there. Same thing happens if I mail anything to India.
And yet, I've send mail to the UK before and it only took 4 days to arrive. Although this Christmas (maybe because of all the bad weather), it took a lot longer.
So, I'm just wondering why it takes so long in some places and not in others? And how is the mail service (or postal service if you like), where you live?
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Post by Deleted on Jan 19, 2010 12:45:24 GMT
Oh and my friend tells me that it can take up to 3 months for him to receive mail where he is, in Mallorca. Amazing.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 20, 2010 5:51:04 GMT
Some countries make the postal service a priority and others do not. And situations do change, because Italy was the black spot of Europe for many years, but service has become normal in the last decade or so.
We used to have three deliveries a day in Paris but now there is just one. Nevertheless, service remains pretty good. Since I am being paid for a study of the postal service, I receive several anonymous envelopes a week which I must record on an internet site regarding the date of postmark, whether or not there are orange fluorescent codes along the bottom of the envelope and if there is an electronic tracking device in the envelope. Regarding the mail that has been posted in France, every single envelope except one arrived within 24 hours.
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Post by hwinpp on Jan 20, 2010 6:19:53 GMT
I won't comment on the mail service here  |
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Post by bjd on Jan 20, 2010 10:35:30 GMT
I ordered a book on Amazon marketplace before leaving at the beginning of December. It was a French site but the book was mailed from the States. I had not received it by Dec 30, so wrote to them. They sent another copy. It is Jan 20 and have received neither the first nor second book. I don't know whose mail service stinks, but would tend to think it's the US one. But there have been problems with French mail lately too -- a letter took 7 days from the Pyrenees -- about 150 km away -- recently. It's true that the French mail is usually pretty good.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 20, 2010 11:09:26 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jan 20, 2010 16:28:11 GMT
Keoruac, within 24 hours sounds really good. I know the postal service in the UK works really well, from having lived there. I couldn't believe that we would get two deliveries a day and one on Saturday.
Regarding Mallorca, I guess it being an Island, maybe the mail is shipped (or rather flown) in from the mainland only once in a while? I'm not sure.
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Post by bazfaz on Jan 20, 2010 16:34:14 GMT
One good thing about living in a rural community is that the postman knows you, knows when you are going to be away and holds the mail for you. I am sure there is an official way of doing this but the personal touch is much better.
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Post by bazfaz on Jan 20, 2010 16:35:40 GMT
When he was prime minister of Britain Asquith conducted a love affair with his mistress by post in London. There were something like 6 deliveries a day so this was quite feasible.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 20, 2010 16:37:09 GMT
You're lucky there baz. Our mailman won't do that, even though we know him. We have to go through the local post office in the village to arrange all that, for the times we know we will be away.
The local village post office will bend a few rules though if you ask them to.
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Post by fumobici on Jan 21, 2010 2:10:17 GMT
I ordered a book on Amazon marketplace before leaving at the beginning of December. It was a French site but the book was mailed from the States. I had not received it by Dec 30, so wrote to them. They sent another copy. It is Jan 20 and have received neither the first nor second book. I don't know whose mail service stinks, but would tend to think it's the US one. But there have been problems with French mail lately too -- a letter took 7 days from the Pyrenees -- about 150 km away -- recently. It's true that the French mail is usually pretty good. I doubt the US Postal Service was to blame for the delay. I've worked shipping and receiving and done mail order business for decades and haven't got enough good things to say about them. They've never got it wrong once, never having lost or damaged any of the hundreds of packages I've sent and delivery times are remarkably consistent. |
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Post by lagatta on Jan 21, 2010 2:26:05 GMT
I have nothing but horror stories of the post when I was studying in Italy about 20 years ago...
I believe Post Canada has actually improved but sadly except for a few books and other presents I never get any "nice" mail any more. Just bills, the nicest thing is cheques paying me for work, nothing personal any more. Sad. I used to look forward to the post so much, and not just because I was awaiting payment.
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Post by cristina on Jan 21, 2010 2:33:53 GMT
I think its just plain Karma or the direction of the wind. I once sent an envelope to Tucson, 100 miles away, and it took a week to arrive. During that same period, my mother sent me an envelope from 2500 miles away and it arrived in 2 days. Although to be fair, the Tucson mailing was a bit of an aberration. Most mail, even from the East coast of the US, reaches me within 3 days at most. As for my Christmas mailings, I sent two packages to Paris a week before Christmas (yes, I knew they would be late). One arrived the first week of January. The second is still a no-show. I think someone is swimming it across the Atlantic. My experiences with mail between here and Canada are universally bad, however. Conclusion? I have no idea who's fault it is, at least outside of the US. Likely though that it is the bad combination of different countries' incompatible systems for moving mail. |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 21, 2010 5:57:23 GMT
I ordered some books from Lonely Planet once during one of their 30% off sales. Since they didn't arrive as scheduled (from the U.K.) I sent an email of complaint. The customer service guy said he was taking care of it, but I continued waiting an unreasonable amount of time, so I contacted him again, and he was very reassuring, shared my annoyance, etc. Anyway, about a week later I received the books, and then I received them again and then I received them again. Three of everything. I asked the customer service guy what to do and he said to just distribute them to my friends, which is what I did.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 21, 2010 16:55:43 GMT
I used to know someone who worked to Canada post and I was told that whenever they saw a parcel with 'fragile' written on it, they would throw it around just for fun. I was not impressed.
I'm sure there are some employees of any postal system that don't take their job seriously, no matter where you live however.
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Post by rikita on Feb 8, 2010 1:47:29 GMT
i think the mail here is okay usually... my bf and i are both in the same club (alpine club) and the funny thing is, i always receive my new club id and the magazine and all one day before he receives his...
btw, i once had a letter opened and the contents (a little necklace) stolen - that was a letter sent to me when I lived in the US...
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Post by Deleted on Feb 8, 2010 16:39:42 GMT
I've had mail sent to me from India that never arrived.
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...lo and behold,there is an already existing thread on the board on this topic:
