Coronavirus impacting international mail services

[RogerE]

Good service report, thanks AdmiralCollector

I did a quick double-take when a sideways glance said you are based in Whidby Island WA,
and then I realised it is followed by 'USA'.

Australians are used to the state abbreviation WA = Western Australia, and not so familiar
with the state abbreviation WA = Washington [State].

Australian posties are using a similar procedure. When I clear my PO Box, if there is a card
notifying me to pick up an item at the counter, I get shown the item (through the transparent
screen that has been erected on the counter), and when I acknowledge that it is for me, the
item is scanned by the staff member who then enters "Covid" in the scanner instead of requesting
me to enter my signature.

All good

/RogerE

[ddaann]

I sent some stamps to a buyer on Sept 25th. He wrote to say they still had not arrived. I'm not surprised. I've been advising Asia buyers that mail is very erratic and can be fast or can take 8-9 weeks. Maybe I need to revise that to 8-9 months. Sigh.

[norvic]

Readers of Britain's Stamp Magazine may not be aware that the next edition will be a combined December/January one (so only 11 this year), with the next edition being February and appearing in early January.

So it may not be 'lost in the post' - I don't know what the publication date for the 11th one will be.

[sebjarod]

The French post announced special rules for Christmas 2020 parcel service between Metropolitan France and its overseas départements and territories:
- Post early, please !
- La Poste is putting as many parcels as possible in as many commercial flights as possible.
- And can invest in special freight planes if needed.

And senders are invited to limit the weight of their parcels to 20kg (over 20 kg: surface mail only).

For 2020 La Poste has already an overcost of 15 million euros with the French Overseas because of the difficulties to find airmail capacities.

[ddaann]

I just returned from the PO, sending an express mail package (costing $144) to my son in Hong Kong from Minnesota. The usual delivery time for such is a week - but USPS posted a warning they cannot provide ANY delivery window.

C-19 must be knocking the stuffing out of the USPS. I'm not surprised, since many hundreds of our hospital system employees are infected or in quarantine.

[Lakatoi 4]

I should have added in this topic that a couple of weeks ago I received an email from Chris Gaertner in Germany advising that a cover I’d ordered in late March was finally on its way

Still waiting though, hey it’s only been almost EIGHT months

[nota bene]

I should have added in this topic that a couple of weeks ago I received an email from Chris Gaertner in Germany advising that a cover I’d ordered in late March was finally on its way

Still waiting though, hey it’s only been almost EIGHT months

I'm still waiting from stuff sent in March from India.... It is still stuck and not moving out of India!

Two out of five registered letters made it out before the lockdowns in April, the other 3 are still stuck. God knows when those will start to appear. Good part is that I have not paid for the items, so it is the seller's issue if it does not make it.

[Spartacus]

Hello,
To add to this topic.
I ordered some stamps from a dealer in Chile, seems they take the cake and beat my record, arrived six months later.
I had given up on them thinking they were lost.
Snail mail at its best!

Cheers.

[David Benson]

The main problem now is the delay after posting and the loading on to a container ship.

I asked at my local Post Office yesterday and they said it could be one or two months before a container is full and the ship leaves.

I presume that it also depends on where it was posted. Mail from the major cities would have regular containers but smaller cities would take much longer.

David B.

[Srisha]

the longest time it has taken so far for me during this pandemic is a mail from Namibia, that was posted in Feb'20, which i only received it last week. That was 9 months, from Namibia to Singapore

I had even forgotten about this mail...

[Berlin-Gus]

Rec'd letter from Singapore today, Nov. 18, that was posted on Oct. 27. Considering our pandemic times I think that is really quite acceptable.

[HalfpennyYellow]

Is anyone in Europe or elsewhere experiencing delays in mail sent from the UK?

An online purchase which I made a month ago has still not arrived, and this is very unusual since mail from the UK is usually in transit for only a week or so, and I had not had any problems with mail from the UK throughout the pandemic until now.

[RevRed+]

Hi HalfpennyYellow. Yes the post has slowed from the UK to Ireland, but as the post seems to have slowed all round, it is hard to know. 2/3 days has stretched to 2/3 weeks.

[Waffle]

HalfPenny Yellow. sadly it is not only mail into Malta being delayed. Some 6 to 8 weeks ago I ordered The Map Plotters issue and F.D.C. from Malta post. In spite of almost instantaneous deduction of the cost from my credit card, the paid for goods are yet to arrived.

Hopefully. early days. Admittedly pre-Covid, when we visited Valletta in June, 4 large A4 sized envelopes with 2018 year stamps, liberally applied, arrived back in Australia before we got to Amsterdam 10 days later.

[Global Administrator]

.

I should have added in this topic that a couple of weeks ago I received an email from Chris Gaertner in Germany advising that a cover I’d ordered in late March was finally on its way

Still waiting though, hey it’s only been almost EIGHT months

Gaertner are just telling you now it is being posted?

Sending Foreign mail is just crazy.

Our totally incompetent Post Office STILL does not offer any tracking whatever on the $16 Registered Mail re-paid envelopes. Yes we get a lodgement receipt, but that is it.

So if we use them, and the buyer quite understandably wants to track it online they cannot. Zimbabwe level service for a $16 letter size price.

I bought a carton of these Rigid card Express Post International envelopes years back. Good for 500 grams, or 20mm thickness. PO offers nothing like that these days.

A normal air letter UNTRACKED from 250g-500g cost $A20 right now and can take 3 months. These get there FAST, and get tracked as can be seen and if anyone needs some I sell sealed packs of 10 for $A180. (Stock 582KW) For ebay sellers of goods more than $100, it is the ONLY thing that works to save you chargebacks and hours of time and raised blood pressure.

When THEY get into something like the USPS system they provide total tracking events. Australia Post can tell me nothing about any of their Top End overseas mail items - only when they enter REAL PO system can we find out where they are!

Crazy .. but when it enters a REAL Post a Service we see this - and you get text updates for each movement -

https://tools.usps.com/go/TrackConfirmAction?tLabels=LX00384 ... kingnotify

Tracking History - LX003842067AU

November 4, 2020, 3:25 pm

Delivered, In/At Mailbox
WESTFIELD, NJ 07090
Your item was delivered in or at the mailbox at 3:25 pm on November 4, 2020 in WESTFIELD, NJ 07090.

November 4, 2020, 7:10 am
Out for Delivery
WESTFIELD, NJ 07090

November 4, 2020, 5:11 am
Arrived at Unit
WESTFIELD, NJ 07090

November 4, 2020, 4:03 am
Arrived at USPS Facility
WESTFIELD, NJ 07090

November 4, 2020, 2:39 am
Departed USPS Regional Facility
KEARNY NJ DISTRIBUTION CENTER

November 3, 2020, 2:21 pm
Arrived at USPS Regional Facility
KEARNY NJ DISTRIBUTION CENTER

November 2, 2020
In Transit to Next Facility
November 1, 2020, 6:27 pm

Departed USPS Regional Facility
SAN FRANCISCO CA DISTRIBUTION CENTER

November 1, 2020, 2:48 pm
Arrived at USPS Regional Facility
SAN FRANCISCO CA DISTRIBUTION CENTER

October 30, 2020, 12:06 am
Processed Through Facility
ISC SAN FRANCISCO (USPS)

Origin Post is Preparing Shipment
October 26, 2020, 3:22 am
Processed Through Facility
SYDNEY - STRATHFIELD MC, AUSTRALIA

[EricHutton]

Just had an item from UK to Mauritius arrive, posted 22nd September, arrived 19th November.

But on the unexpected quick deliveries... sent a book to India recently using what the UK post office call "International Economy", ie surface (ship) mail in pre-covid expected delivery 5 to 6 weeks, it arrived in 5 days

Spoke to a knowlagable stamp collector I know, who said if there is unused space on airmail cargo post, ie the post office have certain amount booked on various flights, they will throw in "International Economy" just to fill up the cargo space they have already paid for, a bonus for me and the person receiving the publication, who was still waiting several weeks for items posted elsewhere to him air mail.

[rehautala]

Waiting for a package from Australia mailed Aug. 25 to Canada (~3 months so far).

Will advise when it arrives in case others are also waiting for similar.

Interesting info about possible delays with loading the container ships - never heard that before, but it makes sense.

[ddaann]

This has nothing to do with C-19, and it's not a world record delay, but perhaps worthy of a mention. I sent a collector a reference book on China stamps in September 2019. From Minnesota to California, with tracking. The USPS "lost" it at a post office near the buyer's home. It was finally delivered last week. 14 months.