How reliable is mail service outside the U.S.?

[Sony_Fan]

Just curious, for those of you who live outside the U.S., how reliable is your country's mail service? I've shipped stuff to Canada, Ecuador and even BoBt in Cayman Islands, but never to the U.K., Europe or Asia. I'm always afraid that someone in these other countries will open up the packages and steal whatever they can (which is what happened when I shipped some MJ cassettes to Ecuador) several years ago.

[Abby Normal]

I think this is highly variable. Even in the U.S. shipping can be a crap shoot. The ProTape guys in Texas refuse to use USPS at all. I had something ship from California that took a month to get to me, whereas other things I ordered from Greece arrived within 10 days.

I've seen sellers set some pretty sensible policies to combat this sort of thing. They require signed-for insured delivery for International delivery of any item that's worth more than a certain amount. The concern isn't only reliability of the postal services, but fraud on the part of any party. For that reason, it is also a very good idea to take clear pictures that include the serial number of the merchandise.

[Levanel]

Like Abby said, highly variable.

I've had stuff shipped from the UK to the west coast in as little as 3 days while others taking up to a month. And there's really no way to tell how reliable it is (eg: one 3-day package came in regular airmail while another the same way but for 2 weeks).

IMO, USPS isn't very reliable. I sent a trade package to someone in Canada fully insured, signature delivery, tracking and it never made it. A quick stop at the PO revealed they "lost" all the information required and denied my insurance claim even when I had receipts and everything.

Edited July 22, 2009 by Levanel

[Abby Normal]

they ... denied my insurance claim even when I had receipts and everything.

Wow--that sucks. I don't think I would've let that stand. What was their justification for denying your claim?

[Levanel]

Wow--that sucks. I don't think I would've let that stand. What was their justification for denying your claim?

That it was never on record. In essence, they denied my package's existence.. (receipts, customs forms, etc)

[Abby Normal]

That it was never on record. In essence, they denied my package's existence.. (receipts, customs forms, etc)

That's what I mean, though--you had all the documentation. It was signed, stamped, etc by them--that's the sort of thing receipts and documentation is supposed to counter. Did they say your documents were fake? Did you have more than the receipt? (i.e. their official "tracking" slip that they stamp with their seal?)

Well, whatever the case--I hope it wasn't too costly for you. I can understand your wariness of USPS under those circumstances--although I'd be inclined to believe it was just a glitch and just not go to that particular branch anymore if I can help it.

[bobt]

I have had stuff come to mee from all over the world, Japan, France, GB, Germany, US and Canada, only had one problem of a disc not coming, and that was twice, generally it arrives, as for time frame you take a chance.

Bob

[Levanel]

It was most probably the specific PO office I went to. The day I sent it was the start of a new quarter at my uni'. I'm assuming because it was that one day, the package probably got lost somewhere amidst the chaos.

Funny, after a few months since my inquiry, the one managing the PO still asks me whether the recipient recieved it or not. In all likelyhood, probably not.. Then again, there's also the possibility that the intended recipient lied through his teeth about not recieving it. I'm not pointing any fingers though..

This was probably an isolated incident.. of all the packages I've sent out for sale/trade on MDCF, it was just this one that seemingly got "lost"..

Edited July 23, 2009 by Levanel

[Sony_Fan]

It was most probably the specific PO office I went to. The day I sent it was the start of a new quarter at my uni'. I'm assuming because it was that one day, the package probably got lost somewhere amidst the chaos.

Funny, after a few months since my inquiry, the one managing the PO still asks me whether the recipient recieved it or not. In all likelyhood, probably not.. Then again, there's also the possibility that the intended recipient lied through his teeth about not recieving it. I'm not pointing any fingers though..

This was probably an isolated incident.. of all the packages I've sent out for sale/trade on MDCF, it was just this one that seemingly got "lost"..

If you go on the ebay forums, you'll see lost of complaints from sellers about unethical buyers who do lie their a$$ off to get something for free, such as falsely claiming never recieving the product, the product was damaged, it wasn't in the condition described, so on. So paying extra for insurance or delivery confirmation, is actually to protect the person sending the product, not the person recieving it.

[Giant_Rick]

In Italy the service generally sucks (long shipping times), but sometimes you're lucky and everything goes well.

Personally the only issue I've experienced is the long waiting periods, but I've alwasy received what I've bought.

Delivery times varies: for example I waited 3 days for a CD from Sicily and 7 days for a CD from Venice!

I usually buy a lot from UK. They are generally on time (I bought 3 Hi-MDs and they sent me them in 4 days!), but one time they missent an LP to Bahamas (God knows how they did!) so it took it 2 months to get in my hands.