Is mail always this bad?

I used to mail stuff all the time in the states and only had only issue ever (in about 5 years)

I've only mailed a few packages and letters here  (we have only been here a few months) and we have had a ton of trouble. Some Christmas cards never made it to the states. One friend told me hers looked to have been sitting in water.

One package we sent around Dec 6th still hasn't made it home. It cost us around 40 pounds to send it and it was filled with handmade things.

We also just send a present to a friend and she just wrote me to say "The brown paper with our address on it was delivered today in an envelope from the post office, which was stamped "received as damaged, no contents"."

Have you had trouble like this too? Can you insure your items here? They never offered it at the post office. Any tips?

Where do you live?  We had trouble with mail in London, but not since we moved to the countryside.

Carl

I have had it with Royal Mail, myself.  They have lost a job offer letter, and more recently, a baby changing pad (which is a freaking big package to lose, I feel!!!).  I'm sure others have had different experiences, but I never, ever had anything lost by the USPS. 

In general, I've found Royal Mail more reliable than the USPS inside their respective countries. But I had an awful PO in the States. Really awful. I had them hold my mail for two weeks while I went on vacation once, and letters from that period dribbled in for the following *year*.

The used to misdeliver the next-door neighbor's mail to me all the time. Which doesn't sound all that bad, except that she worked for the post office!

I've had no problems in the UK with post, and serious problems in the US. In one place I lived, my weekly delivery of a magazine I subscribed to regulary went missing, so much so that I had to have delivery officially tracked at every stage of it's journey (!).

Worst of all was that I used to mail my rent check. I didn't use special delivery and simply mailed regular mode as one does with any bill payment, expecting it to get there and it usually does. Except that one day I got a routine "three day eviction" notice in the mail, from my landlord/rental management company. When I checked up on what the hell was going on, they said they had not received that month's rent check! It never did show up, was never cashed, nothing (I put stop payment on it anyway, at a $20 bank fee...)

I was also always shocked at how expensive it is to send a package from the US to the Uk, regular speed/pricing, taking a week or two, not overnight or anything special, compared to how cheap it is to mail the same weight of package to the US from the UK. Fifteen bucks for a something light while my UK friend mailed something much heftier for a couple of quid, so I noticed on the franking mark. Many a time.

I'm much happier with Royal Mail service and pricing than I ever was with the USPS, which in my opinion stands for Uncaring, Slapdash, Pricey, and Surly.

I have to say ( touch wood ) that anything I have posted so far has been ok.  Packages and letters tend to arrive in the states between 5 and 10 days.  I usually send via plain old no thrills mail..

Possibly problems with certain sorting depots?.  Our post is through Southampton sorting office.

Quite simply, never send valuables or anything important in non-registered/recorded post.


Vicky

We've had more problems in the UK since I've been married than I've had in the US my entire life.  We're in London, and that may contribute to it.

I think the worst was a few months ago we found the mail for our entire building half hanging out of the slot, half OUTSIDE on the stoop.  Most were damaged.  Some were opened.  While we've had bigger run arounds with missing mail from the UK post office, this was bad because there was no excuse for it other than incompetence.   I've seen the postboxes emptied here as well, and it's not always a pretty sight.

I've had a few problems with the US postal system.  Sometimes it was to do with the people sending it.  Not always, but sometimes.

When my husband sent over our paperwork for my spousal visa, I received it late, opened, drenched.  We're not sure what side got it wet, but we're reasonably sure it was opened and rifled through on the US side.  We know it was opened because sealed plastic covers were left open, and things were taken out of a binder which wouldn't have happened even if the box had just come undone and spilt on its own.

Back in September, I used Royal Mail International Signed for to send an envelope with $60 USD cash to the woman in NC who is looking after my cats. We had thought about doing an international money order, but it was going to cost too much. We figured since the international service had £35 insurance, we would be okay.

Did this envelope ever make it to it's NC destination? The answer would be a big fat NO. However, I haven't determined who's fault it is yet.

Royal Mail seem to have done their part by sending it and recording that it reached USPS in NY. Past that, there is no information. I think it may have been a dishonest USPS employee who took it upon themselves to help themselves to the cash. I know it wasn't smart to send cash, but we were encouraged by the woman behind the counter that as long as we did it via International Signed for, it would be okay.

Now I've had to file a claim and I'm still waiting for the money. Not a happy bunny either way.

On a good note; I just received a letter from a friend in Arizona--she spaced out and only put a standard US stamp on it and dropped it in the mailbox.  It was postmarked 20th of January and I received it today (26th)!  Some nice soul let it go through with no extra postage and no air-mail stamp, and it only took 6 days to the UK!

Your friendly resident postie here, to explain i deliver in rain, snow, wind etc and always try to ensure that everone recieves thier mail. if i can't deliver a parcel i issue a p739 card telling the customer where the parcel is now (usually back at the delivery centre), and they can usually collect it within 24hours . I just love it when people complain when their mail is wet, when it's been pouring down with rain  .

You, my dear, are the exception!

I frequently find that I have missed a package but the postie hasn't bothered leaving a card.  And my friend lives near a sorting office, and a few weeks ago wandered past it at 2am on a Sunday morning to see that two trolleys full of post had been dumped unsecured in the street...


Vicky

If that happened at the sorting centre where i worked, both managers would be out on their ears. Doesn't sound like you have a good service  down there ,i.d move north if i were you  .

My birthday was at the end of last October. My dad posted me a birthday package (to the tune of $70 postage) from the US on 17/10 and it has yet to arrive. Normally I'd just assume that the USPS lost it, but a birthday card mailed to me from 15 miles away here in the UK didn't arrive either. Maybe I don't exist??

And for the record, I never got a notice that they tried to deliver and for weeks I went faithfully to the local Royal Mail office and smiled sweetly at the guy behind the window who checked for it... no birthday love for Angela.

I posted a gift to my friend in Edinburgh at the tune of 50$ in Aug and it hasn't arrived either.  The tracking number confirms it made it out of the United States but who knows what happen after that.  The English are saying they sent it up to the Scots and the Scots are saying the English have it, maybe it is in Northern Ireland.