Impossible to receive international first class mail here from the States?

[chang beer]

Hi. A friend of mine mailed a letter through international first class from California to here in Pattaya a few weeks ago. Still not here. There was tracking till got to Thailand Bangkok Airport. But after that nothing...Nothing. I have been to local Post office but nothing.

Have you had a success receiving mail from a regular post office first class mail from America?

thanx

[Harry Brown]

Not recently, but in the past I and my friends have sent items in the mail service, once a package went missing from Pattaya to OZ but I have sent important documents  from OZ to UdonThani. (copies) and they made it through ok.

I think in the past some post offices had a retain for item going missing. I have no idea of the integrity of the service these days as I haven't had to use them for some years.

[southsidebruce]

USPS first class international takes on average 2.5 weeks to arrive from Florida to my house... Sometimes it does what you see - had one recently - gets stuck somewhere in between an International Airport area in Bangkok and my house (via tracking) - that package from Amazon took about 6 weeks to get to me... Sometimes it takes more than a week to get from Florida to California - incredibly slow, bouncing off many postal areas in the states... If you want something fast and incredibly good tracking - use DHL Express - and it is SuperExpensive... Also, you might want to email Thai customs to see if it got stuck there - was there something in the package, or just a letter?  But if you went to the Post Office and showed them your tracking number and they couldn't find it - might just take a little more time - stuck somewhere in Thailand... Also, did the person sending it, put the correct mailing address on the envelope/package?

[CyberPro]

3 hours ago, chang beer said:

Have you had a success receiving mail from a regular post office first class mail from America?

thanx

Sounds like receiving snail mail is hit or miss.

You might want to try a Traveler's Mailbox service in the US where they'll scan the contents, give you the option to forward the snail mail to you.

At least that way you know what's in the mail.

If you really HAVE to have the snail mail, use a reliable international service like Fedex, DHL, etc. Good luck

[Goolabert]

My mail is forwarded about once a month and almost always sent International Priority Mail from the US to Pattaya. Never had anything lost but it isn't very fast with one or two rare exceptions. The delay is not just at the Thai end either. My "Priority" mail will often sit in Los Angeles for 4-6 days before they send it onward.

I've had a lot of mail sent from Hong Kong and a few other places. Nothing had ever been lost just very slow sometimes.

This is for the last 14 years.

Don't waste money having mail sent by Fedex or DHL

Both USPS and Thai Post are reliable but speed is not their strong point. 

My experience only applies to Pattaya. It's possible that the local post offices in some of the upcountry areas can't be trusted 100% but I don't think Thai Post would allow totally crooked postal employees to stay on. The Thai postal system is one of the few things where Thailand is as good as most western countries.

[southsidebruce]

14 minutes ago, Goolabert said:

My mail is forwarded about once a month and almost always sent International Priority Mail from the US to Pattaya. Never had anything lost but it isn't very fast with one or two rare exceptions. The delay is not just at the Thai end either. My "Priority" mail will often sit in Los Angeles for 4-6 days before they send it onward.

I've had a lot of mail sent from Hong Kong and a few other places. Nothing had ever been lost just very slow sometimes.

This is for the last 14 years.

Don't waste money having mail sent by Fedex or DHL

Both USPS and Thai Post are reliable but speed is not their strong point. 

My experience only applies to Pattaya. It's possible that the local post offices in some of the upcountry areas can't be trusted 100% but I don't think Thai Post would allow totally crooked postal employees to stay on. The Thai postal system is one of the few things where Thailand is as good as most western countries.

what is your average time it takes to get USPS priority mail from the US to your Thailand address?

[Wolf Cat]

I get mail from the US often, but the timing is not consistent, sometime it's 10 days, sometimes 2 weeks, sometime a month.

[Soi7]

4 hours ago, chang beer said:

Hi. A friend of mine mailed a letter through international first class from California to here in Pattaya a few weeks ago. Still not here. There was tracking till got to Thailand Bangkok Airport. But after that nothing...Nothing. I have been to local Post office but nothing.

Have you had a success receiving mail from a regular post office first class mail from America?

thanx

When I moved here 15 years ago or so I had 4 standard size envelopes mailed from the states. I wanted to see how long it would take. 6 weeks later I got 1 of them that was opened up the other 3 never got here.  

[Kanga]

2 hours ago, Goolabert said:

It's possible that the local post offices in some of the upcountry areas can't be trusted 100% but I don't think Thai Post would allow totally crooked postal employees to stay on. The Thai postal system is one of the few things where Thailand is as good as most western countries.

Recent example - 

https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1086822-wonder-what-happened-to-your-important-mail-its-at-the-postmans-house/

I don't generally disagree with your last statement however as I sent 2 International tracked from Thailand to UK last year and Royal Mail managed to lose both of them after they arrived at the sorting office at Heathrow.

[kansuwan]

Tip:  produce some Thai language labels of your address,  then send them to anyone consigning mail to you from overseas.  One label per parcel/envelope.

Works for me.....

[jocky king]

I post a Xmas card to my work mates in December 2017 , and they got it in March last year ... ( standard Post ) . 

[overseas516]

I have sent numerous letters from the UK to Thailand including a bank card and letters. They have always arrived within 3 weeks of posting and using cheapest airmail postage.

[jocky king]

16 minutes ago, overseas516 said:

I have sent numerous letters from the UK to Thailand including a bank card and letters. They have always arrived within 3 weeks of posting and using cheapest airmail postage.

How come yours are faster than mine ....., Took 3 months to arrive . That was from Pattaya to Ireland . Maybe it is because I wrote the address in Irish .. 555 

[FROST MEDIC999]

Just now, jocky king said:

How come yours are faster than mine ....., Took 3 months to arrive . That was from Pattaya to Ireland . Maybe it would s because I wrote the address in Irish .. 555 

Your problem was Jockey you didn't put TWO stamps on it.....Why 2 stamps I hear you ask dimples....to be sure to be sure 5555

[overseas516]

20 minutes ago, jocky king said:

How come yours are faster than mine ....., Took 3 months to arrive . That was from Pattaya to Ireland . Maybe it is because I wrote the address in Irish .. 555 

Because i am different. 

[GlobalTraveler]

8 hours ago, southsidebruce said:

USPS first class international takes on average 2.5 weeks to arrive from Florida to my house... Sometimes it does what you see - had one recently - gets stuck somewhere in between an International Airport area in Bangkok and my house (via tracking) - that package from Amazon took about 6 weeks to get to me... Sometimes it takes more than a week to get from Florida to California - incredibly slow, bouncing off many postal areas in the states... If you want something fast and incredibly good tracking - use DHL Express - and it is SuperExpensive... Also, you might want to email Thai customs to see if it got stuck there - was there something in the package, or just a letter?  But if you went to the Post Office and showed them your tracking number and they couldn't find it - might just take a little more time - stuck somewhere in Thailand... Also, did the person sending it, put the correct mailing address on the envelope/package?

every letter i ever send through thai post office never arrived. Now its only DHL

[southsidebruce]

1 hour ago, GlobalTraveler said:

every letter i ever send through thai post office never arrived. Now its only DHL

I have had decent luck and not lost any letters that I know of (there was a check for my birthday, but not sure my Mom actually mailed it and it was never cashed)... however,  some pieces of mail take a REAL LONG time - think the longest was 2 months... on average, though, 2.5 weeks... funny as my Mom who used to do the mailing for me to Thailand would tell me - you should receive it in 10 days - guess the US Post office was telling her that... And I would always say - no, 2.5 weeks is the average... DHL Express - I use it when I need to ensure I get something and I need it sooner than later... It is very expensive, but it is most amazing how trackable, etc - it is - at least in my limited experience... And I think I like it better than Fed Express, but again very limited experience with both of those premier mailing services... I use a mail forwarding service now, so I have my Mom mail stuff sent to her house, to the mail forwarding service, where I can have mail scanned, etc - and choose how to send it - and get tracking information... So far it has worked out real good... 

[Goolabert]

A couple of related mail FYI points.

1.   I used Thai Post to send two medium size boxes about 18"x18" by the cheapest surface mail to The and each one arrived OK (a little beat up) but it took about two months. 

2.   I also had a package of forwarded mail confiscated at Laem Chabang because it contained cigars. The kept the entire package including letters, bills etc. I was surprised because I had assumed that they were just going to take the contraband and let me have the rest but nope.

I never expected to see it again but they actually returned it to sender and 2-3 months later it showed back up in Las Vegas with everything intact, including the cigars.

[likeaking]

I've had a good result sending photo prints from California to Pattaya using USPS Priority Mail. I also went to a local Thai restaurant and had the owner address the package in Thai beside my english ones and the envelope arrived as expected. How would your mail deliverer respond to an address written only in Thai?

[galt67]

My recommendation:

Ensure your Thai address is VERY clearly spelled out in 'block letters.

Clear, easy to read.

When that's been done, ZERO issues from getting mail from the US.

[Buddy Edgewood]

Based on everyone's mixed experience, if I ever need to post anything to/from Thailand, I think I'll just use FedEx and save myself some aggravation. 

[ricktoronto]

I mailed my room key back from Hong Kong via air mail which is first class (cost $1 US) and it arrived in 9 days which is pretty slow considering an airplane was used and they take less than 3 hours to fly HKG-BKK. English address only and no problem.

I had the hotel business card but no way was I trying to write Sanskrit and get it right.