How long does it take your mail from UK to reach Phils?

[South-east boy]

I just wondered how long it took mail you send from UK to reach Phils? Am getting a bit fed-up with it as it seems to take forever! I sent some birthday cards, DVD, photos and small bracket to Viva and 3 weeks later, it's still not there. She never received the Christmas card and the little Chrustmas present took 6 1/2 weeks! Its meant to take 5 days to reach Asia, so where does it sit after then?!

It costs a lot to send by courier and then Viva has to pay a lot to receive it and both of those costs add up to a higher value of what I'm actually sending! Also why should I have to send BT courier just because of the awful postal service?!

[kate_th]

royal mail probably if mails- 3 weeks or less , if package-1 month or more...... and it depends on the place...
next time do the registered mail so its easy for you to track it....

[sars_notd_virus]

my mum usually received all my little parcel and cards for her in three weeks(manila), i only use the local post (RM) to send it
its so unfair my mum says,as when she sent me packages from the local philpost going to the uk,it only took less than 10days:

[South-east boy]

I just sent by Royal mail air-mail. The tracking service doesn't work over there. There was a signed for service, that cost an extra £4 on top of the £6 something! It was going to Quezon city, so not exactly in the provinces!

Yeah, mail from her seems to reach me really quickly in comparison! When I've sent cards to Thailand, they reach there far quicker!

[kate_th]

lol becoz thailand is nearer to uk...

[Dedworth]

You're wasting your time and money using the postal system to Philippines - use the £'s to buy more stuff and send via a Balikbayan service

[Terpe]

You're wasting your time and money using the postal system to Philippines - use the £'s to buy more stuff and send via a Balikbayan service

I agree. That's what I was just about to post.
Even the very small boxes if you want.
We use various sizes, but mostly the jumbo (cram it all in) and just make sure when the sailing date will be. Normally delivery is about 5 weeks from sailing. Balikbayan boxes are great value for money and just about anything can be sent. Still no X-Ray despite all the recent issues.

If something is very important and needs delivery by specific time then it's better to take a hit on cost and use a courier service (eg DHL).

Just my experience.

[stevie c]

I agree. That's what I was just about to post.
Even the very small boxes if you want.
We use various sizes, but mostly the jumbo (cram it all in) and just make sure when the sailing date will be. Normally delivery is about 5 weeks from sailing. Balikbayan boxes are great value for money and just about anything can be sent. Still no X-Ray despite all the recent issues.

If something is very important and needs delivery by specific time then it's better to take a hit on cost and use a courier service (eg DHL).

Just my experience.

I tottally agree imo balikbayan boxes are fantastic value i have sent numerous boxes & have never encountered any problems

[South-east boy]

You're wasting your time and money using the postal system to Philippines - use the £'s to buy more stuff and send via a Balikbayan service

Well, I'll probably send one for Christmas, but for her Birthday I gave her most of her presents early when she was over here on the last time I saw her before she went back. Guess I should have thought to buy the cards earlier, but the photos were from when she was here and the dvd was the royal wedding one, so she can remember it from when she was here! It's just annoying if I want to send something small that it takes so long or gets lost! Would be interesting if they put an electronic tracking device in it so it would be known where exactly it was and how long it was spending in each place!

[les_taxi]

I send dvds and they take about 2 weeks usually normal post

[Steve.r]

I have sent cards that never got to my wife. I am sure that they get opened to see if they contain money by the postal workers in phils!!!

[joebloggs]

I have sent cards that never got to my wife. I am sure that they get opened to see if they contain money by the postal workers in phils!!!

UK postal service is not much better, my misses sent me an important doc thru the post in the phils, i was waiting, waiting and waiting, nothing , then about 3 months later she told me she got the letter back, the at the post office wrote on it unknown address, yes my misses had missed off one digit off the house number, but the rest of the address was right, post code, street and my name, and me and my brother are the only people in the uk with that surname

[stevie c]

[QUOTE=Steve.r;295142]I have sent cards that never got to my wife. I am sure that they get opened to see if they contain money by the postal workers in phils!!! [/QUOTE

steve i hava had the same problems me & florsel have sent many card & letters which her family have never received im thinking along the same lines as you that they are opened to see if there is any money inside then they are discarded

[raynaputi]

keith sent me boxes of chocolates thru local post on 3 different occassions and i got it in 2-3weeks..no fees other than the P40 postal charge since keith declared it's nothing of value..probably best not to send photos/cards/letters thru post coz they usually just lost in the post..if you really want to send cards, there are online gift shops here in the Philippines who does that and they'll deliver it..of course it won't have your actual signature but it's much safer coz it won't go thru the post..keith has sent me stuff toys, cards and Starbucks GCs on several occassions thru one of those online gift shops and it just arrived in just one day.

[South-east boy]

keith sent me boxes of chocolates thru local post on 3 different occassions and i got it in 2-3weeks..no fees other than the P40 postal charge since keith declared it's nothing of value..probably best not to send photos/cards/letters thru post coz they usually just lost in the post..if you really want to send cards, there are online gift shops here in the Philippines who does that and they'll deliver it..of course it won't have your actual signature but it's much safer coz it won't go thru the post..keith has sent me stuff toys, cards and Starbucks GCs on several occassions thru one of those online gift shops and it just arrived in just one day.

Guess I should see what kinda cards those places do, but I'm quite fussy and like to get unusual/hand-made or arty ones that she'd like. The package better not be lost as the cards I sent were quite expensive and the photos will be a nice surprise as only today she was on about wanting to see more photos of me!

What I don't understand is how come post arrives to Thailand 2, 3 or 4 times as quick and Phils isn't that much further from there in the world!

[alanmf1]

I seem to have been quite lucky...only ever used Royal Mail standard 1st class over seas and success rate is very high usually in 2 to 3 weeks which is very good considering cost!

[malditako]

sent a document to my bother 2 months ago...it never got through...bloody postman!!!!

[Rosie1958]

I send birthday cards every year to my nephews in the Philippines and they never appear to arrive. The last was sent in March and I am still waiting for it to be delivered.

Great tip from Rayna, I think that I will look for an on line gift shop in the Philippines in future

[halo-halo]

Hi Southeast

balikbayan box may seem longer to be delivered (it depends on what part of phils) than postal service but more convinient. weight doesnt matter you pay for the size. for manila i think its 5 weeks mindanao 7 weeks. I use forex cargo uk, tested and reliable.

thanks.

[Dedworth]

Hi Southeast

balikbayan box may seem longer to be delivered (it depends on what part of phils) than postal service but more convinient. weight doesnt matter you pay for the size. for manila i think its 5 weeks mindanao 7 weeks. I use forex cargo uk, tested and reliable.

thanks.

I agree - Forex are a good, competitive & reliable operation

[Sam.pungdaliri]

It usually took just ten days from Plymouth to Davao City, parcels or just letters. That was Royal Mail...

[Knightc6]

3 weeks from East Yorkshire to Zamboanga, though I have had 3 parcels that never reached the destination :(

[branno]

most letters n parcels ive sent to the visayas has taken 12 days...this was from the east riding to the visayas, via royal mail. my last parcel was mint chocolate aero... arrived rather gooey.... but a word of warning wether its a letter or parcel make sure you tape it well, every edge evey seem every corner and if its any thing of importance conceal it the best way you can.

[johncar54]

Maybe the mail system is another thing inherited from the Spanish.

In Spain it is believed (and although seems incredible everything indicates that it is correct, or least in the various places I have lived) that new mail is dumped on the sorting table. When the next bag arrives it is dumped on top of the letters not yet sorted. Thus the first letter on the table is the last to get sorted, when no more bags have arrived when it is reached. The belief explains the fact that I have had a letter posted in UK delivered the next day and other letters take anything up to three weeks.



Incidentally, I have just asked my son in UK to post a Debit Card to a relative in RP, so he can draw cash from my account in UK at his ATM in RP.

This is part of my email to my son:-

I usually cut a hole, the size of the card, in a piece of card the thickness of the debit card and sellotape the debit card into the hole, so that anyone feeling the envelope will not realise there is a debit card inside. I also use or reuse an envelope with commercial advertising on it.

[South-east boy]

Now 4 weeks and still no sign of it! Can't understand why even in 2011 nothing can be done to sort out such a unreliable and slow postal service! As I said it was to Quezon city near Manila and being that Manila is the capital and it's not in the provinces or some small island, you'd think it would be quickest and not the slowest!

[bornatbirth]

Now 4 weeks and still no sign of it! Can't understand why even in 2011 nothing can be done to sort out such a unreliable and slow postal service!

you are aware its the philipines

my wife lived in las pinas which is part of manila and a card would take 3 weeks, maybe in the city its more busy and takes longer...i guess the post office staff dont get paid a lot and take their time...i know i would

[South-east boy]

you are aware its the philipines

my wife lived in las pinas which is part of manila and a card would take 3 weeks, maybe in the city its more busy and takes longer...i guess the post office staff dont get paid a lot and take their time...i know i would

Yeah, it's the Philippines, I know, I know! just so frustrating that you can't get normal small items of mail there reliably and quickly without paying a fortune for a courier service or waiting until you have enough to send a Balikbayan box! If people who weren't doing their jobs were fired, I'm sure they'd be enough people interested in the vacant positions! Whether if enough people over there complained something might be looked into or if it continues like this, people will just not bother posting anything to there!

Spoke to post office here and they said it's officially lost after 25 days, so got to file a 'lost' claim and will get Viva to do the same over there.

[bornatbirth]

you know a lot of people get paided low wages there and if you fired them they would only be replaced with somebody else on low wages.

who did you post it to, the letter maybe sat in the local post office already and waiting for it to be posted...get the person you was sending it to...to go there and ask

my mother inlaw did that after a week and it was already there

[South-east boy]

you know a lot of people get paided low wages there and if you fired them they would only be replaced with somebody else on low wages.

who did you post it to, the letter maybe sat in the local post office already and waiting for it to be posted...get the person you was sending it to...to go there and ask

my mother inlaw did that after a week and it was already there

Yeah, I know most are on low wages, but also know that there are a lot of unemployed who are seeking jobs.

Anyway, she finally received a card last Thursday saying to go to the post-office to pick it up. They made her open it in front of them to check the contents. Is this usual? Luckily she only had to pay a few pesos.

Just wish there was a quicker service from here to there as she is able to send me things quickly (which she ahs done twice), but it doesn't seem possible for the other way around apart from expensive courier. I'll just have to think in advance for Balikbayan or if she ever comes here again or I go there.

[bornatbirth]

get her to ask how long it was that the post office for and next time you post her something she can check after a few weeks.

they check the content of all mail and boxes....