Pizzawheel

That's Oinks thread innit.

Pizzawheel

Yeah, I think she was just sadly misguided. And there's a LOT of that around!

I posted from my local CP on the way home, got home to find one of those lovely "we tried to deliver a parcel" stickers. I'm sure I filled in the thing to leave parcels there. I have a sticker from Puralator allowing just that.

JamesM

For what it's worth the turnaround on my new passport was really quick. I think the Passport office must have dealt with it on the day it arrived.

dave_j

After following this thread and needing to send our, as yet unexpired, passports to the UK in order to obtain new ones, we decided that perhaps Canada Post was not the best way to go so approached a local dropin Fedex agent to get them away.
This was on Thursday 8th March. 'Yep' said the man, 'No problem, be there on Monday,, 130 bucks please'.
'What!' said us together, 'Bugger that!' and left.
Drove to the local Shoppers Druggy where they have a Canada Post agency.
'No problemo, that'll be 5.99 please.' .. 'But we'd like it tracked' we said...
Tap tap tap on the computer, 'OK that'll be 33.40 then."
So apprehensively we handed over cash and package and left. No issue with passports and since the address was headed Passport Office, that was a dead giveaway and didn't need to fill out customs form either.
This morning, Tuesday 13th March, tracking told me the following...

2018/03/13 08:38 , United Kingdom Item successfully delivered
2018/03/12 12:59 GBLALA, United Kingdom International item is in transit to the delivery office.
2018/03/12 08:02 GBLALA International shipment has arrived in a foreign country
2018/03/12 08:13 GBLALA, United Kingdom Item has arrived in foreign country
2018/03/09 09:33 RICHMOND, BC International item being forwarded to destination country
2018/03/09 09:28 RICHMOND, BC International Item being prepared for export
2018/03/08 23:15 RICHMOND, BC Item processed
2018/03/08 15:06 ALDERGROVE, BC Item accepted at the Post Office

So let's give three cheers to Canada Post.. AND the GPO for being joined up and for getting the job done as we would have liked. Package took 5 days and tracked all the way.

BristolUK

That was my experience renewing in 2015, except I paid $11 to Canada Post, including tracking.

Pizzawheel

Dave J inspired me to check on my progress:

2018/03/09 10:33 , United Kingdom Item successfully delivered
2018/03/07 13:01 GBLALA International shipment has arrived in a foreign country
2018/03/07 15:09 GBLALA, United Kingdom Item has arrived in foreign country What is this
2018/03/06 12:45 MISSISSAUGA, ON International item being forwarded to destination country What is this
2018/03/05 19:25 MISSISSAUGA, ON Item processed
2018/03/05 16:54 SCARBOROUGH, ON Item accepted at the Post Office

Not too shabby!

$28.30, but that included full cover-to-cover copies of both his other passports. James Bond never had this problem...

dave_j

As an aside, I've just received acknowledgement from the UK telling me that my old passports have been received and telling me what will happen now.
It tells me that this is an automatic notification, probably has little or no human interaction.
It really is nice to be kept informed, costs the UK little or nothing but how nice.
What a difference to the black hole that's IRCC.

BristolUK

People laugh when I say it and fall back on out of date experiences or stereotypes, but UK government departments have mostly been accessible, understandable, accountable, user friendly etc for many years now.

Wasn't it you I made that comment to about DSS/DWP moving from embarrassing gobbledegook awards to positive plain speaking ones?

dave_j

Very likely, but that brain cell was lost long ago.

Pizzawheel

I agree Bristol. Most government departments in the UK are pretty good now.

Had an SMS from DHL now saying something was heading back my way.

This time I know they will send the expired passport and the new one back separately (The DHL guy told me that was standard procedure these days) so I know not to rush straight to DHL to collect when there's a second post on it's way....

dbd33

DHL are today trying to deliver the passport I ordered upthread. That'll be 10 days from posting the old one to receiving the new one, if they respect my "signature not required" sign. Fantastic service. Of course, if they don't respect the sign, they'll take the passport to somewhere fifty miles away that's open mid-morning on Shrove Tuesday's and it'll take longer to get the passport from them than it did to get it from the government.

Pizzawheel

Even though I'd filled in the paperwork CP still wouldn't leave a parcel last week- I had to go and collect myself. But I have the Puralator sticker.

If I get any more (and yes I appreciate that passports must be collected and signed for) I might need a bigger mailbox. Lowes should do a sign that says "just leave the effing parcel right here whoever you are, mother f#$%@&"

BristolUK

I found a previous thread. I posted mine on the 7th (Canada Post) and got it back (whichever courier the passport office used) the 20th.

dave_j

When I worked, I knew that the simple expedient of letting everyone know what was happening prevented many potential problems just waiting to happen.

So today I received another automatic email from the UK passport office telling me my application had been approved. Now those who've read some of my ramblings will know that I don't have a great regard for the civil service in general, but this branch is doing what I would have done in their place..

So let's give another 3 cheers for the UK Passport Office and for breaking the mould.

dave_j

And more.. just received an email informing me that the new passport is on it's way. Now this excellent service... could it be that I'm just one of a few needing it and that's why it's so good? Am I being pampered?

A quick google tells me that 'Of the 56.1 million usually resident population of England and Wales in 2011, 76 per cent (42.5million) held a UK passport.' So if we balance out first issues against those who no longer need one (death etc) and if a typical UK passport lasts 10 years then the annual renewal rate should be of the order 4M or so.

Even if I'm wildly out in my approximations, it seems that I'm still one among a great many so if one branch of the UK civil service can keep me informed at each stage of a process, and for so many, why not IRCC?