Receiving mail from the UK
 

Hi I am living in Vancouver. My mum had sent me a parcel over 4 weeks ago with some things for the kids. My mother in law also sent a card to my husband over 2 weeks ago. So far there is no sign of either! Has anyone found the post to take an incredibly long time here? :(

Re: Receiving mail from the UK
 

Did she send the parcel airmail? Did she have a tracking number? Canada post do have tracking for international packages.

If your item was mailed to the USA or internationally, you'll be able to find out:
When your order was created in our system
When your item was received by Canada Post
When your item left Canada and when it was accepted by a foreign postal administration
When your item was delivered, or:
When a Delivery Notice Card was issued to notify the recipient that the item is available for pick-up

Post can take a long time from the UK, unfortunately.

:)

Re: Receiving mail from the UK
 

Yes

Unless its tracked, consider it lost. If it does arrive then that's a bonus !

Re: Receiving mail from the UK
 

It can be a tad unpredictable. My mum posted our Christmas cards together; daughter's arrived first, son's after Christmas and ours some time in January. :blink:

Re: Receiving mail from the UK
 

I remember sending a parcel to some friends in Alberta.
I sent it at the start of October , with the lady in the post office quoting 24days. It got there mid December.

Re: Receiving mail from the UK
 

The tracking number is of limited value. By using it I was able to determine that a package I'd sent across Toronto was in Mississauga and, the next day, it was in Oshawa, and then it was in Mississauga and then Oshawa and so on. Knowing this didn't mean I could stop the package going back and forth, it did so for six weeks before, inexplicably, being delivered.

If something is posted via Canada Post and it arrives be pleased but don't expect that to happen often.

Re: Receiving mail from the UK
 

Hi Elaine,

If the things were sent airmail this seems a long time. We are in Calgary and it seems to be about 7 to 10 days for stuff to arrive from the UK. Amazingly letters juts going across the city seem to take about 7 days as well! But as far as we know nothing has yet got lost on route.

If they were sent by sea then it's a lot longer. We were quoted anything between 6 and 10 weeks for a large package to get here.

Hope they arrive soon.

Re: Receiving mail from the UK
 

We get letters in 5 - 7 days, have done for years. Parcels air freight are 3-5 days, surface 6-8 weeks. we have had the occasional package go missing, some have been opened and delayed by customs.

It takes way longer going the other way.

Re: Receiving mail from the UK
 

As per most of the replies above.

I receive a large amount of post from the UK and it really does vary.

I have letters get here after 3-4 days, other have taken 3-4 weeks.

7-10 working days seems the average.

Re: Receiving mail from the UK
 

I've had some things get lost from the UK so now I ask people who send stuff to use tracking. Also my family has gotten confused with all the numbers in Canadian addresses and have made mistakes which end up with the packages getting sent back to them.

Re: Receiving mail from the UK
 

Thanks so much everyone. I'm not too sure how it was sent to be honest, ill have to ask her tomorrow. Ill just keep my fingers crossed that it might arrive at some point!

Re: Receiving mail from the UK
 

Sounds about right for surface mail. My MIL sent a parcel that took almost 8 weeks :eek: It takes a long time sending to the UK, too. From Germany though it takes 3-5 days air mail and 7-10 surface :thumbup:

Re: Receiving mail from the UK
 

There has also been some recent postal strikes in some regions of the UK so I think that has held up a lot of parcels too.

Re: Receiving mail from the UK
 

I was not aware of any strikes here in the UK

Re: Receiving mail from the UK
 

I remember some years ago my sisters cleared out my mother's residence when she had to move into care facility and they packed up a (very large) number of photographs which they thought I would like.

The package was far too heavy to bring with me on a transatlantic flight, so I posted it to myself using surface mail.

The cost was something like 60 pounds and it arrived, damaged, 5 months later.

I was a little peeved to discover that the photos were all ones I'd sent to my mother over the decades and, of course, duplicates of ones we already had.