Pica

On 3rd march I posted 2 birthday cards to family in UK. Previously they always arrived there in about 2 weeks. It's now been 3 weeks and nada!
Has anyone else had the same problem?
Also a package sent from UK to myself in Italy was posted on 9th Feb at a cost of £30 with content value of over £100.
Likewise it has not arrived. Rather cross am I.

philat98

I used Packlink before Xmas. Much quicker and cheaper than Poste. The pack goes to the UK via UPS.

modicasa

My Xmas cards and subsequent birthday cards took 4 weeks. One birthday card posted on 2 Feb has yet to arrive.

C.2s

[QUOTE=Pica;12986387]
Has anyone else had the same problem?QUOTE]

Yes. Some things (not all) are "stuck in customs".

And then when they do arrive be prepared for the possibility that the recipient will need to pay taxes.

For my wife's birthday (3rd March) we told people not to send stuff, but some people still did. Some of it has still not arrived despite the people saying they sent it in February. One gift arrived with a value of £65.00 Euro and she had to pay the courier 25 euros.

Best not to send stuff or try to use a website based in the country of the recipient. Moonpig or such like for cards to the UK. We've also been trying to convince an Australian relative to give up the idea of sending a gift or money...she's been trying for several weeks and it's turning into a bit of a saga! We suggested donating money to charity instead but they're insisting....

Pica

So pleased that I'm not the only one struggling with this, it's never been a problem before 2021. Is it a brexit thing or what?

C.2s

Yes.

https://www.thelocal.it/20210317/bre...-uk-and-italy/

Pica

I guessed that might be the problem but the sender filled in all the required paper work at the post office in the UK. I don't mind (well I do really) paying for courier costs in Italy.
The problem is that the package never arrived here and was not reposted to the sender's address. I will not buy from the UK ever again.

tpw21

I ordered a t-shirt from the UK pre-Brexit and that ended up taking 4 weeks due to late postage and then being stuck in customs - I had to call customs to get it released and supply my CF. I ended up paying €26 to the courier, which cost more than that t-shirt 😆

Sancho

To send small parcels from Italy to the UK, the key thing is to send them as letters, which you can do if the total weight (including the packing) is under 2 kilos and the dimensions are within certain limits. For what the limits are, see below. It also gives the prices for letters of different weights, and of standard, small and large sizes. Small and large cost a bit more, I suppose because the machine can't process them and they have to be dealt with by hand

Go to https://www.poste.it/index.html

and click on "lettera" (under "Corrispondenza"- col 1), which takes you to

https://www.poste.it/gamma/lettera.html

Scroll down to wither Postapriority Internazionale (faster but a bit more expensive) or PostaMail Internazionale (cheaper but slower) then click on "Scopri di Piu" next to it

Scroll down to the bottom of the page and you'll see the dimensions and corresponding prices. "Compatto" is smalerl than standard. "Voluminoso" is bigger than standard.

(To get your letter ready, if possible use one of those convenient pre-fabricated yellow cardboard post-box things. They know them. This sort of thing. They work for abroad as well as in Italy https://securelogin.bp.poste.it/post.../scatole.shtml

Notice that no documentation is required, for anywhere in the world. What you're sending is classed as a letter - you don't fill in a customs declaration for a letter.)

Then take it to the post office and send it.

If the post office don't know you well and they aren't familiar with the rules about sending stuff abroad, esp. to the UK, it may be wise to print out the relevant pages above to show them what you mean - how what you are sending can be / is legally classed as a letter, with all that that entails - no customs declaration, etc.

Then take it along to the post office and send it.

I've used this system half a dozen times this year and it works. I'm not going to argue about it.

If it's a parcel you're thinking about, go back to

https://www.poste.it/prodotti/posta-...=1473800422608

then click on "Pacchi" (Col 2)

Scroll down and you'll see various possibilities - signed for, traced, fast, etc. Choose the one you want and click on "Scopri di Piu" next to it

You can now see all the prices, dimensions, how to make up there parcel, etc. All complicated - another reason if possible to keep it small and send it as a letter)

If you click on "Scopri di Piu" for "Poste Delivery Europe". "Poste Delivery Globe" and "Poste Delivery International Standard", under "Come Spedire" you'll find a link to a a Guida alle Spedizioni Internazionali - Poste Delivery International Standard., a la Guida alle Spedizioni Internazionali - Poste Delivery Globe or a la Guida alle Spedizioni Internazionali - Poste Delivery Europe.All these say what documentation is required, including a customs declaration. For myself, whenever I've filled in one of these I've said it contains "personal effects", which as true, and KI think aldo in the spirit of the rules. The declaration talks about "merci", which in my book means merchandise, goods, things to be traded. This wasn't stuff to be traded, it was personal effects (put in there to simplify packing and to avoid excess baggage on the aeroplane, not to sell. You don't declare the value of your clothes or your watch or your car when you drive across the channel to France for a holiday, do you ?

Anyway, as I said, if you keep it under 2 kilos snd send it as a letter it's much easier and avoids a lot of possible complications.

P.S. A customs declaration makes things slower too, of course. (So do "tracciata", "raccomandata", etc, but they may be worth it.)

P.P.S. The weight-limit for letters ("small packets", I think, but it means they go as letters) from the UK to Italy is lower,. 700 grams I think.

P.P.P.S. The post always has been slow in Italy. A letter from to me from the embassy in Rome (ca. 200 km) once took exactly 30 days, That was about 25 years ago. And it's always been complicated. I remember when you had to tie up a parcel with string, knotted then sealed with a special little metal clasp, and when you couldn't write more than five (I think it was) words on a postcard.

philat98

The problem with this solution is going to the post office. The office in my village has a ticket machine outside and a queue. Crafty folks take tickets and drive off. Once inside a machine in the middle of the office calculates your body temperature and if Covid free a green light illuminates allowing you to speak with the rude assistant.

Listen Very Carefully

My daughter tells me that Royal Mail in the UK is a bit of a mess as well Posties off sick no temp staff etc so even stuff from within the UK is taking longer than normal in some cases significantly so

Sancho

There's a similar situation here. It's worse on some days than others - when people pay their bollette, popular pension days, that sort of thing. It's much, much easier in small frazioni, though. Faster and friendlier. And remote frazioni often, amazingly, still have a post office branch. It'll probably only open once or twice a week nowadays, but if you know the days that doesn't matter. Tiny branch post-offices like that provide all the services that bigger post offices do. They even sell those official yellow post office scatole

Geordieborn

Not the case here in Yorkshire if our post is anything to go by. We have had different posties in recent months, but no delays at all, I wonder if in some areas the introduction of parcel collection and Sunday delivery of parcels is being fought by some?

modicasa

At my main PO they have the ticket machine inside, but you're not allowed inside until its your turn, at which point you take the ticket and go straight to the sportello. It gives the director lots of points as it makes it look like he's running a very efficient branch. Except there are 50 people outside on the pavement getting very shirty.