GeniB

The final straw.. The postal B*****s have pinched my christmas present from my ED.. A huge box of my favourite choc's from Lopez Island, It was tracked,but now she can't find the no (weeks later of course) Her sister living in Lagos got hers no bother ...aaagh

We have sorted the parcels under our control.Now get them sent to a store in luz
Those being sent to us unexpectedly is now the problem .. Short of that postal traffic going to Luz. Has anyone installed a post box at their house big enough to take smallish parcels? I do see some boxes on houses around here ,but they are of the slim letter variety

Red Eric

Sorry about your chocs Geni but what sort of person sends a traced parcel and doesn't keep the slip handy until the recipient has confirmed its arrival?

I blame the parents.

GeniB

Your right... too lax by half I blame it on her wonderful laid back ,honest country life style. No locked doors, cars etc. It never occurred to her that it wouldn't arrive like every parcel we have sent to her.... heh ho.

smiffy449

Don't give up hope...my Dad sent me a registered letter for xmas on 11th November and it was reported as lost on 12th December and then the postman rolled up with it on 4th January!!

We think it got dropped down the side of a desk somewhere and after the xmas rush they had a tidy up and found it!!

Michelle

Loafing Along

Stillwaiting for our Christmas presents from Australia.. sent end of November

MrBife

The guys that actually deliver to the post boxes use a bike and small bag, never seen them carry more than a letter. It was probably in the post office for a good while (maybe still is) and they delivered the card to the wrong place ? Where does your normal post go ?

liveaboard

PTT has started delivering mail down my road [which has no name].
I asked at our regional post office [Aljezur] how I can also get my mail delivered; it seems I need a box number for the box I'll put in front of the house [the house has no number].
He gave me a number to call in Lagos to sort it out.
Maybe someday, someone will answer the phone. Keep trying he tells me...

Ingles

Friend's in France sent one in early December , I got it in February

rollermum83

When we moved to our house we didn't have a box hence the water board couldn't connect the water as we had no house no .. Which gets put onto the box by the post office.. We had to go to the PO buy a box for 54eu and wait for the postman to write a no on the box 1 week later still no number so back to the PO took 2 weeks 3 visits and several calls so good luck 🙄

Jonny22

Seems like anything larger than a letter takes 6 weeks from the UK to PT via Royal Mail and their 'partners' here. Still awaiting Xmas presents posted first week of December. Join the club...

MrBife

When I first got my postbox I made a point to speak to the local 'postie', introduce myself so he knew my name, find out the name of his wife and first born so we could swap pleasantries and I give him 1000 escudos that first Christmas. (It was a while ago !)

Since then I have had nothing but amazing service, have often had things brought to the house, have had them kept at the post office if they knew I was out of town.

I would encourage anyone else to treat the post people well and be nice to them, they don't get paid much or get much in the way of thanks + they will love you for it

liveaboard

Yes, all post is still backed up from the Xmas crush; it happens every year here. They just don't have the extra capacity to deal with the deluge.
That's what our postman told me some years ago before he quit and moved to Germany to be a gardener.
He loves his new job; "They pay me so well, I can afford a place to live AND food." he said. "I even get health insurance!"

I'm also waiting for some ebay orders from the holiday period.

GeniB

Thanks for the encouragement Michelie .However I think my choc's have been dropped down some postman's throat....

GeniB

Do you think a March on Lisbon is in order ?

GeniB

Our (one) Post office lady is wonderful and super efficient. We have an (Apartardo) numbered post box within the post office for all our personal mail which we pay for.
We did this because the designated post box's for our area were housed in a peculiar ,almost unrelated area . A good ten minute walk from the house. They are in an enclosed bunker like affair which simple allows the fly posters to fill all the letter boxes (and the floor) with trash. The Portuguese officialdom insist on using that box though.
Parcels have been a nightmare (as I have continually posted about.) They can be received at the Post office as long as they are not delivered through a courier. The Post office refuses to accept those.
I have written extensively (ok boringly ) about my parcel nightmares.
I now have more or less solved the problem for anything I or my OH personally order from abroad.
If it is a company that will only deliver to the UK (Portugal is still actually on some countries black lists ,or is just off the radar) Then we use Algarve Removals .. for a fee on top of the normal costs from the companies concerned
If it's a company that will deliver to Portugal we now use the local Spa grocery
It has a Tabak area that will take in parcels for you

It is far far from ideal. i still am mystified as to why a technically advanced country like Portugal finds it impossible to deal with this problem in 2017

.
Oh and all my attempts to get any satisfaction out of the (pseudo) Royal Mail and it's subsidiary GLS.about non delivery and missing parcels have met with silence. despite many attempts and promises on their part to deal with my complaints

PS Mr Bife .. I have seen our local postman deliver small parcels to locals on his moped and we do have a post van that I have seen around the village.. Altho what it does?