Royal Mail From the UK slow
 

I was told this morning when I ordered some spare parts from the UK that the Royal Mail could take up to a month to arrive , this was from a chap who ships to the USA often not just a one off, I opted for UPS. I know this topic was mentioned regarding packages around Christmas it looks like things are the same. The package was under 2kg.

Re: Royal Mail From the UK slow
 

Yeah, don't think its much better than at Christmas, my dad uses DHL to send me parcels, and they're here from the UK within 24 hours without fail. Funny thing though, I sent a parcel from here to the UK last week and it arrived in Glasgow within 4 days, normal postage - weird, doesn't make sense to me :confused:

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Sounds right. Just had a DVD from Amazon UK take 3 weeks to get here.

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My Mum posted 2 small parcels to my girls for Valentines Day and they took a month to arrive :(

Post going the other way is always much faster for some reason. Don't know whether the RM lets their packages sit in warehouses for weeks before putting them on planes or whether the USPS does it with incoming stuff, but someone's definitely doing it ;)

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I received 2 Christmas cards from different parts of the UK the last week of February. My parents posted our Christmas parcel November 23rd and we received it January 12th.

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Royal Mail is very busy at the present time delivering all these multi page UK Census 2011 forms to every single household in the United Kingdom, to be legally enforceably completed by all said householders as of 27 March 2011 - Census Day. :D

On top of that many of the postal delivery personnel (the word "postmen" - and 99% of them are male after all - is now banned in PC Britain) are not native Brits - many of them are Eastern Europeans not too well versed in the English language and may well be thrown off course by the postal name places and addresses.

But the gorgeous and very attractive Polish lass - Elena - serving on the deli counter of our local Tesco store speaks perfect English, which is more than can be said of many of her local born colleagues. She's delightful and so helpful and her accent is quite hypnotic - almost, but not quite, enough to turn me straight..........

Re: Royal Mail From the UK slow
 

Yeah they are terrible right now, Usually a parcel takes a week Mine took three just last month.
Christmas I can excuse they had horrible weather. But now they are still really slow.

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I had presumed it was on the US side that the delays were happening? OH uses a vendor in the UK every couple of months for his Tips and papers to roll his own nasty stuff:eek: the vendor led us to believe it was US customs where the hold up is:unsure: we just allow extra time now as the shipping is taking 3 weeks versus a week that it used to take.

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Someone posted about this a few weeks ago, it's to do with homeland security having stuff larger than a dvd being put on a ship instead of flying over.

It's taken a good 6 weeks, but packages for our little one from my mother has arrived. One of the newborn outfits is too small and all the premie stuff is doll clothing now :lol:

Re: Royal Mail From the UK slow
 

Just read this:

http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/c...800088#1600085

Re: Royal Mail From the UK slow
 

Yep, that was me here. However, following sir_eccles link to the update on RM, today we received 2 packages that my FIL posted from Bristol just 4 days ago :eek:

Re: Royal Mail From the UK slow
 

I doubt it is US customs since UPS, DHL, and FedEx should also be slow. I suspect that since Royal Mail doesn't have it's own fleet of airplanes to the US, they may be having a difficult time finding cargo space on the airlines.

Re: Royal Mail From the UK slow
 

Yep... it's very slow! My mum sent our Christmas card on December 13th and it arrived 7 weeks later :huh: It wasn't even a parcel, just a card!!!

Also, we had a parcel go missing which was a real bummer as it contained a handmade silk shawl my friend made me for my wedding... That's another reason we assumed my mum's card wasn't coming, we figured it'd probably been stolen.

However, I've sent a few cards to the UK recently and when I've posted them on a Saturday they've arrived the following Wednesday - pretty damn good! :thumbup:

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Hmm I've just had my UK mail redirected to the USA.......not a good move I guess...

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My mum sent sent me a parcel of cadburys chocolates on feb 10th that just turned up 2 days ago - I was getting worried that the postie was munching on them somewhere!!!

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I received a card from the Uk for my birthday! It took 6 months to get here from the post mark on the envelope

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I'm waiting on a parcel for my birthday from Mum, mailed one month ago, usually takes a week or so, she ended up telling me everything that was in it seeing my birthday came and went :lol: Now I want my parcel, it has sweets in as well as M&S tee shirts.

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Took 6 weeks for a UK-US envelope to turn up recently - and 2 days for a US-to-UK envelope to get there :blink:

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I had loads of problems before Christmas and just into the new year, but have had all small packets from the UK arrive in four to eight days since. Last one I got was postmarked in the UK Monday 14th March and arrived in California on Saturday 19th March. These are bubblewrap envelopes though, not parcels.

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My husband worked for the Royal Mail for 12 years. He says they've really gone down the tubes! My mother inlaw mailed us a letter airsure which was "guaranteed in 4 days" It took 10! When I mailed a package priority in the US and it got there a day later than promised they refunded the money. My mother in law tried that in the UK and they wouldn't do anything !

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My brother posted me a parcel on Saturday 26th March so I will say when it arrives! Recently had a parcel delivered via UPS that took two days to get from the UK to USA. Couldnt have been faster!

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Still waiting..............

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Finally got package posted 7th March today!

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:thumbsup: Lucky you.
I'm still waiting on my birthday stuff. :(

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Daughter has just reminded me that we still haven't received a Christmas present sent 13th December. I guess that one won't ever turn up now!:thumbdown:

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Same story here. My mom had sent me 2 DVDs for Christmas but mailed it after Christmas to avoid the rush. They arrived about 6 weeks later. Normally it would have taken a week to 10 days. Looks like the RM have shot themselves in the foot. This is a taster of what will happen if all inbound international freight has to be x-rayed and inspected at every location. Currently the private couriers (FedEX, UPS & DHL) don't do this although FedEx do x-ray in Memphis.

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First class stamps have risen 5p to 46p today.:eek: Not really relevant to those abroad though!

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ive got two parcels incoming from my mum - both small - and they have already been 3 weeks or so.

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My mother sent something that came in within a couple weeks...so seems to be picking up pace and be rather random.

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My parcel, posted on Saturday 26th March sent via Royal Mail arrived yesterday so took 9 working days. Not too bad!
Anything which comes via DHL seems to take about 3 days, they are fast and you can track every move, unlike RM`s tracking which is useless once it leaves British soil!

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Still waiting on mine posted end of february :(

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:ohmy:

I don't remember whether it was last year or when, but my daughter sent me a package that took forever. We had actually decided it was lost and 2 and a half months later it showed up out of the blue. No idea where it got lost at though....:D

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That happened with the ones sent at Christmas to us, mailed in mid december and arrived end of Feb and early March :thumbdown:

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I ordered a dress from M&S last week...it arrived yesterday. Also received 2 cards from the UK yesterday...one was posted last Thursday 7th...the other Friday 8th. Thurs and Fri...delivered to the US the following Monday...pretty good...especially as it takes 2 to 3 weeks to send mail from NJ to Toronto.

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Jerseygirl,
I have been ordering up clothes from the UK as well, mainly because the quality is better than the US. Is it wrong to want to do my bit to revive our ailing UK economy? I just wish M&S would lower their delivery charge!!!!!!!!!!!!!:eek:

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Wedding pressie sent to me from london on 12 March just arrived yesterday!!! It was sent direct

Im getting other mail forwarded to me by Royal Mail redirection and it doesnt seem to bad --bills seem to reach me quite quickly, less than a week" hmph!!!
:frown:

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On the other hand mail sent back to UK seems to be taking just a few days!

Re: Royal Mail From the UK slow
 

That was actually the first time I've ordered anything from the UK. I make frequent trips there so usually take an empty case with me to fill with UK goodies.

I agree with your comment about the quality...I also find trousers/jeans fit me better than the ones here. Hubby finds the same...granted he is an 'arseless wonder'...trousers in the US are far too roomy around the butt and thighs.

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I`ve just found (after 4 years) that I can order my favourite brand of UK clothing via House of Fraser and delivery is 6 quid, and via DHL takes about 3 days. Sooo tempting I`ve just put in my third order, justifying it as I could have spent 6 quid just on train or bus fare (or probably petrol now)to the nearest city in the UK to shop. I had a bit of a wrangle with my conscience though over the 15 quid delivery charge from M&S. Thankfully my conscience lost so now awaiting a new skirt! I did go through the websites to see if I could buy anything similar here, but couldnt. Most of the stuff I`ve bought here in the last four years has ended up in the bin as the fabric doesnt hold up or the colours fade.
I`ve heard that from other people that men`s trousers are more "generously cut" here.

Re: Royal Mail From the UK slow
 

I normally get Solpadeine shipped by family members, but decided to try 'on line.' Cheaper as no VAT, but then there's the shipping cost.
Sent by RM in an RM padded bag. Took 3 days, even though on the shipping label it stated "Medical Tablets" Brilliant, until I noticed that their cost by RM was £2.85 but they charged me £6.50!
I guess we all need to make a profit!