Mail from UK to U.S not arrived after 19 days?

[unwillinglyamerican]

A friend of mine sent me mail, in the form of an envelope, from the UK (around the london area) to the U.S state of ohio approximately 19 days ago. The mail contained old pictures (taken on a non-digital camera) of she and I when she was living in the U.S. Is it common for the mail to take this long to arrive? Now, since she has copies of these photos she recently sent me ANOTHER envelope containing copies of most of the same pictures. But this time she did it using 'recorded delivery'. In the event that the first mail was lost how long would the second, recorded one take? Is it a faster process? And what are the chances of a 'recorded delivery' being lost as well? I would greatly appreciate if someone could answer these questions in detail. Thank you.

[morselll]

Hi, you said that she sent it recorded delivery, can you contact her and confirm it was by recorded she should have sent it international signed for or airsure
she should have a tracking number/bar code which she can give to you, if you go to the royal mail website, track and trace you can check on its progress, both international signed for and airsure are handled very quickly within the uk

[unwillinglyamerican]

Hi, you said that she sent it recorded delivery, can you contact her and confirm it was by recorded she should have sent it international signed for or airsure
she should have a tracking number/bar code which she can give to you, if you go to the royal mail website, track and trace you can check on its progress, both international signed for and airsure are handled very quickly within the uk

Hi, can you give me an idea of what 'very quickly' means? And yes she did do it through apparent international sign for. What about my question regarding the first envelope she sent? Can someone please answer that one?

[Swinder]

The International Signed For mail should be handled as priority service as soon as it arrives in the country.

Here is the approximate delivery times taken directly from the RM website.

If you use International Signed For™ with Airmail delivery, our target time is three working days to Western Europe, five working days to Eastern Europe and seven working days for the rest of the world. By Surface Mail, it may take up to two weeks for Western Europe, four weeks for Eastern Europe, and up to twelve weeks elsewhere. For faster delivery times you should use Airsure®, if it's available for your destination.

For standard Air Mail (Letter size)

The day after you’ve posted your mail, it usually takes three more days to reach Western Europe, five days to Eastern Europe and seven days to the rest of the world.

[unwillinglyamerican]

The International Signed For mail should be handled as priority service as soon as it arrives in the country.

Here is the approximate delivery times taken directly from the RM website.

If you use International Signed For™ with Airmail delivery, our target time is three working days to Western Europe, five working days to Eastern Europe and seven working days for the rest of the world. By Surface Mail, it may take up to two weeks for Western Europe, four weeks for Eastern Europe, and up to twelve weeks elsewhere. For faster delivery times you should use Airsure®, if it's available for your destination.

For standard Air Mail (Letter size)

The day after you’ve posted your mail, it usually takes three more days to reach Western Europe, five days to Eastern Europe and seven days to the rest of the world.

So are you saying that the first one she sent is absolutely probably lost? And the the 'sign for' one can even take 'up to' 12 weeks if it was not sent via this 'airsure' service? Does this mean it generally takes this long or that it is rare for it to take this long? this is all very vague to me.

[unwillinglyamerican]

The International Signed For mail should be handled as priority service as soon as it arrives in the country.

Here is the approximate delivery times taken directly from the RM website.

If you use International Signed For™ with Airmail delivery, our target time is three working days to Western Europe, five working days to Eastern Europe and seven working days for the rest of the world. By Surface Mail, it may take up to two weeks for Western Europe, four weeks for Eastern Europe, and up to twelve weeks elsewhere. For faster delivery times you should use Airsure®, if it's available for your destination.

For standard Air Mail (Letter size)

The day after you’ve posted your mail, it usually takes three more days to reach Western Europe, five days to Eastern Europe and seven days to the rest of the world.

So are you saying that the first one she sent is absolutely probably lost? And the the 'sign for' one can even take 'up to' 12 weeks if it was not sent via this 'airsure' service? Does this mean it generally takes this long or that it is rare for it to take this long? this is all very vague to me.

^^^^^ Let me please clarify that I am confused here. Are you saying there are two different types of 'sign for' mail? One that uses surface and one that uses this 'airsure' service?

[unwillinglyamerican]

Or are you saying that international 'sign for' always uses airsure service and that surface delivery is something else entirely that has nothing to do with sign for service? Please answer this one.

[Swinder]

There are 3 levels of service for mail going outside of the country.

Airmail - Standard service with no tracking options and can take 7 working days.
Airsure - Mid tier service with tracking and up to £500 compensation if it is lost/damaged. Can take 6 working days.
International Signed For - Tracked in the Uk only but a signature is required for proof of receiving the item. Can take 7 working days.
(Larger items will take longer, at least that is what I gather from the small print.)

There is also the option of what is called Surface mail, this is generally cheaper but takes much longer to deliver as it goes via ship rather than aeroplane. I believe there is also tracked methods for Surface mail but I am not 100% and it is something I will ask the revenue staff about at work tomorrow evening.

In regards to the first item; It is possible it could of gotten lost, especially if the address was incomplete or wrong. Other delays could be due to customs and excise or simply the item was damaged in our care and we were unable to get a send to or return address to deal with it as we normally would. If it was sent surface mail there is every possibility this item is still on its way to you.
As for the second item, it will be much quicker barring any intervention from customs and similar. If the item has been sent as tracked you should be able to request the tracking number from your friend and with any luck it is the airsure method so you can see exactly where it is. The International Signed For will not give you an exact track but you should be able to see when it left England.


I hope this time my post is more understandable rather than the copy/paste I did in my other one :)

[unwillinglyamerican]

The International Signed For mail should be handled as priority service as soon as it arrives in the country.

Here is the approximate delivery times taken directly from the RM website.

If you use International Signed For™ with Airmail delivery, our target time is three working days to Western Europe, five working days to Eastern Europe and seven working days for the rest of the world. By Surface Mail, it may take up to two weeks for Western Europe, four weeks for Eastern Europe, and up to twelve weeks elsewhere. For faster delivery times you should use Airsure®, if it's available for your destination.

For standard Air Mail (Letter size)

The day after you’ve posted your mail, it usually takes three more days to reach Western Europe, five days to Eastern Europe and seven days to the rest of the world.

So are you saying that the first one she sent is absolutely probably lost? And the the 'sign for' one can even take 'up to' 12 weeks if it was not sent via this 'airsure' service? Does this mean it generally takes this long or that it is rare for it to take this long? this is all very vague to me.

^^^^^ Let me please clarify that I am confused here. Are you saying there are two different types of 'sign for' mail? One that uses surface and one that uses this 'airsure' service?

I am seeing this quote a lot on this website 'there is every possibility that it was lost'. This is extremely upsetting. You see, I very rarely receive anything from england and to have the one envelope sent to me every once in a rare blue moon lost does not indicate a good statistical track record with regard to mail getting through from the UK to the U.S! I have even seen people on this site say that there is a 20% loss of mail from the UK to the U.S when using the surface mail option. Is this true? If so how can this be continually justified? It sounds like gross negligence or pathetically profound incompetence to say the least.

[Pat Ostman]

how can this be continually justified? It sounds like gross negligence or pathetically profound incompetence to say the least.

There are many reasons an item can not reach its destination and that can also include incompetence or forgetfulness on the senders side as well, just to balance up your previous statement you understand.

I am seeing this quote a lot on this website 'there is every possibility that it was lost'. This is extremely upsetting. You see, I very rarely receive anything from england and to have the one envelope sent to me every once in a rare blue moon lost does not indicate a good statistical track record with regard to mail getting through from the UK to the U.S

No, and neither is your experience indicative of the service Royal Mail provide either. Royal Mail do not deliver in America, once it leaves the country it is out of their hands, you really need to find out where about the tracked item is.

Unless you can post when the item was sent, how, and even the tracking information it is all conjecture anyway.

[Swinder]

I am seeing this quote a lot on this website 'there is every possibility that it was lost'. This is extremely upsetting. You see, I very rarely receive anything from england and to have the one envelope sent to me every once in a rare blue moon lost does not indicate a good statistical track record with regard to mail getting through from the UK to the U.S! I have even seen people on this site say that there is a 20% loss of mail from the UK to the U.S when using the surface mail option. Is this true? If so how can this be continually justified? It sounds like gross negligence or pathetically profound incompetence to say the least.

There will always be a possibility that an item gets lost, more often than not it is simply due to incorrect addresses with no return details.

The statistical track record of mail getting to the U.S is actually very good. The only handling we do is segregating it into country destination and then either to the airport or the shipping ports. Once it reaches the destination country we lose almost all control over that mail as it will be dealt with by the postal company that resides in that country. The only access we really have when it reaches its destination country is to perhaps receive signature confirmation or updated tracking reports from the postal company.

This site is unofficial so any figures should be deemed as unofficial too. The exemptions to that is when there is linked/written proof from official sources like the CWU and Royal Mail.
Also, if 20% of surface mail goes missing the postal regulator would be, quite literally, hunting us down and fining us to no end as well as it being a massive public outrage.


Edit;- Damn you Pat Ostman, beat me to it! :)

[unwillinglyamerican]

I am seeing this quote a lot on this website 'there is every possibility that it was lost'. This is extremely upsetting. You see, I very rarely receive anything from england and to have the one envelope sent to me every once in a rare blue moon lost does not indicate a good statistical track record with regard to mail getting through from the UK to the U.S! I have even seen people on this site say that there is a 20% loss of mail from the UK to the U.S when using the surface mail option. Is this true? If so how can this be continually justified? It sounds like gross negligence or pathetically profound incompetence to say the least.

There will always be a possibility that an item gets lost, more often than not it is simply due to incorrect addresses with no return details.

The statistical track record of mail getting to the U.S is actually very good. The only handling we do is segregating it into country destination and then either to the airport or the shipping ports. Once it reaches the destination country we lose almost all control over that mail as it will be dealt with by the postal company that resides in that country. The only access we really have when it reaches its destination country is to perhaps receive signature confirmation or updated tracking reports from the postal company.

This site is unofficial so any figures should be deemed as unofficial too. The exemptions to that is when there is linked/written proof from official sources like the CWU and Royal Mail.
Also, if 20% of surface mail goes missing the postal regulator would be, quite literally, hunting us down and fining us to no end as well as it being a massive public outrage.


Edit;- Damn you Pat Ostman, beat me to it! :)

Okay my friend says that it was sent via recorded delivery and that the person at the post office said it will take 2-3 weeks to arrive at the most. This is getting confusing and this is not tallying with the information you people are giving to me. You say it should only take 7 working days to reach places outside the UK right? Well the postal worker told her today that it would take 'up to' 2-3 weeks, even for this APPARENT recorded delivery. ugh!

[Swinder]

Okay my friend says that it was sent via recorded delivery and that the person at the post office said it will take 2-3 weeks to arrive at the most. This is getting confusing and this is not tallying with the information you people are giving to me. You say it should only take 7 working days to reach places outside the UK right? Well the postal worker told her today that it would take 'up to' 2-3 weeks, even for this APPARENT recorded delivery. ugh!

I believe Surface mail might have an optional service which allows for the recorded delivery service, I might be wrong but it certainly would fit the times your friend was quoted.
Another thing worth noting is that "Recorded Delivery" can be both first and second class mail (air and surface mail), it does not speed up delivery times it merely allows for the sender to receive proof that delivery is made with the receivers signature.

[Pat Ostman]

Yes, as far as i am aware the 'recorded' status would only suggest a signature on completion on delivery and does not speed up the arrival.

[unwillinglyamerican]

Okay my friend says that it was sent via recorded delivery and that the person at the post office said it will take 2-3 weeks to arrive at the most. This is getting confusing and this is not tallying with the information you people are giving to me. You say it should only take 7 working days to reach places outside the UK right? Well the postal worker told her today that it would take 'up to' 2-3 weeks, even for this APPARENT recorded delivery. ugh!

I believe Surface mail might have an optional service which allows for the recorded delivery service, I might be wrong but it certainly would fit the times your friend was quoted.
Another thing worth noting is that "Recorded Delivery" can be both first and second class mail (air and surface mail), it does not speed up delivery times it merely allows for the sender to receive proof that delivery is made with the receivers signature.

And what is the longest that a recorded surface mail option might take? 2-3 weeks?