Current Mail / Postage situation due to Covid-19

[online prowler]

My covid recommendations based on own experiences and what I am being asked most at Where frost reign.

The logistics and transport system is heavily burdened worldwide and in some places it has collapsed. From Norway today, there are 22 countries that it is impossible to send registered packages to. Out of 196 countries in the world, I can send mail to 86. In addition to strained delivery options, the online retail business has experienced phenomenal increase. I haven't checked the numbers in a while, but last I made a dig we were talking about 25% in Norway alone. I expect it to be the same in other countries. Furthermore, the pandemic has caused plane cancellations and forced mail to be redirected by wheels across countries and continents. The exploding market and continuing alterations of cross-country travel restrictions has again caused a shortage of delivery vehicles. This is the reality of the current shipping situation now.

If you are concerned about secure delivery of your mail I recommend taking the extra cost and opt for registered and insured mail.

In cases where you do not have registered and is expecting standard letters that cannot be tracked, I recommend contacting your domicile post agent or check their web page re updates on the post and corona situation, delays, etc. Every agent have this information displayed and is updating as the situation progress. In some situations you might have to search a bit to locate information. If it is not readily displayed in your post agents web page - use an online search engine. In instances like this, seller/sender cannot provide you with any information as the letter was not shipped as registered letter or package. A little research will save you time and a lot questions. For sellers/senders in these instances I recommend to keep all your postal receipts. You might need to document orders are shipped at a later date.

Delays are to be expected. In worst cases I see across the line that post estimated to have a transit of a week, may take a month. So be patient and do your research re your local delivery situation. Some countries are blocked on the receiver end and shipping list. Sender should have the overview here, but it if you are ordering online it is also your own responsibility at the moment to know if you can receive goods. Should you be unlucky the order is not lost, but it will be heavily delayed until borders re-open.

[NerveGas]

If you are concerned about secure delivery of your mail I recommend taking the extra cost and opt for registered and insured mail.

This is pretty much what it comes down to. And understanding that stress on postal systems is massive and causing delays. Most people here seem to be mature and understanding of this. Had a domestic order from someone recently who was very distraught that their order had taken nearly two weeks to arrive. No insurance. Wasn't shipped priority. I believe first class or media. Sure that's out of the ordinary based on pre-Covid conditions, but an understandable amount of time to wait given the circumstances. Not an emergency or cause to do anything except wait and be patient.

[Urban Noise]

Thank you guys for all the input!

Does someone knows what the situation with mail from Europe to the US?
A package I sent in December arrived in USJFKA in the 30 of December and it is still to be delivered to the destination. No changes in the tracking after that and now I have a dude asking me about it... As if I'm not in the other side of the damn Atlantic.

I think it's very possible that the package left JFK and hasn't been re-scanned but is in route. That happens to me with tracked international stuff I am receiving and sending fairly regularly. Once a package crosses the ocean the tracking used by one country isn't always used by the receiving one.

This is very possible, especially for small registered packages. Recently had a single-tape trade package coming from Slovenia arrive at the international exchange office in NYC on Dec 17 (after leaving Slovenia on Nov 17) that didn't update tracking until it was in my mailbox in Seattle on January 23. I think there was a short time where all non-express/priority mail was still coming on boat if it was routed through Germany, which always seems to take far more time to process stateside than if it had arrived by air.

Basically it can take a lot of time since it arrived in the US to being delivered. That's my experience with sending mail to the US, but looks like some people still think it must arrive in two weeks these days.
The package left Portugal on 7 of December, was scanned in the US on 30 December. Nothing that unusual for what I get from your feedback.

Sent a normal, unregistered pack the same day, to the US, arrived on 14 January, no problem what so ever.

[tiny_tove]

Things improved a bit now in Italy at level of offices. We can book again dates to send which was the main reason while I suspended any activities.

There are issues with delivery services (especially TNT) but the post is quite ok,
Last bathc of shirts I sent arrived to the states in 5 days!

Problem now is that for every non UE country we have to fill lots of paperwork and the post clerks have to ebeter everything by hand, this includes uk, scandinavia, etc.

prices went up again

[New Forces]

Not due to Covid but i guess many of you have seen this:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/19/us/la-train-tracks-cargo-thieves.html
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-01-16/rail-theft-soars-los-angeles-pilfered-packages-littering-tracks

I have a package processed through LA with no update for a week. Who knows if it's delayed because of this or if the box is on the tracks. Anyone else with packages stuck or lost in LA?

That's fucking crazy. Didn't know this was happening but it seems so obvious this would be a target for crimes. I suppose this would just count as "normal" theft as opposed to the exaggerated penalties that come with robbing USPS carriers.

[impulse manslaughter]

I had one package from Spain to The Netherlands that got lost (now in transit for 3 months so I consider it a lost cause). Otherwise no problems over the last year.

[NerveGas]

Not due to Covid but i guess many of you have seen this:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/19/us/la-train-tracks-cargo-thieves.html
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-01-16/rail-theft-soars-los-angeles-pilfered-packages-littering-tracks

I have a package processed through LA with no update for a week. Who knows if it's delayed because of this or if the box is on the tracks. Anyone else with packages stuck or lost in LA?

Have two packages coming from LA area currently funnily enough. Most notable on the shipping front is a package I have that has gone all the way from Massachusetts to Seattle only to (eventually) head back to the East coast. Just a few thousand miles in the wrong direction haha! With all of that said, I feel like some people (not sure if on this forum although I haven't gone back and read the whole thread) are going a little overboard with the postal doomsday scenarios. Maybe it's worse than I think behind the scenes, but aside from a few ridiculous delays like the one detailed above, it's been mostly business as usual.

[Mattias G]

This can be good to know if you live in Sweden and send packages outside EU. If it's no sender address, tariff number, social security number, weight etc the package will be sent back to you or bot will be sent.
It has never happened me before but circa 10 packages came back to me in November and December.
Maybe it's new EU rules?

[Urban Noise]

Packages sent outside EU need to be registered online first with all the info from the sender. And some countries outside EU will not accept the packages if that's not done. And that's a reality for some time now.

On a side note, sending a package without the senders address it fucking dumb. If something goes wrong, postal services need an address to return the package or get in contact with the sender.

[Theodore]

"The IOSS number was written at the wrong place on the parcel".

Probably the seller wrote it by hand ? I did some reading recently cause i needed to buy a back-tension torque meter cassette from China [Ebay] and fuck this thing is expensive -if you find it- , so i wanted to ensure they wont ask me to pay VAT again, plus fees. What i understood is that IOSS works only if seller has shipped it using internet electronic form to fill the details / payment. If you just write it down on the package, it's like never happened, they dont accept it. So i told the seller -he knew already- and thankfuly it came without any charges.

[absurdexposition]

Some months ago i bought a couple of CDs on eBay (outside of the EU). Had not used eBay in ages. eBay charges VAT upon purchase just like Discogs. When the parcel arrived to my country the national postal service forced me to pay again in order to receive the parcel. "The IOSS number was written at the wrong place on the parcel".

I had a package returned to me from Denmark because the required invoice with the IOSS number was affixed to the back of the package (just a tape in a bubble envelope, so no room on the front alongside the label). They claimed there was no invoice w/ IOSS attached. Seems like they really couldn't be arsed to look a little more closely.

[FreakAnimalFinland]

I think maybe noteworthy to mention is another "current mail" or upcoming mail situation that remains interesting to see how it effects upcoming plans of many labels.
There was news that the times of cheap vinyl records shipping from germany will be over. DHL will change the maximum size for "warenpost" packages down to 25cm, starting from 1.7.2022. At this point no prices are yet to known, but I would not be surprised it german follows what has happened pretty much everywhere else.

As I am no expert in what other options are available, and what the price range will be, I can only trust that friends speculating that this will be serious hit for things like people selling stuff at discogs or small hobby labels & distros trying to operate at reasonable costs.

In Finland, unless you have contract with post or some delivery companies, it is pretty much pointless to sell vinyl records anymore. I can't imagine why would someone buy regular vinyl slab. It would have to be big pile at once, or rarities.

Last summer, with couple days notice, they doubled the package weight price for companies. It was good, that I don't do any pre-orders and such. It would have been embarressing to start ask more money for already paid orders when postage suddenly jumps up, hah..

I am curious if German labels/distros have noticed this and had thoughts how it will effect their plans?

[-NRRRRK-]

If you ship inside the EU the price for shipping 12" vinyl via DHL, with insurance and tracking-#, is about 12,- EUR for non-business accounts.
Rest of the world is about 20,- EUR.

I put some albums up for sale on discogs. Hardly ever had a buyer from outside the EU, probably due to the ridiculous shipping.
On the other hand, around here DHL is the only carrier I really trust and I never lost a parcel with them.

[NerveGas]

Aside from pre-orders generally being a bad idea in most cases, this is yet another reason not to do them. Pay for a record and wait 7-12 months for the record to be pressed only to find out postage has increased? Sounds like a bad deal. Simply selling something when you physically possess the product solves this. This is becoming somewhat of a novel idea with certain folks, though. Thankfully most labels/bands I pay attention to avoid this preorder way of doing things.

On another note, Germany's shipping rates going up is unfortunate. Could always count on getting stuff for a reasonable price for the longest time.