How to get a Polish post office not to steal

[Jaga]

It is terrible in some places in Poland. I sent several letters to my family with one picture inside. The letters reached my uncle in Katowice and my father in Krakow but they never reached my friends in Zamosc.

Two last letters sent to the same post office, one directly to the mailbox, another to the street address were lost. My friends from Zamosc were intervening, talking to the post-office bosses. Their responses - the letters are lost not in Zamosc, nobody else complains.

What is even worse, I was unaware that it is that bad and just last week on Wednesday I send 5 packages to Poland, two of them (with no money inside) just with first class mail. The lady in the post-office told me that this should be enough since it also has some type of tracking number.
I sent one of these packages to Zamosc.... now I worry that it would be lost again.

Guys, please tell me what to do? Try to call Zamosc newspaper? Zamosc city hall? I am going to call the post office anyways. I am going to ask: what do you do in order to improve security and make sure that the parcels and letters get there.

What other options to I have? Does Poland need to be such a corrupted country still?

[Mary]

Jaga,

Very unfortunate that your mail is not reaching it's destination. You may do much better using FedEx or United Parcel Service (UPS). It costs more but is well worth it. You can track your package and even find out who signed for it upon delivery. I'd never send anything overseas any other way. Good luck, I hope your packages eventually arrive.

Mary

[Pawian]

admin said:

Guys, please tell me what to do? Try to call Zamosc newspaper? Zamosc city hall? I am going to call the post office anyways. I am going to ask: what do you do in order to improve security and make sure that the parcels and letters get there.

What other options to I have? Does Poland need to be such a corrupted country still?

I think you can`t do much because you live too far. It is your family that must press on the Polish Post with the help of mail receipts from you. They can even sue the institution, I suppose.

[Pawian]

Read about a similar problem that people have had, the pieces of advice might be helpful

forums.ebay.pl/thread.jspa?threadID=600001820

[rdywenur]

I think sending packages is a hit or miss and sheer luck if they get to their destinations. So far I have sent only money in cards and they all get there. I never send a lot of money in case it is lost/stolen. This way if it does get stolen you are not out by much and can try again. The US post offfice is just as bad with stolen goods especially in NYC....there they fall into the big black hole. It is alway s frustrating when things are not recieved or lost forever. Soemtimes just regular mail will get there normal average delivery time and others are recieved months later. Just make sure they are well written addresses and readable so there should be no excuse for mistakes.

[valpomike]

Jaga,

Last week I sent off a package to Warsaw, to family. I first went to U.P.S. and they wanted $512.00, for this, and so I went to the U.S. Post Office where I sent it for $120.00, and it would take five working days, but so what. The items inside were only worth around $200.00.
When U.P.S. told me $512.00, I asked him to recheck, I could not belive that, and he said that is what it would be.
I shop at a small store, near by, in another city, that sells Polish foods, from Poland, and has a sign for a mailing service, but I never asked. Next time, I think I will.
If anyone knows of this Polish Mailing service, please let us all know.

Michael Dabrowski

[Mary]

valpomike said:

Jaga,

Last week I sent off a package to Warsaw, to family. I first went to U.P.S. and they wanted $512.00, for this, and so I went to the U.S. Post Office where I sent it for $120.00, and it would take five working days, but so what. The items inside were only worth around $200.00.
When U.P.S. told me $512.00, I asked him to recheck, I could not belive that, and he said that is what it would be.
I shop at a small store, near by, in another city, that sells Polish foods, from Poland, and has a sign for a mailing service, but I never asked. Next time, I think I will.
If anyone knows of this Polish Mailing service, please let us all know.

Michael Dabrowski

Holy crow Michael!

That's an awful price for shipping a box, unless it was containing lead and a huge size!

If you are friendly with a local business that has a corporate account with UPS or FedEx you may be able to ship through them and save a few bucks. Most companies have a special rate. Again, the little guy usually pays the highest price.

Mary

[kaima]

Some of the recommendations for mailing packages from another Polish / Ukrainain forum:

Here, in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area), the most popular for sending
anything from parcels to commercial cargo to Poland is POLIMEX. I'm sure
they have their offices throughout Canada as it is a very big and well known
company. To send money to Poland, the best is to use the Western Union which
has the outlets in every corner of Poland.

In terms of sending a package containing material from the US or
Canada, the items to be transported to Ukraine or Poland are sent to
MEEST's address in US or Canada. How does the overall cost via MEEST
compare to sending a package via USPS or Canadian Poste from the get
go?

I have successfully used MEEST in the past.

www.meest.net/ They make deliveries, both large packages and
simple envelopes with cash, directly to the person in the smallest of
villages.

Good luck on your research and let us know about the service and the costs!

Kai

[valpomike]

Mary,

Go to the post office, you will see. This was not a heavy big box, but over four pounds. This is where the price goes up.

Michael Dabrowski

[Jaga]

Michael,

it does look that you paid awful lot still. I was talking today to the one of the directors of the main post office in Zamosc. She was nice but she told me that she has no way to check the regular letters. There is a chance though that my parcel will reach Zamosc since it was sent by priority mail, so it does have some type of tracking number. Besides it was sent to the mailbox, not to the street address.

[Jaga]

Jerzy/Pawian

thanks for the tip, I saw some of the posts there, it was useful.

[Alicja]

i know that there wasa company newar me when i was living in detroit. it is called PolAm, they just ship parcels to poland. they are kind of expensive but are worth it because i know that they have a high rate of correctly. timely delivery.

[valpomike]

Alicja,

But they cost a lot, and take much time.

Michael Dabrowski

[piwo]

I brought up this topic well over a year ago and from the few responses, most indicated they never heard of such a thing or it must be pretty isolated incidence.

I used to send a single bill sometimes: a $20 on a birthday or a $50 on Christmas, but not any more. Whomever is pilfering the mail got wise to it and for awhile, almost NOTHING got through. It's sad because one kid would get a piece of mail on their birthday, and another would not. It had to be disappointing, to think perhaps they were not thought of.

I thought for a time it was because I was sending mail to very rural area, but then when I sent a long thank you letter to my friends parents who I stayed with for a few days in Lodz, it didn't arrive either. After 5 weeks, I re-wrote the letter by hand (I scanned a copy for just such an occurrence) and it arrived in 8 days.

My brother in law has never had a piece of mail not make it to his family in Czech Republic. I'd love to know where the breakdown it: central post office, rural or the actual carrier........... I also consider it is a US postal issue, where sorters might pull off international bound mail for the possibility that cash might be present, but everything is on high speed belts and scanners now it would seem very difficult to do that sort of thing without detection given the speed of the system, and the sheer volume of mail. Anything is certainly possible.......

[rdywenur]

Piwo...I never send more than a 20.00 which I figure if lost ..okay small amount no big deal. So far knock on wood I have had all my mail recieved. Todays mail is read by machines but then of course there is or maybe always that possiblity of someone caught stealing. I knew someone that worked for a mail center and she said she was not even able to touch her own mail if she saw it and that there were so many cameras around watching always. But once it is in the actual post office I don't think that is the case. Recently I handed a postal worker a notice I recieved to pick up a package and it had my name on it. She came back with someone else's name and address even though it was clear on the notice. Address and name. then she thanked me profusily that I was honest in not taking it. What if someone else did...she would be in trouble for not double checking and reading. So I guess there are all sorts of issues that we won't ever know about. This Christmas I had to go to the post office and pick up a letter because postage was due. (.17) Why .....letter was right weight for regular stamp ...not oversized etc. The sender decided to be cute and wrote all her cards with the address sideways on the envelope. The machine was not able to read it so the post office had to read it and I and all others had to pay for that??? Yet it got to the right post office and they were able to contact the right person. Good ole Government of the USA at work for ya.