Do I have to do something to start receiving mail in Poland? (moved from the US)

22 Dec 2011 / #31

A quick google search for "USPS stealing mail" reveals plenty of results, including news stories about USPS employees stealing mail.

Somehow, some way, when I go to Poland, it happens all the time.

That's why we don't send valuable things via national postal systems. It's a basic rule - postal systems are for post, courier services are for valuables.

I don't even send (in Europe) important documents by anything other than courier.

Harry

22 Dec 2011 / #32

A quick google search for "USPS stealing mail" reveals plenty of results, including news stories about USPS employees stealing mail.

Of course it happens, it happens in all postal systems. However, the difference is that USPS do something about it. From a news article about a USPS employee stealing mail:

The U.S. Postal Service received complaints from residents who suspected Dillard had taken their mail, according to court documents. USPS investigators planted mail that should have been delivered on his route.
On Oct. 8, 2010, they stopped Dillard after he completed his shift and found an opened birthday card that had contained a $20 bill that had been placed by the investigators.

ongo.com/v/2513130/-1/56457B72CB243878/ex-postal-worker-who-buried-mail-in-his-backyard-sentenced

Royal Mail do the same thing but they even use agent provocateurs, as a friend of mine nearly found out to his cost.

Go to Poczta Polska and complain about your post being stolen and see what they will do about it. Not so long ago there was a TV program which showed a video taken from inside a PP truck showing workers sorting through parcels to see what to steal: none of those workers were even officially reprimanded by PP.

delphiandomine 86 | 17823

22 Dec 2011 / #33

Royal Mail do the same thing but they even use agent provocateurs, as a friend of mine nearly found out to his cost.

Gah, Royal Mail. Don't get me started on them - they get everything delivered to Poland, but there's some mysterious black hole in the UK that causes everything to either be sent really quickly to Poland or to take forever.

Last thing I got sent was tracked all the way, and it was stuck at Heathrow for about 5 days without any sort of logic whatsoever.

My impression is that (like everything here really) - it all depends on your local area. My local post office is fantastic, nothing goes missing, they're flexible with keeping things if you're on holiday, etc - but other ones seem to be shockingly bad. Warsaw in particular seems to be awful - it actually takes longer to send something there from Poznan than it does to send it to the UK!