Tracking a package through the Polish Postal system sent from US

My family sent a small package via USPS Priority International. They got a CP number (I assume this is customs). On the USPS site- it confirms it was delivered to International Dispatch in Chicago on Nov 20th. The trail ends there.

Is there a way I can track the package through the Polish Postal or other service using the Customs number?

Also, does anyone know an average a package takes to get from the US to Poland via USPS Priority International?

You need to send packages to Poland by registered mail so the person receiving it will sign it; then you will know it got there. And if they don't get it, you will at least get your money back. The you can try typing the custom number again at USPS.com and maybe it will come up where it is now, but does not always work.

People in Poland steal mail coming from the US all the time and it seams like it's getting worse. The Polish Postal Service is a shame with so much mail being stolen from foreign countries. A package usually takes 7-10 days. Sometimes sooner but the USPS cannot guarantee foreign arrivals. And with the holiday rush it might take a few days longer. My mom sent a letter to her sister in Poland 4 weeks ago. She never got it, so she is sending her another one via registered mail. It's terrible, how the Polish Postal system steals mail. I had pictures in that letter and it gets me mad that some Polish arsehole stole that letter and is looking at those pictures.

So why have I never had anything go missing from the UK? Poczta Polska have actually been delivering stuff within 3 days of it being posted in the UK - which isn't bad service!

Maybe the USPS lost it? They hardly have the greatest of reputations....

To get a job with USPS you go through a background check, you get finger printed since it's a goverment job with federal rgulations. If you get caught stealing just one piece of junk mail, which gets thrown away anyway, you will be arrested, jailed and severly punished. The USPS has loses because of the internet and emails taking away from handwritten letters, but the people working for the USPS do not steal. They do however steal in the Polish Postal system. We make enough money working in the USPS that we don't need to nor do we want to steal other people's mail. It's a very responsible and honest job, unlike in Poland, where they can make anybody a mail carrier.

Never? I thought you'd been here a few years, not a couple of months!

18 months nearly ;)

But it's true - I don't have problems with them at all. There's the isolated bout of laziness from posties that can't be bothered to come up to deliver something, but that happens everywhere. But they are much, much better than Royal Mail/Post Office ever will be.

Mind you, this utterly weird habit of postmen handling cash is very odd - as is the habit of tipping them!

(of course, maybe I'm simply viewing anything above 'useless and incompetent ; see also Royal Mail' as being amazing!)


18 months nearly ;)

But it's true - I don't have problems with them at all. There's the isolated bout of laziness from posties that can't be bothered to come up to deliver something, but that happens everywhere. But they are much, much better than Royal Mail/Post Office ever will be.

Mind you, this utterly weird habit of postmen handling cash is very odd - as is the habit of tipping them!

(of course, maybe I'm simply viewing anything above 'useless and incompetent ; see also Royal Mail' as being amazing!)


If you get caught, that is.


Really?
complaintsboard.com/complaints/usps-c111196.html

Among many others. Explain?


They steal in every postal system, that much is a fact. The USPS is no different.


So why is the internet full of complaints about stolen mail from the USPS? Are these people somehow living in an alternate universe where the USPS does steal? Let's not forget that people making very, very good money have stolen before and will steal again.


Really? Expert on Poczta Polska's hiring schemes, are we?

The USPS doesn't appear to be so great - look:
ehow.com/how_4475866_post-office-easy-way-exam.html

Open your eyes, darling ;)

OK, spend nine years living here buying stuff on ebay and trying to have it sent from the UK, the USA, Canada, Germany, etc, see how much of it arrives and then we'll talk about how much or how little Polish posties steal. I reckon that about 15% of my post 'gets lost' these days (although that is an improvement on a few years back when it was more like 30%). The toerags have stolen my mother's Christmas presents (those from me and those from her) so often she's now told me to not bother sending any more and that she won't be either!

So why is the internet full of complaints about the Polish Post Office?
Open your eyes.

Doesn't make them any worse than the USPS, does it? :)

Any greetings card i sent to poland are always lost perhaps because they contain some cash inside.

Now I normally use registered post to send everything, which cost me 10 times more than normal airmail and I have to queue at the post office for 10-20 mins filling up forms etc.

I really wish there is one single honest postman in Poland.

Try the following tracking site, its not for priority mail but you can try anyways.

pocztex.pl/dokl_inf_telef.php

Mylesg, in my experience it will take under a week for a package sent from US to Poland to reach Poland. It will then take an additional 3 - 6 weeks to reach you in Poland. Once the package leaves the USPS it enters some mysterious black hole, which I believe to be Polish Customs. Packages sent from within the EU, for example from the UK, will not have this problem and will reach you fairly quickly once they are in Poland.

It is hit or miss with Polish Customs. My typical experience is to get a note from the local post office to collect a package, with no explanation of where the package is from or what the contents are. I arrive at the post office to be handed a Customs invoice for some outrageous price, typically equal to 50 - 100% of the USD value of the package contents. If you don’t pay the fee, you don’t get the package. Always nice to get a $100 gift of clothing from America, that costs the giver $50 to send and cost me 200zl, ($75) to receive. It doesn’t appear to matter what the package contents are, whether it is a gift or not, or what the value of the contents are that you list on the Customs form when sending with USPS.

If the package left the US on November 20th, you could expect to receive it just before Christmas, but you may recall the Polish Postal Service from last Christmas (Sajgon?). I wouldn’t start to worry about the package until mid-January.

On the bright side I have never had a package lost or stolen, and Polish Customs do a wonderful job of re-packing! I once had a package sent from the US, which never arrived and was given up for lost. Four months later it was returned to the sender without explanation (the address was correct). I had another package addressed to my family name, for example “The Smiths”, which the post office did not want to release to me because my first name is not “The”. Another time I actually had a package delivered right to the front door with no issues, followed 2 weeks later by the postman demanding 200zl or he would lose his job.

I ordered friends and family to stop sending gift packages from America long ago. It was too much stress on everyone’s part and was costing me too much to “receive” the gifts.

My advice – If it is an important document, FedEx it. Never a problem and I have received dozens of FedEx’s over the years. If it is a small gift like a shirt or sweater, squeeze it into a USPS Airmail envelope, It will arrive in 2 weeks and for some reason appears to skip the Customs headache.

Good Luck

Murphy's Law- today the package showed up. It did go through customs, as I can see the bags that contained the items were opened and sealed again. BUT contrary to many of the above fears- nothing was missing.

That happens for one of three reasons: the first is that the customs office can't be bothered to fill in the paperwork and so just wait a while, open the parcel to see if it's anything worth nicking and then send it back to the sender (you know that has happened because customs deny all knowledge of your parcel but it's been resealed with Poczta Polska tape); the second is that customs do bother to fill in the paperwork but the postie can't be bothered to deliver the letter from them and so you don't write back to them, they wait a couple of weeks, open the parcel to see if it's anything worth nicking and then send it back to the sender (you know that has happened because customs tell you about the letter they sent you and Poczta Polska claim that you first weren't home when they tried to deliver the letter and that you didn't go to the post office to collect the letter within the two weeks they hold it for); the third is that the postman simply can not be bothered to deliver the parcel, so he fills in the Poczta Polska advice slip saying that the stated weight is not the same as the real weight and claims to deliver that slip to you, then Poczta Polska wait a couple of weeks, open the parcel to see if it's anything worth nicking and then send it back to the sender (you know that has happened because even though you have a slip for a registered letter to the customs office with the paperwork you're sending to them, Poczta Polska tell you that you didn't go to the post office to collect the parcel).

Yes all of the above things have happened to me, each of them more than once.

So there is no link for tracking in poland?

For inbound mail that is registered or has a barcode (and also for outbound registered and insured mail), I've had good luck with the tracking page on the Pocztex site:

pocztex.pl/dokl_inf_telef.php

HI,, I have just joined this group.. I have sent a package from US to Brzozow PL on 23 Nov 2009 and still has not shown up yet. The only thing that the US post office has is, it left country on 29 Nov 2009 from New Jersey. They dont even know where in Poland it went to. I am so angry @#!@# with these folks. I have sent a letter to the US Post Master General Jack Potter to get answers on this. You would think they would know which city it was flown to.

I have been to this website: pocztex.pl/dokl_inf_telef.php
and now I am sharing this with my wife who is from Brzozow PL. Maybe we can find this Christmas package.
Thanks Paul & Ela prg1958jul@hotmail

It appears that there is a lot of luck involved with parcels at the moment. Today I received one parcel which was posted in the USA on 6 December but I'm still waiting for one which was posted on 20 November. I'm beginning to lose hope for the one which was posted on 20 November. The parcel posted on 6 December was not attractive to thieves (just a pair of lenses for glasses) but the one posted on 20 November would make an ideal Christmas present (it's a rather nice little backpack). I intended it to be a Christmas present, I just thought that I'd be the one choosing who to give it to, rather than my postman deciding....

USPS workers do steal!!!! I have had SEVERAL of cards disappear in transit!!! And one package go missing... Passing a backround check just means you have no record... It doesn't mean you don't steal it just means you haven't gotten caught. Don't be so ignorant! And by the way I knew a felon in Kansas that worked for usps....

One package? I would give my left testicle to be able to reach the age of 80 and say truthfully that in all my years in Poland Poczta Polska had only lost one package of mine! In the past six weeks I have had seven parcels sent from the USA or Canada (the most recent one was posted on 8 December and was one of only two posted in December). I have received just two parcels so far.

I agree with the luck part. I believe my package- which started this thread- was "chosen" for Customs. It was torn open, supposedly inspected and retaped with Poczta Polska tape. It did finally show, with all its contents, but took much longer than I expected.

I'd be half inclined to blame Polish Customs for this - as far as I can tell, dealing with them is generally an unhappy experience. I had 'fun' with them and their idiotic ways on the Ukranian border.

Being in Poland several times and talking to some of the people there,they have a misconception that in Canada and the U.S.money grows on trees!!!!!!So,when mail comes from North America,they think it`s full of money and that is why mail disappears over there.

Poczta Polska is a shame for Poland. So much things "disappear" (probably stolen), especially packages from abroad.

They think we all are millionaires here----I Wish !!!!!

one reason post disappears... coming from the uk... is that the list of contents must be written on the stick-on-label. as well as that, the value of the enclosed goods is also on full view.

thieves get to pick and choose... before they even open the parcel.

These people have no conscience............ BEWARE.

By the way, it costs me 4GBP to send a Christmas card registered to family.

Why should it ?

Unfortunately the Poles are gradually getting a bad reputation, not only in the postal department, but within other sections of trade and commerce. In time the western world will stop dealing with them. I have first hand knowledge how many multi million pound enterprises have already resigned from investment in Poland.

( But thats another story. )

Shouldn't you take up the price with Royal Mail?


The Western World isn't going to stop dealing with Poland anytime soon. It's one of the largest countries in Europe, it has a stable government and tax laws and crucially, it's very friendly towards large new investment.

For every business that leaves Poland, two are coming - even Dell have now quit Ireland in favour of Poland!

But the USPS is serious about theft, unlike in Poland where they let it slide. You get cought stealing or doing something funny here you get arrested, plus fined, jail time etc. The USPS has catwalks where inspectors walk unnanounced and spy on workers. Sure there are losers everywhere, but it's what is done with them that makes a difference.

My mom sent another letter to her sister in Poland, this time registered. 2 weeks and still didn't get there. The trails ends when it was loaded on a plane in New York.

I went on a site where you can send complaints to the Polish post office. They are very polite there and replied that they will find out what happened.

People need to complain and let someone in Poland do an investigation to see who is stealing that fukking mail!
Another idea for a Polish joke. lol

Well i have said it before , and i will say it again....In the five years i have lived in Polska i have had numerous parcels sent from the UK , comtaining all manner of nice goodies , cameras , books , radios , Harley parts , all of which arrived intact...Today i recieved a box sent from my Lady in Moscow , again containing all manner of nice and expensive stuff , nothing was missing... The only time anything went missing , it was an envelope containing money that i suspect was x rayed in the UK , and went missing there rather than in Poland... Maybe i am lucky to have nice honest postmen working in my area , but i have no complaints about the Polish postal service....

The problem aint with the royal mail, because I can send the card 1st class. Only without being signed for, unfortunately it will get stolen as I have experienced on numerous occasions.

As for your second comment, I,ve just had to rinse my pants out.