Getting pretty tired of the postal service here in Poland

Ok, so I live in Poland because of my polish girlfriend, she works and lives here and i want to share my life with here, thus living here.

Now, I do most of my earnings by selling objects priced at about 10zl and post these to Sweden... i post several dozen letters a month and i am getting pretty tired of some of them "getting lost" i guess that means stolen... or by incompetence lost...

I know this probably comes off as an angry thread by me and I'm sorry for that but understand how much it ticks me off buying something, managing to sell it... package it, buy stamps, post it and then get angry mail from customers asking where their stuff is....

is there anything at all that can be done about this? is there anyone in an authority position that can be contacted? don't think it would do much complaining to the teller... tho i have tried that approach.

Sending each and every letter as recommended isn't really feasible since shipping would then cost so much compared to the actual value of the content. And besides, I pay them to perform a service, they screw it up and i'm supposed to pay even more for them to do their job right?

Well, I can understand fully the reasons why you're angry. Unfortunately I've got bad news - whenever my family sends anything to me or I send anything to Poland we always pay for the registered postage :( otherwise it's likely that it will get lost :(( you may try a different post office - in case if the source of the problem is in your local one. Making a complaint is worth trying - it's a business matter for you after all. If I were you I would camplain to the post office manager - if he/she is a decent person they may really try to do something about it.

I visited Poland last summer. It took over 2 weeks, for relatives in the United States to receive my postcards. I think the mail would have arrived faster via pony express!

Did you pay for airmail? Priority mail? No? Well, 2 weeks is just not that slow, there's half of Europe and an ocean between Poland and the border of USA ;]

Have you considered that your buyers are the ones stealing from you? If you're not paying for any sort of tracking service internationally - then it's hardly uncommon for people to claim "oh, it never arrived" - because they know that you've got no way of proving it.

Very common with internet sales.


How do you know it's the Polish postal service? It could easily be the Swedish system stealing - or worse, it could be Polish or Swedish Customs causing problems. You really won't know until you start sending things that are tracked.

Or of course, you could use an alternative postal system.

Its the Polish system for sure, everyone complains about it here and rightly so, it's terrible. I've had 4 or 5 things go missing on me.

Best to use DHL or something like that Lee, or register your stuff...you need to fill in a wee form before you send it, costs a bit more. However you wont get a tracking number and it'll all be up to you to call sorting offices to try and find it...which you probably won't. Polish postal workers seem to have very sticky fingers.

I'd DHL it but if you're only selling stuff for a tenner then it'd cost more to post....so you'll need to start chargin your customers more for secure postage.

I don't! - yes, there often is standing in lines, but I never lost any package or letter. Time of delivery - well - here's something more to complain, but if I need fast delivery I use DHL or UPS for 13 PLN and it's a good option. There is also InPost - a competition for Polish Post, but their delivery time was tremendously long each time I used it. Also the law in Pl favours the national post i.e. InPost or other mail companies cannot use Post's mailboxes, they had to attach metal plates to each letter to exceed some weight under which only Polish Post could deliver letters etc. - It's hard to compete then.

Not been here long, have you? The problems at Poczta Polska are well known and things are only getting better in my experience because a lot of companies no longer use PP. Personally I've just started insuring everything which is sent to me: I've yet to lose anything which was insured but things which are not insured have about a 20% chance of being stolen.

you will (^_^)

The more experience I get, the more it seems to be that mail routed through Warsaw (outgoing) is problematic. Incoming mail seems to be fine, but even ordinary letters with nothing more than a letter has been held up in Warsaw without rhyme or reason. Even mail to Warsaw has been mysteriously delayed - I had a registered letter sit in Warsaw for about two weeks before being delivered, yet no problems to anywhere else in Poland. But - it goes without saying that I don't send anything (even invoices) without it going by registered mail.

Sending something internationally without being registered in some way is just asking for trouble, in my opinion.


The metal plate thing has been abolished I think - I've been getting some mail via InPost recently with no plate attached.

Well, maybe I was just lucky. Or very lucky, if you please:). I've been using their service regularly and these are my impressions. Want something done fast: get a courier, no rush: Poczta Polska with all its folklore:D

Heck, given the ineptitude of DHL at times, I'd rather use Poczta Polska!

Again, never had problems with them (DHL) in Poland - in fact they tend to be faster than UPS. But I used UPS more abroad than in Poland so it's hard to compare. Poczta Polska is ok - the smell in their offices, the long queues sometimes, the attitude of the clerks... luv it! ;)

[b][/b]
[b] I have sent to Poland several packages ( 9 in total) containing clothing,toiletries,cute souvenirs
and photo albums to a needy but very smart young man my wife and I met in our last trip to Poland and
served as our guide during the summer vacations just for the food,hotel and transportation.
Said packages were sent with the super expensive EXPRESS SERVICE ( like $75 USA minimum)
from the United States ( New York City) Paris France and Rio de Janeiro Brazil where we have homes.
The poor guy trying to survive in such a poor country has NEVER EVER received even one package,
not even postcards or letters either. :~(((((
My theory:If it is a letter or a post card it will NEVER get delivered but thrown away.
If it is a package it gets STOLEN for the contents and would NEVER EVER reach the recipient.
It is amazing to me that in the XXI Century there are still places where the Postal Service NEVER works.
Even Somalia,Brazil,Bora Bora,Paraguay,Romania,Malaysia,Cape Verde,Hong Kong or Pakistan have a decent postal service and Poland still is back in the Stone Age in service and safety of the mail trusted to them.

Shame Polzca Posta!!!!

First of all, items sent with Express International are traceable. Did you check it? Did you contact your postal provider about it? Did you send the packages by air or by land?

It takes much longer when by land.
Anyway, you posted 9 different packages from 3 different countries, that's really wierd! Did you put sender's details as well? Are you sure the young man's address is correct???

There is something unusual here if all of the items are lost.
We are in the 21 Century yes, but in a very changed world today, because of the terrorists .
After the 11 September everything changed and it could take much longer for some items to be delivered.
I am sure the packages need to be well scanned or even opened for the inspection at every point on the way to Poland.

Personally, I've never experience problem when sending mail or package to Poland. I'm sending through Australian Post and then it goes through Poczta Polska. I always make sure the package goes through Air Mail otherwise delivery takes almost 3 months .

Merged thread:
Post in Poland

I've been living in Poland for a year and a half now and have never had a problem with post, however for the past two weeks I haven't received any mail and there's stuff I know that should have arrived by now. Any idea why they might not be delivering?

How about talking to someone at your local post office?

post officer workers have a disease known as sticky fingers

Damn right! I just got this information from USPS track and trace:
Delivered Abroad, April 04, 2011, 7:48 pm, POLAND
At Foreign Delivery Unit, April 04, 2011, 8:58 am, POLAND
At Foreign Delivery Unit, April 01, 2011, 12:31 pm, POLAND
Out of Foreign Customs, April 01, 2011, 9:51 am, POLAND
Into Foreign Customs, April 01, 2011, 8:03 am, POLAND
Arrived Abroad, April 01, 2011, 8:03 am, POLAND

Of course the parcel was not delivered here on that date. Unfortunately for the thieving scum at Poctza Polska, I've got video which can no doubt prove that it wasn't.

Yea Harry lad, I've had a few things get lost in the Post magically as soon as they left Ireland, bullshit, I thin it's coz they see a foreign name on the pack and they think it'll be full of goodies or something.....since then I just get everything addressed to the missus.

Polish isn't exactly my strong suit.

Well then maybe you should ask a friend to come along. How are we, total strangers to you and many of us not even living in PL, let alone within your postcode, going to know what happened to your post? And how could we help you?

Here's a better idea: how about Polish postal workers do the jobs which their customers (i.e. us) pay them to do instead of just stealing our property? How about that as a solution?

Well, I was hoping to hear something along the lines of "Oh, there's been a postal strike for the last week" or something along those lines. Not specific help, just general. No need to be so hostile.

There is no proof whatsoever that Karlek's post has been stolen, esp. that everything had been fine for the last year and a half. There might be another, innocent reason and it would be good to investigate before throwing accusations around.

-)


Well, I am sorry but you do live in Poland, so I presume you would know about postal strikes and suchlike? I might have come across as hostile, but I was just trying to make you realise that these sorts of problems need to be resolved where they arise, i.e. not on the internet with a bunch of online freaks ;-)

The problem with international tracking is, one service handing off to another.
Their tracking systems are not compatible.
Companies like UPS charge more but they control the package all the way and you have 100% visibility.

So list the reasons why my parcel is listed as having left the Polish delivery unit and being delivered three days ago when it has not been delivered (and I can prove it has not been delivered)?

Am I psychic? I thought we were talking about Karlek's missing mail here. I guess you should contact your local sorting office / post office as well. You have all the tracking numbers etc., so it should be easy to check what happened and who signed for the delivery, if any. I send a lot of parcels from the UK to PL and not one was stolen to date, they all arrived within 3 working days. And I just send them International Signed For. My anecdotal evidence for yours. ;-p

No, your anecdotal evidence vs what it says on the USPS Track & Confirm website.


There was no delivery here and there is video to prove that. As for checking what happened, we can see what Poczta Polska claim happened, they claim that the parcel was delivered sometime between 8:58 am and 7:48 pm April 04, 2011. In reality a Polish postal worker is lying and attempting to steal this parcel.

I'm also waiting for a parcel which was posted from Ireland: it was sent on 21 March and has disappeared too.

If people could start naming which is their local Warsaw post office maybe we can start to get a picture of the reliable/unreliable ones. Mine is on ul. Pereca 13/19 and so far (9 years) I've had very few problems, the staff even smile sometimes.