International postal options

[skiprat]

I'm really peeved !!!
I bought a special Christmas gift from USA in mid November and paid for the small parcel to be tracked and insured. It cost more than $50 for this p & p. About the size of a small flat rate box.

As it hadn't arrived last week, I contacted the vendor only find that he only chose tracking till it left USA......what's the point of that?????

Anyway he now tells me that our postal service can't deliver for whatever reason and it's going to be returned!!!

We have similar options when paying for tracking but only a cheapskate will choose to track only till it reaches the border. It really is only pennies more for the proper tracking...

Does your door to door tracking option have a name that I can suggest this vendor uses?

Sorry for the rant but now I have to find something else to replace this special pressie.......:frown:

 

[chrisk]

Never heard about such thing!
Till one year ago some tracking was provided in the US and ceased immediately thereafter. Certainly not the other way.
But for more than a year now, every parcel (even uninsured and/or First Class Mail Int) is tracked until delivery, even after it left the US, at least to Belgium. The tracking is valid in both countries postal services web pages, with the USPS sometimes providing Swiss like precision...

Personnally, after every parcel is shipped to me, I immediately ask the tracking (or parcel) number. As soon I suspect some delay I immediately call the local postal office. This way, I never lost any package for years now.

Steve, did you get the tracking number from the vendor?

 

[stonepecker]

Hey Skip,
Sorry to hear that someone didn't think ahead like most people do.

I know that whatever you come up with will be something very special.
Your work is top notch, and most of the time leaves me speachless.

 

[lorbay]

I think it's only to the boarder when shipping to Canada. But then having said that if you put that track ## in the Canada Post system it usually crosses over then you can track it here.
Postal system you gotta luv'em. NOT


Lin

 

[lorbay]

Hey Skip,
Sorry to hear that someone didn't think ahead like most people do.

I know that whatever you come up with will be something very special.
Your work is top notch, and most of the time leaves me speachless.

May be it another hammer. Oh please let it be the hammer. Lol

Lin.

 

[skiprat]

LOL, Lin you are bad!! :biggrin:

I promise guys, the tracking showed every move from being picked up to leaving USA from Florida. Even when the postman stopped for Dunkin Donuts...!
We have various options like International Signed, International Tracked and Signed etc etc. Our Int Signed only tracks untill it leaves UK.
The last status says 'Foreign Return to Sender'

Oh well....back to the drawingboard :frown:

 

[mark james]

Earlier in December I sent a box to Australia. I was only able to track USPS until it hit Australia. I was able to track the USPS from Ohio - Chicago - Japan - Sydney (arrival), then went dark. All went well however.

I did not attempt any special tracking provisions; I don't think there are any after it leaves the USA....

Hope all goes well :redface:! Very frustrating with all our technology... This should be simple, and yes, at a small cost.

 

[chrisk]

LOL, Lin you are bad!! :biggrin:

I promise guys, the tracking showed every move from being picked up to leaving USA from Florida. Even when the postman stopped for Dunkin Donuts...!
We have various options like International Signed, International Tracked and Signed etc etc. Our Int Signed only tracks untill it leaves UK.
The last status says 'Foreign Return to Sender'

Oh well....back to the drawingboard :frown:

If I was you I'd call the local carrier, that is the Royal Mail I presume?

 

[MesquiteMan]

I ship hundreds and hundreds of international packages a year and they all go USPS. Whoever told you there was special tracking available does not know what they are talking about. Generally all Priority Mail International packages are trackable but there is not different levels of tracking. Sometimes this will be trackable after they leave the US and sometimes they will not. It has to do with whether or not the receiving postal service has a method of passing tracking info back to the US Postal Service once it arrives in the foreign country. Not all countries have the ability or willingness to pass this info back to the US system. So, if you are not getting tracking info after it leaves the US, that fault lies with the postal system of the receiving country, not USPS.

I would guess, based on doing this a lot, that the package is being returned due to some hang up with customs in the UK. Be happy it is being returned and not destroyed or just set aside to be lost forever. I woudl certainly not be faulting the shipping party as they appear to have done exactly what they said they would according to what you posted. They shipped it trackable and insured and shipped in a timely manner. From there, it is out of their hands completely and being pissed at them is not fair!

I see this myself sometimes. I have had a number of times customers will get pissed at me because the package is taking too long. However, tracking shows it was shipped and left my shop within hours of the order being placed via the method selected by the customer. It then shows that the US Postal Service did their part and the package left the country within 36 hours and then got held up. To the customer, however, it is all my fault that it takes 3 weeks to get there!

I even had one who was pissed because the customs office in their country wanted to collect duties. He was not willing to pay them and demanded that I pay! Of course, even if I wanted to, it was not possible so they finally returned it to me. He then demanded I refund the entire balance of his money including the $80 in shipping since he did not receive it!

I know that in Canada you can frequently use the USPS tracking number in the CanadaPost system and it will pick up where the USPS system left off. Not sure about the UK but would be worth trying if you have not already.

 

[TellicoTurning]

I think it's only to the boarder when shipping to Canada. But then having said that if you put that track ## in the Canada Post system it usually crosses over then you can track it here.
Postal system you gotta luv'em. NOT


Lin

I don't know about into Canada, but I bought some pepper mill inserts from Canada... Canadian Post has sent tracking to my door... delivery is scheduled for Monday...