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Oct 27, 2021 9:04:55 GMT
Post by Deleted on Oct 27, 2021 9:04:55 GMT
Alright, katiel , @patracat , sunshine2170 : I got the lowdown on the mail from the US to Australia situation. Any letter over 1 ounce is being categorized as a parcel. Australia is not accepting parcels from the US at this time. So, what I am going to have to do with @patracat 's letter is either get rid of the tuck ins or mail them separately. That is pathetic. 1 bloody ounce. It's hardly worth sending a letter.
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Post by ginny on Oct 27, 2021 10:47:29 GMT
Alright, katiel , @patracat, sunshine2170 : I got the lowdown on the mail from the US to Australia situation. Any letter over 1 ounce is being categorized as a parcel. Australia is not accepting parcels from the US at this time. So, what I am going to have to do with @patracat's letter is either get rid of the tuck ins or mail them separately.
Thanks for that piece of info! An ounce is 28,35 grams. Standard letters here in Germany are 20 grams (0,7 ounces) - depending on how thin your stationery is, that's 3-4 sheets A4 (sheets, not pages!). If you don't add any tuck-ins you can write a fairly long letter for 1,10 €, I think!
Remember how I posted about sending something to New Caledonia which is listed as restricted / 'no service available' on German Post's website? I fully expected to having it returned to me. Well, it arrived at its destination safe and sound today, and it only took 2 weeks.
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Post by katiel on Oct 28, 2021 14:56:37 GMT
Good news! Both my Australia letters are back en route again! The postal worker told me that for a week, Australia was only accepting Express mail (due to some unexpected lockdowns there affecting mail sorting). Now they’re accepting regular mail, but it may take extra time to get there. So… your letter is coming Bridget! They canceled it again, removed all the stickers, and codes, and sent it on its way again. Hopefully it gets there sooner than expected!
And Gary, yep, the stamp was canceled on both of them, but they just re-canceled it and sent it through.
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Nov 2, 2021 12:57:29 GMT
Post by ginny on Nov 2, 2021 12:57:29 GMT
And again a letter was returned to me because I 'hadn't put enough postage on it', as the sticker said. I weighed it, and it's 18 grams. The limit is 20 grams, so I had put enough postage on it. Off it goes into the mailbox again... On that background, I get a bit grumpy at the prospect of higher postage rates from next year on
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Nov 3, 2021 1:27:16 GMT
Post by InsomniaQueen on Nov 3, 2021 1:27:16 GMT
I had two more letters I mailed to Australia returned today. One was intended for sunshine2170, and the other was for darren1981. They are going to the post office tomorrow to be handled by the postmaster. Neither of them was over an ounce, so there is no reason why they should have been returned. I will see what the postmaster says.
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Nov 3, 2021 8:24:42 GMT
Post by sunshine2170 on Nov 3, 2021 8:24:42 GMT
That is terrible InsomniaQueen , ginny I think they need to calibrate their scales. I would be taking a photo of my scales with the letter on it and its weight shown.
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Nov 3, 2021 11:36:45 GMT
Post by ginny on Nov 3, 2021 11:36:45 GMT
That is terrible InsomniaQueen , ginny I think they need to calibrate their scales. I would be taking a photo of my scales with the letter on it and its weight shown. I know what you mean! And of course you are absolutely right
But to be honest, I can't be bothered to go and make a big stink about it, mostly because I know it won't make a difference. The postal clerks at the counter will apologise while shrugging inwardly and thinking I'm a miserable grouser, and since they're not responsible for sorting etc., they won't really be affected by my complaints.
Mail is sorted automatically by machines in big sorting centres here, and anything that's a bit out of the ordinary falls through and gets returned. I noticed that most of the letters that are returned to me claiming there's not enough postage on them are in homemade envelopes that I crafted from old calendars or gift wrapping paper - usually, that's very smooth - sometimes high gloss - paper, and I suspect that this causes an issue with the sorting machines. It annoys me, but no matter how tempted I am to go to the post office and throw a tantrum, it won't be of any use.
So, I suppose I'll just keep doing what I've been doing all the time - peel off the yellow sticker and put the letter back into the mailbox
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Post by InsomniaQueen on Nov 3, 2021 23:41:43 GMT
But to be honest, I can't be bothered to go and make a big stink about it, mostly because I know it won't make a difference. The postal clerks at the counter will apologise while shrugging inwardly and thinking I'm a miserable grouser, and since they're not responsible for sorting etc., they won't really be affected by my complaints.
Mail is sorted automatically by machines in big sorting centres here, and anything that's a bit out of the ordinary falls through and gets returned. I noticed that most of the letters that are returned to me claiming there's not enough postage on them are in homemade envelopes that I crafted from old calendars or gift wrapping paper - usually, that's very smooth - sometimes high gloss - paper, and I suspect that this causes an issue with the sorting machines. It annoys me, but no matter how tempted I am to go to the post office and throw a tantrum, it won't be of any use.
So, I suppose I'll just keep doing what I've been doing all the time - peel off the yellow sticker and put the letter back into the mailbox I think you are 100% correct. I don't bother complaining either. I just send everything back through. The Australian post is different because they have already canceled my postage. I have to take it to the counter for them to send through, or I must pay for the postage again. Honestly, if my daughter's boyfriend wasn't a letter carrier and willing to handle it for me, I would probably just pay for it again rather than go out of my way to take it to the post office. As you say, the local people at the counter don't have anything to do with the sorting machines, so they are apologizing for something over which they have no control whatsoever.
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Nov 3, 2021 23:46:42 GMT
Post by sunshine2170 on Nov 3, 2021 23:46:42 GMT
So, I suppose I'll just keep doing what I've been doing all the time - peel off the yellow sticker and put the letter back into the mailbox I was wondering which country that yellow sticker came from
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Nov 4, 2021 10:32:04 GMT
Post by ginny on Nov 4, 2021 10:32:04 GMT
So, I suppose I'll just keep doing what I've been doing all the time - peel off the yellow sticker and put the letter back into the mailbox I was wondering which country that yellow sticker came from Germany, sunshine2170 - the yellow sticker gets put on automatically when the item has been recognized as 'not suitable' or 'not fitting the standards' of the sorting machine in the centre here. The letters run over a conveyor belt, as far as I have been told, and get weighed and measured (we have rather strict rules about sizes of envelopes - anything out of the ordinary is more expensive). When the machine says an item doesn't fit the standards, it goes automatically on another belt, where it's decided whether it's size or weight that doesn't fit, and stickers go onto the letters automatically. It's quite impressive, come to think about it. I haven't seen the process yet with my own eyes, but the postie described it to me when I asked.
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Nov 4, 2021 10:35:25 GMT
Post by ginny on Nov 4, 2021 10:35:25 GMT
But to be honest, I can't be bothered to go and make a big stink about it, mostly because I know it won't make a difference. The postal clerks at the counter will apologise while shrugging inwardly and thinking I'm a miserable grouser, and since they're not responsible for sorting etc., they won't really be affected by my complaints.
Mail is sorted automatically by machines in big sorting centres here, and anything that's a bit out of the ordinary falls through and gets returned. I noticed that most of the letters that are returned to me claiming there's not enough postage on them are in homemade envelopes that I crafted from old calendars or gift wrapping paper - usually, that's very smooth - sometimes high gloss - paper, and I suspect that this causes an issue with the sorting machines. It annoys me, but no matter how tempted I am to go to the post office and throw a tantrum, it won't be of any use.
So, I suppose I'll just keep doing what I've been doing all the time - peel off the yellow sticker and put the letter back into the mailbox I think you are 100% correct. I don't bother complaining either. I just send everything back through. The Australian post is different because they have already canceled my postage. I have to take it to the counter for them to send through, or I must pay for the postage again. Honestly, if my daughter's boyfriend wasn't a letter carrier and willing to handle it for me, I would probably just pay for it again rather than go out of my way to take it to the post office. As you say, the local people at the counter don't have anything to do with the sorting machines, so they are apologizing for something over which they have no control whatsoever. I just put all letters back into the public mailbox, and usually they go through the second time around, although the stamps have been cancelled already. Interesting to see how these things work in different countries!
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Nov 21, 2021 13:55:30 GMT
Post by Mia on Nov 21, 2021 13:55:30 GMT
Seen on a FB group that some mail from US to Australia has been returned to sender...
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Nov 22, 2021 10:00:27 GMT
Post by eefa on Nov 22, 2021 10:00:27 GMT
ginny I’m just jealous of your €1.10 postage rate! In Ireland that rate is for postage within Ireland only. Anything outside of Ireland is €2 InsomniaQueen ginny I also have had homemade envelopes returned but not because there wasn’t enough postage but because it used the return address as the destination address. In fact, I’m pretty sure this has happened to me (same letter 3 times!) with non homemade envelopes too! I’ve never had a letter returned for not enough postage though… I think that’s because I have to go over 100g or go to some large envelope size to not be able to use the €2 rate.
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Post by ginny on Nov 22, 2021 13:16:37 GMT
eefa, that's only until the end of the year. Postage will go up in 2022. I'm not sure how much it will be for international mail then, but I reckon it might be € 1.20 then. All lists I have seen so far only cover domestic rates (a domestic standard letter will go up from € 0.80 to € 0.85).
Apparently, the average person here sends out 10 letters a year - that includes business mail. It seems that I compensate for a lot of households that don't use postal mail anymore at all ginny I’m just jealous of your €1.10 postage rate! In Ireland that rate is for postage within Ireland only. Anything outside of Ireland is €2
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Nov 22, 2021 21:34:56 GMT
Post by motsamicaux on Nov 22, 2021 21:34:56 GMT
Ninety-seven days to receive a letter from Wales.... I guess it could have taken longer...
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