An Post International mail service cancelled?

martingkenny

Hi guys, I'm hoping I can find an answer to my question here. I receive quite a few packages from international countries and since An Post announced restrictions on postal services in Feb'2020 due to Covid-19 outbreak all international packages have stopping arriving.
Im not only talking about China but also Ukraine, Belgium, Spain and Brazil.
Funny thing is before the packages left the above countries tracking showed an unusual delay in the departure airport of every country (1 week) but they eventually departed but have not been scanned in Ireland by An Post yet!
My question is are An Post holding all international packages recieved in Ireland and not scanning them upon arrival till the Virus lock down is over?

walshtipp

martingkenny wrote: »

Hi guys, I'm hoping I can find an answer to my question here. I receive quite a few packages from international countries and since An Post announced restrictions on postal services in Feb'2020 due to Covid-19 outbreak all international packages have stopping arriving.
Im not only talking about China but also Ukraine, Belgium, Spain and Brazil.
Funny thing is before the packages left the above countries tracking showed an unusual delay in the departure airport of every country (1 week) but they eventually departed but have not been scanned in Ireland by An Post yet!
My question is are An Post holding all international packages recieved in Ireland and not scanning them upon arrival till the Virus lock down is over?

I have received parcels from UK and Germany last week via An Post. Took about a week longer than normal though.

martingkenny

walshtipp wrote: »

I have received parcels from UK and Germany last week via An Post. Took about a week longer than normal though.

Thanks, I guess mine will arrive eventually then.
They are 2 weeks delayed as of today and I have contacted all the suppliers who say they were shipped direct from international airports to Ireland.

eiei0

I'm waiting a month for a package from Australia and 3 weeks from Serbia, both senders have checked and both items have left there respected countries, looks like An Post are on a real go slow, Tracking shows nothing and An Post themselves are no help, they just said the have no record of the items arriving into the country, I'm guessing/hoping they are in a holding area somewhere in Ireland, one of them is close to 2m long so shouldn't be that easy to misplace

long_b

Waiting for a package from Czech Republic and Ukraine. First one arrived in Ireland on April 1st

.No sign of either on An Post tracking.

eiei0

How can they be so slow to process these parcels ??

martingkenny

eiei0 wrote: »

How can they be so slow to process these parcels ??

Somebody will run out of storage shortly if they're not delivered soon!!

MrMusician18

eiei0 wrote: »

How can they be so slow to process these parcels ??

Presumably social distancing in the sorting centres is affecting throughput.

Orion

I've had parcels from teh UK delivered a week before they were promised. An Post are doing a sterling job.

brimeh

UK had a backlog a while ago - cleared now though. Had a package sent from the UK stamped April 1st and it arrived last Friday. Ordered from Amazon UK last week and it arrived in 2 days.

Also have a package that 'left the California international distribution centre to destination' on March 23rd and I still haven't received it, nor has tracking been updated at all on this side. So not sure if it's An Post or if these packages go on passenger planes that aren't travelling at the moment and are sitting somewhere waiting to be loaded onto planes.

un5byh7sqpd2x0

I know of a package from China that was scanned into customs in Dublin about a month ago and hasn’t budged since.

martingkenny

Shiloh Tight Hog wrote: »

I know of a package from China that was scanned into customs in Dublin about a month ago and hasn’t budged since.

I have 5 packages in limbo!
The whole international postal service is a shambles at the moment.

silver2020

Shiloh Tight Hog wrote: »

I know of a package from China that was scanned into customs in Dublin about a month ago and hasn’t budged since.

possibly scanned into HongKong customs where much of china post comes from - they have created enormous delays in hong kong for outgoing packages.

Anything that contains any form of PPE is stopped and rejected, but it is causing massive delays on other items

un5byh7sqpd2x0

silver2020 wrote: »

possibly scanned into HongKong customs where much of china post comes from - they have created enormous delays in hong kong for outgoing packages.

Anything that contains any form of PPE is stopped and rejected, but it is causing massive delays on other items

_Dublin_

Coillte_Bhoy

eiei0 wrote: »

I'm waiting a month for a package from Australia and 3 weeks from Serbia, both senders have checked and both items have left there respected countries, looks like An Post are on a real go slow, Tracking shows nothing and An Post themselves are no help, they just said the have no record of the items arriving into the country, I'm guessing/hoping they are in a holding area somewhere in Ireland, one of them is close to 2m long so shouldn't be that easy to misplace

If its not in Ireland yet you can hardly blame An Post, it will be scanned when they receive it but hey blame them anyway with no evidence :rolleyes:

Moonbeam

we got a parcel from Ireland via a courier service and it took 3 days. We still have not got letters posted via An Post in March.

ladyella

We're waiting on a card from Canada about 7 weeks now. My mam just today tried to post a package (large padded envelope) to my brother in Vancouver and was told by the post office that Canada are not accepting international mail and to call every so often to see when she can post it to him

JustAThought

I got a package through to the US and it arrived after the Trump embargo on human travel from Ireland but dunno about since then.

brimeh

The package I have coming from the US left Los Angeles on March 25th and tracking has shown that it moved through Chicago May 3rd so would be safe to assume its a foreign postal service issue as I'm still receiving things I order via An Post.

martingkenny

Two of my friends told me today that they tried to post mail TO Ireland last week and were told sorry Ireland are not accepting international mail at the moment from their countries.
My friends live in Brasil & USA!
Seems like we are being told one thing by one person and something else by another.
What I do know for sure is the only way to send international mail at the moment and be sure it will be delivered and on time is via a private courier company.

Panrich

I have one item that is showing as arrived in Dublin at 9:25am on April 22nd from China and hasn’t budged since.

long_b

Had two parcels that hit Ireland at the start of April delivered last week.

TragicJohnson

I've received parcels from Sweden, Holland, Belgium and the UK over the past 4 weeks. Maybe I'm lucky that I've experienced no issues.

un5byh7sqpd2x0

TragicJohnson wrote: »

I've received parcels from Sweden, Holland, Belgium and the UK over the past 4 weeks. Maybe I'm lucky that I've experienced no issues.

All from the EU/UK. Anything that comes through customs looks to be blocked.

1o059k7ewrqj3n

I was waiting a month on a package from France (video equipment). The tracking told me it had supposedly left the country of origin - was stuck on that until Monday night.

Stuff is getting through. Other postal networks are curtailing their output or focusing on other deliveries.

enniscorthy

Anybody get anything from America yet

walshtipp

enniscorthy wrote: »

Anybody get anything from America yet

Had a parcel from the US scanned into Dublin on the first of May. Still no sign of it.

silver2020

walshtipp wrote: »

Had a parcel from the US scanned into Dublin on the first of May. Still no sign of it.

Unlikely that it was scanned into Dublin. It scans on the US side that it is in Dublin whereas in reality its in a warehouse in the airport waiting for space on a flight. In a normal situation its in Dublin a few hours after the scan but because there are so few flights, airmail is now snailmail

Currently there's over 2 weeks backlog on standard airmail items from the US into many European countries.

Within Ireland An Post have very few delays - You're talking a day here and there and once an item arrives into their hub, you have it the next day or so.

martingkenny

Shiloh Tight Hog wrote: »

All from the EU/UK. Anything that comes through customs looks to be blocked.

I'm still waiting on my non-EU packages, it over 2 months now and some of the sellers have already agreeded to refund my money at this stage.
Looks like they're all dead in the water unfortunately.

silver2020

here's the an post update. The original document is from 5th May. This update was from last Thursday. You can assume the same issues arise for items sent from those countries.


On top of that you are dependent on space being available on aircraft.

brimeh

My package ordered on 20th March showed multiple moves through the US in early April and early May, tracking info was all reset 20th May and left Chicago yesterday, moved through Dublin airport today. Fingers crossed for Monday!

NSAman

Here US based. We send parcels internationally with USPS mostly.

so far we have had issues with Ireland..... delay was so long we had to send it FedEx.

Chile (no postal options... only FedEx) same for India currently.

Germany no issues, France a little slower than usual but ok. Big issues were Greece (took four weeks stuck in Germany) UK (took three weeks stuck in England) Most of Europe is slower.

I was surprised at Ireland. We sent another package UPS and it was 24 hour delivery that took 6 days... seems as if customs are holding things up.

silver2020

NSAman wrote: »

Here US based. We send parcels internationally with USPS mostly.

so far we have had issues with Ireland..... delay was so long we had to send it FedEx.

Chile (no postal options... only FedEx) same for India currently.

Germany no issues, France a little slower than usual but ok. Big issues were Greece (took four weeks stuck in Germany) UK (took three weeks stuck in England) Most of Europe is slower.

I was surprised at Ireland. We sent another package UPS and it was 24 hour delivery that took 6 days... seems as if customs are holding things up.

Nope. There are plenty of cargo flights from US to Germany where DHL operate the postal system. So all German bound mail goes on the DHL cargo planes.

France is similar in that it is operated by a large international group that includes DPD and has it own air express cargo planes

UK and Ireland post goes on commercial flights as does most post for other european countries.

As these flights are few and far between compared to normal schedule, all cargo has to go in a queuing system stateside until space become available. At present there are millions of mail items in airport hangars waiting on space.

Regular letters will get priority as they take up little space.

Large parcels will take the longest time.

I'm surprised the USPS is not using ocean freight to transport the backlog as there's good space available on them and transit time is 7-12 days from NY to Europe.

Where I work we are now using UPS for all documentation / samples etc between US, UK, Ireland. Taking 3-5 days (up for the normal 2-3 days).


edit - I see USPS has been using ocean freight to clear a massive backlog
https://about.usps.com/newsroom/service-alerts/pdf/alternate-transport-air-to-sea.pdf

Moonbeam

we got our letter sent in March from Ireland but still waiting on a card send at the start of April. We posted letter last week to Ireland and NI, it will be interesting to see how long they take to get there (Norway)

Sam Hain

I am waiting on an item, small envelope/parcel shipped from the America by USPS (using First-Class Package International Service) on April 27th. It arrived in Dublin May 17th and the staus has been: Your item departed a transfer airport in DUBLIN, IRELAND on May 17, 2020 at 3:23 pm. The item is currently in transit to the destination. No more info after that and it hasnt been delivered.
In contrast fedex parcel stanard mail , roughly the same size from America was shipped on May 24th and arrived May 27th.

Bombaby1974

Had a package sent from UK and going to Northern Ireland to DPD Parcel Wizard.
Handed into the UK Post Office on 18th April and according to the Tracker it just says "We've got it". More information will become available once delivery has been attempted.

I would imagine that means it hasn't left the UK yet so either its lost/stolen or there's massive delays on their side too.

martingkenny

I spoke to my local Postman today and asked him were An Post receiving mail direct from China and he said they are now only starting to process mail from China that arrived in Ireland in March!!

marklazarcovic

martingkenny wrote: »

I spoke to my local Postman today and asked him were An Post receiving mail direct from China and he said they are now only starting to process mail from China that arrived in Ireland in March!!

It started 5 weeks ago,not only now,when restrictions were high,and staff movements restricted indoors .. not miracle workers, also,any mail or parcels sent from another country aren't with 'an post' till they reach here..I mean,common sense people.

Yes there are delays,with every courier in the world.

brimeh

Sam Hain wrote: »

I am waiting on an item, small envelope/parcel shipped from the America by USPS (using First-Class Package International Service) on April 27th. It arrived in Dublin May 17th and the staus has been: Your item departed a transfer airport in DUBLIN, IRELAND on May 17, 2020 at 3:23 pm. The item is currently in transit to the destination. No more info after that and it hasnt been delivered.
In contrast fedex parcel stanard mail , roughly the same size from America was shipped on May 24th and arrived May 27th.

Had similar. I figure it is in a 'queue' for customs as mine changed after 6 days to 'Customs clearance' and then supposedly left customs 2 days later (today).

silver2020

Sam Hain wrote: »

In contrast fedex parcel stanard mail , roughly the same size from America was shipped on May 24th and arrived May 27th.

Fedex have their own cargo planes and also charge substantially more than USPS even for their expedited/economy service.

A 2kg "standard rate" small packet shipment, even with 40% corporate discount is over $90