Outgoing International Post delays

oneweb wrote: »

There's an option to set Dispatch time time on eBay listings - I had to change mine to the maximum of 30 Business Days. This way eBay won't/shouldn't let a buyer open an 'item not received case' too soon.

I almost had to give a €330 refund for an item I sold taking 6 weeks to get to The Netherlands Thank feck the buyer was incredibly patient and understanding, but I've had a couple of see-yous demand a refund probably in the know they'd get BOTH the refund and the item. Track and insure anything and everything of value!

Oh - I submitted an online missing post claim and got a letter back IN THE POST to say they were going to investigate :rolleyes:

Track and insured doesn’t always work. I sent a parcel I sold on eBay to the uk in February last year, so before covid. I paid extra to make sure it covered the full cost, 120 Euro. When I put a claim in at first I got a letter back saying they can’t compensate anything sent via standard post, even though it was tracked and insured and they gave me a book of stamps. It took them about 4 or 5 months to send this back. I stupidly thought I’d filled the online form in wrong so I did I again. In November I got the same template letter back with a book of stamps. I tried to contact them and got no where so have given up now and I’ve lost 120 euro, well 120 euro minus two books stamps.

Waiting 7 weeks now for a Christmas parcel to arrive into Mexico. Tracking number shows nothing after they accepted It from me, no response to my many emails.

Absolute joke. Use any alternative service in future guys!!

Small parcel sent to Spain on 11th December finally arrived today! Assumed it had been lost in the post at this stage. Only took 2 months to be delivered :rolleyes:

Sent a package to a friend in Romania, it left the An Post handling centre in Heathrow 3rd of February, still no update.

Romanian post don't have it yet either.

Quoted 3-5 day delivery, and now told 16-21 work days before I can even file a complaint.

I think there is multiple reasons for valid delays

1) Most countries are on lockdown and amount of post is higher than they can handle

2) Brexit/customs is causing backlogs separate to an post with possibly a month delay. Some customs happens in an post sorting centres

3) Lack of flights for international shipments, so they go by road instead through multiple countries.

4) Tracking updates needs a physical person to scan the package for an update and that might not happen due to backlog. On some international routes the package may not be scanned at all from first scan at departing country until scanned after delays and customs in destination country.

A week within Ireland for packages is common at the moment.
A month from UK is common
Even longer for international road is common with no tracking updates.

Even DHL cheap from Germany goes by road via UK with no tracking updates until processed in Ireland. Many courier companies hand over to an post for final delivery on the cheaper items. If your customs paperwork is not 100% complete you enter a whole new backlogged system.

An post have hired or bought extra vans to try handle the extra package shipments, they are delivering in Saturdays and Sundays and they are doing what they can. We can't assume we are living in normal times. An post had slow delivery times before the pandemic.

VG31 wrote: »

It's best to ignore An Post's quoted delivery times. They are completely inaccurate. It says 5-7 days to Australia on the An Post site!

Even before covid the estimates were too low.

Seems so, I sent a package with FedEX International Priority, and it left Friday, arrived in Singapore Saturday; but still there.

Quoted delivery was today to Australia; doubt it'll happen.

wozniattack wrote: »

Seems so, I sent a package with FedEX International Priority, and it left Friday, arrived in Singapore Saturday; but still there.

Quoted delivery was today to Australia; doubt it'll happen.

Compare the price!

FedEx have their own cargo planes. They don't use passenger planes. So once airports are open, they should not have delays. That's the service they offer and charge accordingly.


Standard national postal systems worldwide use passenger flights to move post. An item can show that it has left, but in reality it has just been put in the waiting area until space is available.


And it's not just post. I need to bring a small shipment from China of about 150kg. In 2019 it took 6 days and cost less than €500 for a near identical shipment

I've been told that it will be three weeks before there's any cargo space and the cost will be almost €1800!!!

It is what it is. Expect weeks of delays unless you pay the FedEx/ups premium rates

For the sake of comparison: received this morning in France a Christmas present from my mother - posted (and postmarked) in Dublin on 2nd December! Funny thing is she posted two on the same day (keeping the weight under 2kg); the other one arrived on the 28th Dec.

From all the reports on here, I'm convinced it's 98% an An Post problem - my deliveries from within France and other European countries are arriving as expected.

Darc19 wrote: »

It is what it is. Expect weeks of delays unless you pay the FedEx/ups premium rates

Well I paid through the nose, including their fuel surcharge, and no delivery that was no later than 16th Feb is now Estimated earliest 23rd Feb.

Delays all over the place.

cshk99 wrote: »

Anyone post a parcel to Germany recently? Have shipping times returned to normal?

An Post showing 2-3 working days but not sure if that's reliable

Still 2-3 weeks it seems.

Posted a small packet to address in England recently, took about 10 mins paperwork in local PO. Postmaster says it'll be mayhem next Christmas with long waiting queues. An Post have no campaign to advise the public of this new regime. However you can avoid to some extent by buying a postage label online. You still have to fill in the details and have a printer but.. best of a bad lot.

You should check the ecommerce hub if you are doing any decent volume. Even a small amount of 30-40 a week will entitle you to an account.

Once that's set-up, you can print labels on any type of printer including a standard 6"x4" thermal label printer.

Its also easy to get A4 sheets of labels with 2/4 labels on them. Simply re-size the print settings. I use a4 sheets with 2 labels for some personal packages I send to the USA and Turkey. I simply turn the page around to print the next label

I posted an item on Sept 20th from Dublin to Germany. I registered the item and it cost €27.50. There was zero update on the tracking website until yesterday when it said it had only arrived in the mail centre in Dublin 12!!! 2 weeks to move from one part of Dublin to another....

I then rang the customer service number and waited 40 mins to speak to someone who simply said fill in a M58 form online which deals with delays.

It is a mess at the moment and very disappointing from the national postal provider

How long does it normally take for An Post to post to UK, posted 27th Sep.