An enquiry of my Aussie colleagues.
Is anyone having problems with mail from UK? We have been used to getting deliveries within 7 to 10 days, but I now have orders which were confirmed as sent by reputable suppliers over 3 weeks ago, and nothing has arrived! :confused2:
I haven't done any orders of late, but I'm still waiting of my copy of the NGSJ #2/2020
I can't speak for Australia, but globally there are far fewer flying machines winging their way from A to B, which is definitely impacting international postal services.
The latest NGS journal arrived here in Japan only slightly later than expected, but it scraped in just before UK/Japan flights were slashed to a minimum. I am currently aware of four items which are theoretically on the way from the UK to me and which would normally have arrived in 3 ~ 10 days max (letters always faster than parcels) but now all are well "overdue".
I'm still waiting on an order from Hattons despatched on 20 March ie 31 days ago, rather than the usual 8-12 days. My Australia online orders are also badly affected - a tracked package from a Melbourne model shop has just taken 14 days to reach me.
I assume there must now be a mountain of mail in transit which will increase the odds of something going astray. So I've stopped ordering anything online that's not urgent.
Still anxiously waiting on a delivery from Revolution which according to my account was marked as complete around 14th March.
Still waiting on the latest NGS mag 2/20
Still waiting on a delivery from YouChoos ordered shipped 25th March
Still waiting on a delivery from Rails shipped on 26th March
HOWEVER a shipment from DCC Supplies shipped on 28th March arrived mid last week, ironically I cant use the parts in this order until the order from YouChoos arrives.
There was a bit on the news this evening about the large backlog of parcels in Australia Post, maybe they could employ a few more people to help shift them, given all the poor people who have been put out of work by this blasted virus.
We paid for express shipping between 2 Melbourne suburbs for the youngest granddaughter's birthday and it still took 11days instead of the normal 2 for a parcel. Perhaps I should have broken the stay at home rule and delivered it.
Rant over.
Stay safe everyone.
Graham
Quote from: Graham on April 20, 2020, 10:33:53 AM
Still anxiously waiting on a delivery from Revolution which according to my account was marked as complete around 14th March.
So not Oz, but my HOA order was marked complete around the same date and no sign of them yet.
I ordered a DRS bookazine about the same time and that just showed up.
My RM for April arrived this past weekend.
I'm just working on the assumption that, as @railsquid (https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?action=profile;u=3832) says, less flights means mail delays.
Regards,
John P
FWIW the "Royal" Mail has a brief country-by-country overview: https://personal.help.royalmail.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5317/~/international-incident-bulletin
No indication there as to how long the UK-Oz delays are. Hatton's don't seem to know either.
Even if/when parcels arrive in Australia, it looks like they just get caught up in the huge local parcel backlog. Australia Post have announced today that they are reducing letter deliveries to every second day so that they can redeploy 2,000 posties to the parcel delivery service. :worried:
Normally quick but not at the moment. As others above have said, I'm still waiting on my NGS journal and some orders from hattons
As is customary, my parcel turned up the day after I contacted Hatton's about the delay. So that's 33 days after despatch.
Let's hope I don't need to return it like the previous Dapol loco they sold me.
Incidentally Hatton's told me that the waiting period for a non-delivery claim is still 25 working days, but I thought it rather unfair to make one so soon given the current situation.
Quote from: railsquid on April 22, 2020, 03:46:58 AM
FWIW the "Royal" Mail has a brief country-by-country overview: https://personal.help.royalmail.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5317/~/international-incident-bulletin
Thanks, that's more information about the USPS than you get on the USPS website :doh:
John P
Even in the UK the postal system (despite the best efforts of all involved) is being severely strained.
Anything going by air is heavily delayed (and at an absolute premium price) - dedicated cargo flights only provide a portion of total air cargo as a lot goes in regular flights which are nearly all suspended.
Even when things get to destination country I get the impression from some reports that matters are incredibly variable.
Cheers Mike
Royal Mail is a pile of crap at present. Our regular postie has been really good but I had to give him supplies of gloves (a good thing us modelers are well prepared with masks and gloves) as Royal Mail hasn't bothered to do anything for their workforce. In fact, as part of Royal Mail's silly 'social distancing' they have made their posties travel on public buses with their loads. Our postie has told us that the sorting offices have had a lot of 'sickies', some legit but some not. The coronavirus does indeed live on paper and cardboard for longer periods of time than many materials.
In our area - London - the mail has been hit and miss, with more miss than hit. Our mail deliveries have been less and less frequent. I had a package sent from the US to me on 21 March with commercial samples. Yet, only late last night Royal Mail found it at Heathrow....and to add to that long delay, UK customs has the balls to charge me £29 quid on the package, which should be subject to any VAT/Duty! Of course, £8 of that is Royal Mail's own 'handling fee' that they extort from anyone daring to ship things from overseas!
Sorry but Royal Mail is just a disgrace as a provider. Our local postie is a good guy who does his best but the company doesn't deserve any 'Royal' title. Now I have to argue with UK customs over their blatant stupidity being not able or willing to read a customs declaration. UK Customs and Royal Mail won't stop the massive flow of narcotics coming into the UK via the mail but they are happy to charge irrelevant fees on customers!
As for Oz, I have had an order for model kits coming out of BNA Modelworld that according to Royal Mail has been in limbo since 23 March. Let's hope they don't lose it...
Sorry, rant over...
As stated, fewer planes are indeed flying and some countries have closed off their borders. So yes, some things are clearly going wrong.
Service is oddly variable within the UK, but something i had shipped from China was actually extremely quick once it got here, and I've had other things sent from Europe at a normal speed. Meanwhile a loco posted last Tuesday remains MIA, annoying too as it was split from a set and not normally available! ::)
[mod]
This thread is to discuss the effects of the current situation on the international postal system.
I have removed a couple of posts which are not related to the purpose of this thread, and removed non-relevant parts of a couple of others.
This is a model railway forum; there are plenty of other places available to discuss the current situation in depth. Thanks.
[/mod]
Thanks to @railsquid (https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?action=profile;u=3832) . Amended post . There is going to be delay and my post person is cheerful, sings wishes people well. I am waiting for items , we just have to be patient given the current situation. My brother is in taiwan, where he is not receiving mail from outside of that country, so the way forward for his birthday is emails and cards and he says that works well for us.
It's certainly taking much longer than usual; I had one from Hattons in 30 days (to Adelaide), and am still waiting for one from Rails which hits 30 days tomorrow. However, I got a package from Casula Hobbies in Sydney in 4 days, about standard; so I suspect that at least some of the delay is down to the lost capacity in airfreight for mail which is caused by the effective cessation of passenger flights.
update to the below.
Quote from: Graham on April 20, 2020, 10:33:53 AM
Still anxiously waiting on a delivery from Revolution which according to my account was marked as complete around 14th March.
Still waiting on the latest NGS mag 2/20
Still waiting on a delivery from YouChoos ordered shipped 25th March ARRIVED, Hooray.
Still waiting on a delivery from Rails shipped on 26th March
HOWEVER a shipment from DCC Supplies shipped on 28th March arrived mid last week, ironically I cant use the parts in this order until the order from YouChoos arrives.
With the arrival from YouChoos, I can now tackle my first decoder installation on a Poole era Loco. Should be interesting, not sure where i am going to put the decoder yet.
stay safe
Cheers
Graham
In the loco might be a wise move ;D ;)
I haven't received my NGSJ yet, either, Graham.
Good to hear you got the decoder. I'm sure many of our DCC fraternity will be interested in your endeavours. :thumbsup:
The loco will be the first one I ever got back in the early 80's when I first got into the hobby. It was 2nd hand then so not quite sure how old it actually is. I will be researching here, on YouTube and anywhere else I can find before I start.
Given you normally get the NGSJ a few days before me I guess I still have some waiting to do.
Kato car transporters from Japan - 17 days
Telescope from the Isle of Man - 2 days
Chainsaw oil from Darlington - 9 days
Basque from China - 28 days :goggleeyes:
I think they're all doing a remarkable job given the current situation :thumbsup:
(https://img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/BB12V1q9.img?h=315&w=600&m=6&q=60&o=t&l=f&f=jpg)
Will you wear the basque when modelling...?
Pictures please ( in plain brown email)
I think I may get banned from the forum if I post a picture like that. Then again, as you're a moderator, maybe not....................
Quote from: Bealman on April 27, 2020, 09:53:51 AM
In the loco might be a wise move ;D ;)
I haven't received my NGSJ yet, either, Graham.
Good to hear you got the decoder. I'm sure many of our DCC fraternity will be interested in your endeavours. :thumbsup:
Well i got the loco chipped, and determined the best place to put the decoder was in the tender. Given the flexibility of the wires on the Zimo decoders this has worked a treat. I just followed the instructions from the guys at DCC Supplies using one of their DiGihat conversion kits at the recommendation of John from YouChoos where i get all my decoders from and i just have to configure the CV's to get it running a bit smoother.
https://www.dccsupplies.com/item-p-100525/digi-hat-the-easy-way-to-convert-graham-farish.htm (https://www.dccsupplies.com/item-p-100525/digi-hat-the-easy-way-to-convert-graham-farish.htm)
I have a number of loco's from this era and was considering selling them rather than going to the effort of chipping them. Given the lockdown and lots of time on my hands has proven to be a boon.
Quote from: Railwaygun on April 29, 2020, 06:56:03 PM
Will you wear the basque when modelling...?
Pictures please ( in plain brown email)
I ordered a Basque once, and my home got raided by the Spanish counter-terrorism police.
Meanwhile, of the 3 books I ordered from the UK at the start of April, and which were sent out separately because whatever, one arrived a couple of days ago, two still presumably in transit.
I don't want to hijack this thread, but @Graham (https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?action=profile;u=1058) I'm crying out to know what the loco is!!
No problem George, here you go.
I bought this Duchess from a chap named Trevor Carlisle when i first joined the N. Beds N Gauge group, his daughter and mine were at school together and she told me he had a train set. I asked to see it and got asked to come to the club as they needed someone to do some wiring for the club layout. Needless to say that was almost 40yrs ago and i am still playing with N Gauge.
cheers
Graham
Its a bit worse for wear, but that is part of the charm. It is Farish with metal gears. The coaches were bought at the same time.
Plucked from letterbox, about half an hour ago:
(https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/gallery/92/255-060520042024-926521268.jpeg)
Sadly mine's still AWOL. However I have now downloaded the PDF. Thank you, NGS! :NGaugersRule:
That gives me hope, i normally receive it a few days after you George.
Although i did download the pdf this morning so will hold off reading that for a few days now.
Hopefully the shipments from Revolution and Rails will arrive shortly as well.
Stuart & Graham:
If mine's here, yours shouldn't be far away. :thumbsup:
I did receive a parcel from FMR yesterday, dispatched on 15th April. Hopefully the one sent by Hattons on the same day will be here soon.
:uneasy:
Still waiting for the delivery from Rails; 40 days tomorrow. In the days when most things came by sea, that is more than 50 years ago, it used to take about 6 weeks.....
If it is any indication we had a couple of our customers in the UK tell us that they had received things from us that we had sent 3-4 weeks previously yet others are getting stuff in 1-2 days. Certainly in the UK things seem to be very variable.
Quote from: Stuart Down Under on May 06, 2020, 04:50:58 AM
I did receive a parcel from FMR yesterday, dispatched on 15th April. Hopefully the one sent by Hattons on the same day will be here soon.
:uneasy:
...and hopefully it has served the compulsory 14 day international arrival quarantine!
:D
Uk international post is most definitely messed up, ordered a load of pcb from China late sunday/,early monday, not in any hurry so used the slow boat shipping option, not expecting to see them for at least 2-3 weeks.They turned up this morning.
And another update to the list.
Now VERY VERY anxiously waiting on a delivery from Revolution which according to my account was marked as complete around 14th March.
NO LONGER waiting on the latest NGS mag - arrived finally today, only 12 days after your George - hooray.
NO LONGER waiting on a delivery from YouChoos ordered shipped 25th March
Now anxiously waiting on a delivery from Rails shipped on 26th March
NO LONGER waiting on a shipment from DCC Supplies
stay safe
Cheers
Graham
[/quote]
I think Ben mentioned somewhere that his local PO wasn't accepting some international deliveries at the moment, so orders will have been packed (and marked as despatched when they're taken to the PO) - I could be wrong. All the HOAs are coming from Ben so best to check with him.
I know it has nowt to do with Australia, but just confirming how strange the mails are these days. I had a parcel to send to America the other day. On checking the An Post website, no parcels were being accepted for posting to America from Ireland, yet packets and letters were. So I found a suitable sized box and just managed to get it accepted as a Packet. I presume parcels would travel on the same airplane as other mail.
thanks Mike @red_death (https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?action=profile;u=246) , I did send a message to your info@revolution email address asking if this could be confirmed but heard nothing back after almost 2 weeks. I understand you have other jobs and this is only part time so haven't chased again as yet.
Sorry guys jumping on this thread, i did e mail info@revolution last week re issue with my HOA order received and no reply, so just wondering if theres an issue with that e mail, possibly down?
But Mike has mentioned above that Ben was dealing with the HOAs so I'll PM him.
Ron
Hopefully penultimate update to the list.
Still VERY VERY anxiously waiting on a delivery from Revolution which according to my account was marked as complete around 14th March.
NO LONGER waiting on the latest NGS mag - arrived finally today, only 12 days after your George - hooray.
NO LONGER waiting on a delivery from YouChoos ordered shipped 25th March
NO LONGER anxiously waiting on a delivery from Rails shipped on 26th March, Rails sent tracking number, checked on RM, left UK on 28th April, arrived here 22nd May. HOOOORAAAAY
NO LONGER waiting on a shipment from DCC Supplies
stay safe
Cheers
Graham
Still waiting for one of three books order from the UK at the end of March on the same day, all dispatched separately.
One bi-weekly magazine I get from the UK is arriving at random intervals and completely out of order (edition from start of April arrived earlier this week).
A Hattons order just arrived after 41 days, but I've been waiting over 50 days for two other UK deliveries.
And on it goes;
- Hatton's order; sent 16th April, not arrived.
- Osborn's order; sent 22nd April, not arrived.
- Hatton's order; sent 5th May, not arrived.
And still no N Gauge Journal No.2 - No.3 dispatches today!!
:confused2:
If you don't get your copy, Stuart, drop them an email. One of mine went missing in the mail last year, and I had a new one in the mail barely a fortnight later. :thumbsup:
Yes, they could include a replacement copy with the latest issue so that we can read both 45 days from now.
Frankly it's high time that NGS made the journal available online as most other clubs do. No more postal delays, a valuable archive of back issues and they'd save a fortune in postage.
Quote from: longbow on May 22, 2020, 09:28:40 AM
Frankly it's high time that NGS made the journal available online as most other clubs do. No more postal delays, a valuable archive of back issues and they'd save a fortune in postage.
Thanks to this problem, I believe that the Society is now planning to offer the Journal on line from this episode!
:NGaugersRule:
If the magazine is available as an on-line down load, will it still be available to us if we stop subscribing ? A hard copy filed away is available after we stop subscribing so the downloaded version should be as well in my opinion. Sadly this is not the case with all publications, e.g. Railway Modeller. Just my opinion !
The 2mm Association has its magazines dating back to 2017 available online to members, and offers a digital-only subscription at a significantly reduced rate to those overseas (what a sensible idea!). So I can read new issues in Oz before most UK members receive it.
MERG's online magazine archive goes back to 1997.
The Scalefour Society has copies of all its magazines available online, as does the Gauge O Guild (going back to 1956!). The latter's archive is also fully indexed and searchable - an invaluable resource when you are looking for a particular topic.
All these clubs allow you to download and save back issues, so you would not lose access to them if you cease to be a member.
It's high time the NGS followed suit.
Back on topic - with delays in mind I spent a little more to have a parcel sent by Royal Mail international tracked. It was posted on Thursday and it left the UK on Friday, so perhaps things are improving.
You might find the problem is at this end; my last package from Rails (which took 48 days) had obviously been opened before it arrived here, and had a "passed by biosecurity" adhesive label attached. I suspect there might be quite a backlog while they are checking things coming in from OS.
Final update to the list.
NO LONGER waiting on a delivery from Revolution which according to my account was marked as complete around 14th March. Parcel still sitting with Revolution awaiting acceptance by RM. Great news to have certainty over the whereabouts of my HOA's. Thanks Ben and Mike for following up.
NO LONGER waiting on the latest NGS mag - arrived finally today, only 12 days after your George - hooray.
NO LONGER waiting on a delivery from YouChoos ordered shipped 25th March
NO LONGER anxiously waiting on a delivery from Rails shipped on 26th March, Rails sent tracking number, checked on RM, left UK on 28th April, arrived here 22nd May. HOOOORAAAAY, checked yesterday with issues more on the Class 70 thread.
NO LONGER waiting on a shipment from DCC Supplies
stay safe
Cheers
Graham
[/quote]
Almost there, mate! :thumbsup:
thanks for the good wishes, trouble is i have gone and placed more orders, still they are only small packages so shouldn't get too delayed.
Update - DCC Supplies small parcel just arrived from the UK after 58 days. The next due has been in transit 57 days.
My order from Osborns came today - 37 days, Royal Mail "Priority"! :hmmm:
have 2 new ones outstanding now, but as they were only posted within the last 10 days not worrying too much.
My Carona issue of VIZ arrived on time ;)
Waiting on:
- Two orders from Rails - one shipped late April, the other being processed (stock ordered on request)
- NGS Journal 02-20
- NGS Journal 03-20 - but that won't have left the UK just yet I suspect
I've had the following arrive:
- One order from Rails - posted March and arrived mid-May. It looks like it got put on a plane from the UK in March and returned to the UK about a month later according to the Royal Mail tracking!
- One order from Hattons
- One order from Gaugemaster
- One order from In the Greenwood Laser kits
So, I suppose it is a mixed bag for me.
things must be improving, just received an order which was placed on 20th May.
Two deliveries came on Monday. Both from Hattons. One ordered on 14th April (48 days) and the other on 3rd May (29 days). Only items now outstanding are N Gauge Society 2/20 and 3/20. Patience is a virtue...
:-\
The UK -> Japan route seems to have sorted itself out, I have now received all the post I'm expecting (including a book dispatched two months ago), and items posted last week have taken around the same time they would have pre-shutdown (including NGS 3/20).
Right, well as the pound has resumed its recently customary position gibbering atop Beachy Head, I have sneaked in an order from Hattons for the first time since forever, which is tempting fate and no doubt will herald a crash in global postal services.
:jawdropping: NGS Journal 2/20 arrived TODAY!! I think that is a mere 76 days since it was posted.
Quote from: JonHarbour on May 29, 2020, 08:57:30 AM
Waiting on:
- Two orders from Rails - one shipped late April, the other being processed (stock ordered on request)
- NGS Journal 02-20
- NGS Journal 03-20 - but that won't have left the UK just yet I suspect
I've had the following arrive:
- One order from Rails - posted March and arrived mid-May. It looks like it got put on a plane from the UK in March and returned to the UK about a month later according to the Royal Mail tracking!
- One order from Hattons
- One order from Gaugemaster
- One order from In the Greenwood Laser kits
So, I suppose it is a mixed bag for me.
**UPDATE**
One more order from Rails has arrived... so that leaves one other Rails order and NGS Journals 2/20 and 3/20.
My two latest deliveries took 2-3 weeks rather than a couple of months for the previous two. So things seem to be improving.
NGS Journal 2/20 arrived today! :claphappy:
One more Rails order to add and only NGS Journal 3/20 to come now!
It's strange, my NGSJ 2/20 arrived a few weeks ago.
Anyway, it's a good issue. Four articles from forum members! :thumbsup:
NGSJ 03/20 arrived yesterday, only outstanding shipment now is the HOA's from Revolution, and @Ben A (https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?action=profile;u=94) is waiting on his local post office to accept parcels.
Cool. My issue 3 shouldn't be long then. :thumbsup:
this must be a first, you normally get yours about a week before me.
Yes, everything is still a bit hit and miss, I reckon! :thumbsup:
Interested to see the gap between 02/20 and 03/20 for me!
Quote from: railsquid on June 03, 2020, 04:50:51 PM
Right, well as the pound has resumed its recently customary position gibbering atop Beachy Head, I have sneaked in an order from Hattons for the first time since forever, which is tempting fate and no doubt will herald a crash in global postal services.
Arrived today, so 9 days from date of order, which is about par for the course in normal times. Of course it arrived while no-one was at home, but because this is Japan I scanned in the QR code on the note, input a couple of details in to the form presented and 45 minutes later it arrived again :D
Now I just have to remember what it is I ordered :hmmm:
Hooray! Journal 3/20 here today. Nothing outstanding, so I think the service is pretty well back to normal.
:thumbsup:
i have had big differences between parcels.
A hattons order took two months, 2/20 only recently just arrived while a kernow order from june was less then a week
Yeah, still waiting for the latest NGSJ here.
Spoke too soon. It arrived today!
Might get a surprise when i get home from work then if you got yours today mate
Woo-hoo! NCS Journal 3/20 landed in my mailbox today. :claphappy:
They must have all come on the same banana boat ;)
so not fair!
Just rang home and got the better half to head out to the mail box.
No journal. :'(
Tomorrow for sure. :thumbsup:
Had an interesting delivery yesterday, back in post 4 of this thread I mentioned I was waiting on a delivery from Revolution. Through many posts I bemoaned the fact I was still waiting, well yesterday these little beauties turned up.
After many weeks where they were unable to be posted as RM was not taking parcels to finally being posted in early June when Ben was able to send me a tracking number. I religiously checked every morning for progress follow the RM website telling me it was prepared for export on 16th June. On Monday 6th July the RM website was still telling me the same. Miraculously as i mentioned above they made it to Melbourne in 24hrs, brilliant. Not sure how they did that, must have used one of those mythical hypersonic planes to make the delivery.
Regardless thanks to @Ben A (https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?action=profile;u=94) and @red_death (https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?action=profile;u=246) for another stunning model.
Just got a delivery from a nice model shop in Devon sent on my 21/7. Just over 2 weeks, pretty good I think.
Mark
Just been to the Post Office to send a parcel to Bruce Downunder in Oz. I could have 'Tracked' or 'Signed for' but not both.
If 'Tracked' then it is monitored to the town/city's distribution depot but no further.
If 'Signed for' then you have to wait and see if Bruce signs for his parcel, but if he doesn't then no one knows where the hell your parcel is as it's not been tracked.
How farcical is that?
Needless to say I went for the tracked option as, at least if Bruce doesn't get his parcel, we all know who last had it which, as it's insured anyway, struck me as best. :unimpressed:
Bruce lost his old British passport because it wasn't signed for when it was returned after getting the new one.
Bruce has no idea what happened to that.
Not from UK, but I have a small order of track coming from Japan. It has been shipped today via DHL Express Worldwide (quite expensive). Apparently the post service in Japan is not doing international parcels shipment?
Mark.
If DHL are handling it then Japan Post won't be involved.
Ok. So that was pretty quick from Japan. 4 days to Sydney via DHL over the weekend.
Mark
Quote from: Newportnobby on August 19, 2020, 12:07:47 PM
Just been to the Post Office to send a parcel to Bruce Downunder in Oz. I could have 'Tracked' or 'Signed for' but not both.
If 'Tracked' then it is monitored to the town/city's distribution depot but no further.
If 'Signed for' then you have to wait and see if Bruce signs for his parcel, but if he doesn't then no one knows where the hell your parcel is as it's not been tracked.
How farcical is that?
Needless to say I went for the tracked option as, at least if Bruce doesn't get his parcel, we all know who last had it which, as it's insured anyway, struck me as best. :unimpressed:
12 days from Lancashire in England to Wollongong in Oz. Not bad under Covid circumstances.
£20 and the package seems to have survived OK
Everything A-OKAY, even though I had to use a crowbar to open it ;)
Quote from: Bealman on September 01, 2020, 10:34:36 AM
even though I had to use a crowbar to open it ;)
I know exactly what you mean. I once received a parcel from Mick and finally got it open after my evening meal - I started opening it just before lunch. ;)
It's good, though. You know the contents are going to be intact. :thumbsup:
On ya, Mick! :beers: