Hoppy T. Frog Posted February 8, 2011 Report Share Posted February 8, 2011 For years, I have been buying from e-commerce sites in the UK. I can't even remember a time when an airmail package took more than 8-10 days to arrive at my door from Blighty. I have a couple orders from Presto Classical, from whom I have purchased in the past and received the same speedy package delivery time, that have been taking nearly a month. I received shipping confirmations (alas no tracking number). I have contacted their customer service and they tell me that airmail packages from the UK are being held up for significant periods of time, due to the mail bomb scare of a few months back. They didn't say whether the hold up is in the UK or here in the US. The USPS website seems to indicate that there are new "temporary" procedures for screening, but do not make an announcement about what to expect regarding delays, etc. Do any of you smart guys have any insight on this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leeway Posted February 8, 2011 Report Share Posted February 8, 2011 In the last quarter of 2010 I ordered CDs from England and they arrived within 10 days. In December I ordered a book through Amazon USA from an English z-shop seller. Book arrived 45 days later. Seller and I figured it had been lost. Arrived in nice shape but clearly spent a lot of time in transit. Yes, I do believe seller shipped promptly, as I got amazon shipping notice . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Head Man Posted February 8, 2011 Report Share Posted February 8, 2011 For years, I have been buying from e-commerce sites in the UK. I can't even remember a time when an airmail package took more than 8-10 days to arrive at my door from Blighty. I have a couple orders from Presto Classical, from whom I have purchased in the past and received the same speedy package delivery time, that have been taking nearly a month. I received shipping confirmations (alas no tracking number). I have contacted their customer service and they tell me that airmail packages from the UK are being held up for significant periods of time, due to the mail bomb scare of a few months back. They didn't say whether the hold up is in the UK or here in the US. The USPS website seems to indicate that there are new "temporary" procedures for screening, but do not make an announcement about what to expect regarding delays, etc. Do any of you smart guys have any insight on this? I'm no 'smart guy' but I'm finding that packages from the US to the UK are taking much longer than usual at the moment. Plus, when they do arrive there is often an excess charge to pay, something that very rarely happened to me in the past. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllenLowe Posted February 8, 2011 Report Share Posted February 8, 2011 (edited) I dunno, the whole mail system is having trouble - 2 packages of things I sold in December were lost in the mail - in 15 years of shipping stuff this never happened - and these were sent first class domestic USPS. Edited February 8, 2011 by AllenLowe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnS Posted February 8, 2011 Report Share Posted February 8, 2011 I'm an ex-Royal Mail manager. There may well be extra screening on packets to and from the UK for security reasons, but I doubt this would add more than three or four days to the usual 7-10 days transmission times. Also remember that many packages from the US are sent bulk air frieght for economy reasons to a European distributor (could be anywhere, Holland, Germany, Scandinavia) where they are then put in the local post. This can add a week or so to transmission times. I imagine the same goes for packages to the US. The only excess charge should be customs duty. Always best to make sure your order value falls into the free of duty range. Not sure what this is now, used to be £18.00 although many items are not charged you can never be certain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Nessa Posted February 8, 2011 Report Share Posted February 8, 2011 On Jan 27 I ordered from an Amazon merchant in the UK and received the following email: Charles Thanks for your order which has shipped. Please be patient your end because since Nov. 2010 USA Homeland Security Department’s latest anti-terrorist requirements on international mail have sometimes delayed UK air mail into the USA by up to a month or longer – all the UK shippers I know are now experiencing late deliveries by USPS, air mail arrives in the USA then, I have been told, sometimes sits for a while in a bomb-proof container someplace before being handed over to the US post office for delivery. Most air mail from the UK to the USA came on passenger aircraft in 5-7 days on average, currently it has to travel on cargo planes. The Royal Mail website states: http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/c...800088#1600085 “North America (USA & Canada) USA Start date: 18th November End date: Ongoing Since November 2010, the United States Department of Homeland Security has increased security measures for items carried on passenger airlines. As a result, mail entering the US from around the world, and including the UK, that would normally be sent via passenger aircraft must now travel by other means, including ships and cargo planes. This is resulting in an extension to transit times.” We're sorry if your package gets delayed, but this is outside our control. Kind regards, Nigel The package was delivered on Feb 1. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colinmce Posted February 8, 2011 Report Share Posted February 8, 2011 I'm currently on day 15 waiting for the Oscar Peterson Mosaic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.A.W. Posted February 8, 2011 Report Share Posted February 8, 2011 I'm an ex-Royal Mail manager. There may well be extra screening on packets to and from the UK for security reasons, but I doubt this would add more than three or four days to the usual 7-10 days transmission times. Also remember that many packages from the US are sent bulk air frieght for economy reasons to a European distributor (could be anywhere, Holland, Germany, Scandinavia) where they are then put in the local post. This can add a week or so to transmission times. I imagine the same goes for packages to the US. Make that 11+ weeks... Just received a small packet with 1 CD (!) from the United States that was mailed (airmail) on November 26 last year and delivered by a private carrier. A delivery time of 2½ months, it's a disgrace. Another small packet from the same sender that was mailed on December 28 also arrived today, delivered by the same carrier... That one took 6 weeks... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed S Posted February 8, 2011 Report Share Posted February 8, 2011 Day 13 for me. At least I now know that I'm not the only one experiencing delays. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Kart Posted February 8, 2011 Report Share Posted February 8, 2011 I'm still waiting on a UK order I placed through Amazon on Dec. 21 and got the same e-mail Chuck did when I asked the seller about this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Head Man Posted February 8, 2011 Report Share Posted February 8, 2011 The only excess charge should be customs duty. Always best to make sure your order value falls into the free of duty range. Not sure what this is now, used to be £18.00 although many items are not charged you can never be certain. I ordered two CDs which together fell below the minimum limit of £18 but when shipping was added they fell very slightly above. I was charged something like £4 for VAT and then another charge of over £8 for collection! Therefore on two CDs I paid an additional £12. In future I will ask for them to sent individually, even if the shipping charge might be slightly dearer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidewinder Posted February 8, 2011 Report Share Posted February 8, 2011 A bit of a delay with a CD received from the US over Xmas (ironically it was a UK import ) but stuff seems to be getting through OK, albeit with some delay. Could the brutal December weather also have impacted things? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Beat Steve Posted February 8, 2011 Report Share Posted February 8, 2011 Just a comment and/or confirmation of recent shipping mishaps from the u.K. but in a different direction, i.e. from the UK to mainland Europe (Germany): Just before New Year's Eve I received confirmation about shipping of two CD orders from the U.K., one from an Amazon seller, one from the online shop of a small CD reissuer. The postmarks later confirmed they actually went to post around that time but both shippings took uncommonly long. The one from the Amazon seller arrived after about 10 to 12 days whereas the other one actually was overtaken by ANOTHER shipping from the same reissuing company postmarked on 10 January which arrived within 2 or 3 days (as it commonly is the case). But my shipping of 31 Dec. did not get here until 17 or 18 January (annoying since 2 of the CDs it contained were supposed to be birthday gifts for a friend whose birthday party had been on 14 January). Incidentally, this particular seller confirmed to me that a lot of their recent shippings had taken exceedingly long from then UK throughout Europe. In short, something clearly was amiss in a BIG way inside the not-so-Royal Mail around the turn of the year! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnS Posted February 8, 2011 Report Share Posted February 8, 2011 (edited) The only excess charge should be customs duty. Always best to make sure your order value falls into the free of duty range. Not sure what this is now, used to be £18.00 although many items are not charged you can never be certain. I ordered two CDs which together fell below the minimum limit of £18 but when shipping was added they fell very slightly above. I was charged something like £4 for VAT and then another charge of over £8 for collection! Therefore on two CDs I paid an additional £12. In future I will ask for them to sent individually, even if the shipping charge might be slightly dearer. I'm sure that can't be right. If you feel strongly about it complain. On Jan 27 I ordered from an Amazon merchant in the UK and received the following email: Since November 2010, the United States Department of Homeland Security has increased security measures for items carried on passenger airlines. As a result, mail entering the US from around the world, and including the UK, that would normally be sent via passenger aircraft must now travel by other means, including ships and cargo planes. This is resulting in an extension to transit times. We're sorry if your package gets delayed, but this is outside our control. Kind regards, Nigel The package was delivered on Feb 1. Air mail packets going by ship. Now that's what I call service. Disgraceful. Edited February 8, 2011 by JohnS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Lark Ascending Posted February 8, 2011 Report Share Posted February 8, 2011 In short, something clearly was amiss in a BIG way inside the not-so-Royal Mail around the turn of the year! The completely unexpected snow in early Dec (way more than we are used to) backed up everything, including tons of Xmas presents and online Xmas orders. It took them until well after Xmas to deal with that. Things were taking nearly 2 week within the UK. The problems to the US more recently seem to have other reasons. Everything seems to be back to normal here now, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Beat Steve Posted February 8, 2011 Report Share Posted February 8, 2011 The completely unexpected snow in early Dec (way more than we are used to) backed up everything, including tons of Xmas presents and online Xmas orders ... Yeah, I think I see what you mean. Must have ended up something like this ... :lol: ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Kart Posted February 8, 2011 Report Share Posted February 8, 2011 Good thing this came up -- my Dec. 21 order arrived today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave James Posted February 9, 2011 Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 I ordered a cover for my new KIndle from an Amazon seller in England. That was on December 28th. I received a shipping notification several days later that established a delivery window of between January 26th and February 8th. Today is the 8th and there's still no sign of the package. I guess its comforting to know I'm not the only one in this boat, but it's still frustrating. Today I deleted some pretty nasty feedback I'd left on Amazon's website choosing instead to believe that the circumstances were beyond the control of the seller. I guess that remains to be seen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron S Posted February 9, 2011 Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 I've had several orders from UK sellers arrive in wildly varying times over the past couple of months. Some within a week or two, and one that just arrived almost 2 months after it was shipped! After over a month of waiting for that one, I notified the seller (MDT) that I hadn't received it, and they promptly sent out another copy. I received the reshipment within less than 2 weeks, and then the original shipment showed up a week or so after that! They told me to just keep both copies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllenLowe Posted February 9, 2011 Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 "I'm currently on day 15 waiting for the Oscar Peterson Mosaic." actually, I think legally there's now a waiting period on all Oscar Peterson compact discs - it was part of the last Brady bill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Lark Ascending Posted February 9, 2011 Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 The completely unexpected snow in early Dec (way more than we are used to) backed up everything, including tons of Xmas presents and online Xmas orders ... Yeah, I think I see what you mean. Must have ended up something like this ... :lol: ;) You Germans can do snow. We Brits go to pieces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Tapscott Posted February 9, 2011 Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 Shipping times from the U.S. to Canada (especially from the west coast of the U.S.) to middle Canada are taking an exceptionally long time. 3 weeks now waiting for a couple of orders from Worlds Records. From the Eastern part of the U.S. though, still near normal (7-10 days). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ted O'Reilly Posted February 9, 2011 Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 That's true, John. Maybe somebody could seize the opportunity, and open a street-front retail outlet that sold "jazz discs" of some description...call it, I don't know, maybe: "Jazz Record Store". You walk in, see what you want, pay CASH maybe -- no PayPal or Visa -- and take it home that artifact (not a download) immediately. Could this theory actually work, I wonder? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Tapscott Posted February 9, 2011 Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 That's true, John. Maybe somebody could seize the opportunity, and open a street-front retail outlet that sold "jazz discs" of some description...call it, I don't know, maybe: "Jazz Record Store". You walk in, see what you want, pay CASH maybe -- no PayPal or Visa -- and take it home that artifact (not a download) immediately. Could this theory actually work, I wonder? Used to work quite well, didn't it, Ted? Those were the days. And you could actually talk jazz with a knowledgable person (or persons, including other customers) face to face, and not on one of these new-fangled chat boards! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victor Christensen Posted February 9, 2011 Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 I am on the waiting for the third week right now for two packages from Movie-Mars ordered throug Amazon UK, stiil no signs, they have been dispatched for more than two weeks ago. It bugs me that it shall take such a lomg time. Vic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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