Package mailed to Ukraine - Russian Ukrainian Belarus Travel Music Woman Dating News

	The Russian Meeting Place: A place to meet people and talk about all things Russian... International Discussions about Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Travel, Music, Russian News, Ukrainian culture, Belarusian Dating, Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Kiev and other intelligent topics about life in the former Soviet Union.

Pages: 1

Package mailed to Ukraine
(Click here to view the original thread with full colors/images)

Posted by: Pin Boy

just FYI,

i mailed a 7 pound box with some books via US mail to a small city 30 minutes from Odessa and it arrived in 17 days. cost to ship via US mail was $37.00.

DHL and Fed Ex each wanted approximately $200.00 for the same package.

pin boy

Posted by: blucatz

I wonder if you would have had the same luck sending it to someplace in Russia instead of Ukraine? From what I heard, packages tend to get lost sometimes. I did send a International Priority envelope sucessfully to omsk, only took 20 days and $14.

Posted by: Chillidog

It is amazing that DHL, FedEx and others charge so much more than USPS. back at the end of 2006 I sent some packages to Russia (Severodvinsk) to "L" the first was just our pictures we took when we were together that I had put in a photo album. This package was delivered in a very resonable time frame. The second package sent (at a different time) by USPS was a birthday present for her son, this package was never delivered, but my suspicion is that it was becuase I had addressed this package directly to him at their postal address, because he was a minor and was not on the official registration of ownership, that this package was never delivered. Everytime other than this one experience when I sent a package address to "L" through USPS it was delivered. Severodvinsk is a 2 hour flight due north from Moscow on the White Sea.

Posted by: goforit

Faster, more reliable, and no subsidies. The USPS was bad enough that they had to contract with FEDEX just to make sure their domestic priority mail arrives on time.

Posted by: Stirlitz

It is a lottery. Sometimes it arrives safe and fast. Sometimes it is lost for good. TNT is more secure.

Posted by: Pin Boy

what is TNT?

Posted by: AkMike

(hint) it goes boom!

Posted by: blucatz

Quote:

Originally Posted by AkMike

(hint) it goes boom!

Big Badda Boom!

Posted by: Pin Boy

i completely misunderstood. i thought TNT was a delivery company when he said it is more "secure" meaning more reliable than the postal service.

Posted by: AkMike

LMAO, He probably did. I was just playing with the TNT part..

Posted by: Chrismc

TNT = Trinotrotoluene, but they also deliver parcels worldwide

Posted by: AkMike

But you've never been fishing til you've tried a Dupont Spinner! aka TNT.
Isn't it tri-NITRO-tolulene?

Posted by: blucatz

Quote:

Originally Posted by AkMike

But you've never been fishing til you've tried a Dupont Spinner! aka TNT.
Isn't it tri-NITRO-tolulene?

OMG! Don't tell me they do Redneck fishing up in Alaska.....LMAO

Posted by: freebird

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stirlitz

It is a lottery. Sometimes it arrives safe and fast. Sometimes it is lost for good. TNT is more secure.

Yep, mine was lost through Canada Post {double registered & guaranteed} They say they will investigate & get back to me in 60 days

Posted by: Stirlitz

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pin Boy

i completely misunderstood. i thought TNT was a delivery company when he said it is more "secure" meaning more reliable than the postal service.

Yes, I meant more reliable. But TNT is indeed an express mail company. I just like it better than DHL.

I have had a number of items (letters, packages) sent to me from the U.S. since 1996 and many of them were lost or it took them fiendishly long to get here like a letter that was traveling for 6 bloody months (most of this time around the local post office).

Posted by: Chrismc

Quote:

Originally Posted by AkMike

But you've never been fishing til you've tried a Dupont Spinner! aka TNT.
Isn't it tri-NITRO-tolulene?

Yes it is Mike, my bad spelling, late at night

Posted by: stuckmojo

Chrismc... cant help but notice you'r in the UK.. Would you say that TNT had proven to be the most reliable for packages to the Ukraine then?? have you used any others???? Got some stuff to send over there, for business and personal, but never sent anything over there before so I would actually like it to arrive at the destination.....

Cheers

E

Posted by: AkMike

I've had very good luck with the postal service. About 10 days from Alaska to Kiev. No losses (YET) But a book rate package took around 5 weeks once. A trace showed it was lost in the US not Ukraine.

Posted by: stuckmojo

i think our postal here is slightly different from yours, I wouldnt trust our lot to get a letter to the house next door, never mind another country. My regular postman is officialy "special", and I dont mean that in an affectionate way......

Posted by: blucatz

Quote:

Originally Posted by stuckmojo

i think our postal here is slightly different from yours, I wouldnt trust our lot to get a letter to the house next door, never mind another country. My regular postman is officialy "special", and I dont mean that in an affectionate way......

"Special?" Does that mean he rode the short bus to school as a child?

Posted by: stuckmojo

it means in his spare time, he probably howls at passing traffic, and watched "silence of the lambs" waaaay to much...

If you saw the guy, you'd understand. I asked him once why he was delivering mail to my house that was for an address at least a couple of miles away from me, the look he gave me made me want to run back into the house and lock myself in a cupboard... I'm not a huge guy, but I spent time in the Royal Marines and dont scare easily. But this postman is something else.......

Posted by: cedarwind

I almost always use Meest, I can ship a 60 lb Box for $50.00 to the Ukriane and it arrives in 5 - 6 weeks. Yet to have anything missing or broken and I have shipped 100's.

Posted by: blucatz

Quote:

Originally Posted by cedarwind

I almost always use Meest, I can ship a 60 lb Box for $50.00 to the Ukriane and it arrives in 5 - 6 weeks. Yet to have anything missing or broken and I have shipped 100's.

5-6 weeks? How are they shipping it, by sea turtle?....LOL

Posted by: AkMike

Hey Welcome Back Cedarwind.. Long time no see!

Posted by: Raspberry

Man! All of the missing people are coming out of the woodwork...this is good!

Posted by: Buckeye5704

Well I sent a standard letter with an ATM card and pics of yours truly to Mama in Yoshkar Ola about 3 weeks ago and it showed up yesterday. Just in time to put some cash in it for her B-day on Saturday.

Posted by: AkMike

We'll start calling you 'Just in time Tim"..

Posted by: blucatz

Quote:

Originally Posted by AkMike

We'll start calling you 'Just in time Tim"..

Maybe his Lady calls him that already....LOL

Posted by: AkMike

Hmmm, I thought you said it was "Too Soon"

Posted by: Buckeye5704

It's nice to feel like a kid again.

Posted by: Chrismc

Quote:

Originally Posted by stuckmojo

Chrismc... cant help but notice you'r in the UK.. Would you say that TNT had proven to be the most reliable for packages to the Ukraine then?? have you used any others???? Got some stuff to send over there, for business and personal, but never sent anything over there before so I would actually like it to arrive at the destination.....

Cheers

E

NO, don't use any of those courier companies, I have always used Royal Mail, 'Signed for' and never had a problem.

However, there are some rules you need to be clear about, this is how to get it to work:-

Label the package in both English and Russian, in Russian ONLY is better still and handwritten even better. But if you cannot do that, just print off labels in both languages.
Attach the customs declaration form and make sure you list it as a gift, no value or a value of �1.00 only.
Wrap the whole package in brown paper if you can with lots of tape around it. Don;t make it to fancy looking, it attracts attention.

By doing it that way, I have managed to send loads of packages to Ukraine and not lost one yet.

Chris

Posted by: stuckmojo

Chris, thanks a lot for that fella, funnily enough I was starting to panic a little, the stuff I need to send over there arrived today, and I was wondering who to use. The business package I need to send is relatively important, but to be honest, its personal package I'm a lot more nervous about..I'm sure you know how that goes..

Royal Mail "signed for" it is then... I got the address in Russian today, but why do you say Russian only is best??? I have a vague idea, but I;d rather hear it form someone who knows...all this is still quite new to me..

E

Posted by: Chrismc

Russian is best, handwritten if possible, the reason, people over there know Russians/Ukrainians send stuff home to their relatives/family, usually this is everyday stuff, nothing too expensive, so why bother risking getting caught stealing something of little perceived value

Handwritten shouts out that this is being sent by a local.

I have sent some quite expensive things this way including bank cards and stuff like that. Even if the item is small, it is best to bulk it out a little, small envelopes etc, do tend to go missing, so make it a bit harder for them

Posted by: stuckmojo

sneaky....I like it.

As I mentioned, the business one can go printed, not too botheres about that. I got the address of the personal one in Russian emailed to me this morning, guess I'd better get some practive in writing that out... The actually things I'm sending could easily go in one of those brown envelopes that are half the size of a4, whatever that is.. But now I'll probably bag up the items, then wrap them like a present, then wrap it again, just for a laugh, then put it in an a4 brown envelope, then tape that bad-boy up like a mummy... What do you reckon?? Does that sound like it would get there intact?? I see your point on "small is usually valuable"...

E

Posted by: Chrismc

Don't send just envelopes, they do go missing, so if it is just an envelope size thing, make it look like a small box, costs a bit more, but it gets there. The system works if you do as stated above, which city are you sending it to?

Posted by: stuckmojo

its going to Dnepr.... if thats how its written, I just tried to write the address in russian out, in cyrillic characters, it looks like drunk ink-soaked spider has just crawled across the paper.... bit more practice methinks....

Posted by: Chrismc

Quote:

Originally Posted by stuckmojo

its going to Dnepr.... if thats how its written, I just tried to write the address in russian out, in cyrillic characters, it looks like drunk ink-soaked spider has just crawled across the paper.... bit more practice methinks....

Do you mean Dnepropetrovsk?? if you can't hand write it, don't worry, type it up in Cyrillic and English, and tape it to the parcel, it should be OK too.

Posted by: stuckmojo

I'll get my head round this yet... Just need some more practice.... Wouldnt a cyrillic only address completely fool the post office though?? I once sent a letter to newcastle upon tyne, only for it to get returned to me, after going through newcastle under lyme, and that was written in english, in good handwriting!!

Posted by: sidney

Addresses begin with the country then city next street and finally person. Backwards of how we list an address in america.
Sid

Posted by: Chrismc

It might do, but when you go to the PO here, they ask you to write it in English anyway, because obviously the counter staff can't read Cyrillic

Just put it on in both, that is best.

Posted by: disculmawsu

When I send packages to Moscow, I put the addresses in both Cyrillic and English, following the Russian standard of postal code, city etc first (I have heard rumors that this going to change to meet international stardards) for address in Russian and American standard for the English address.

Posted by: stuckmojo

cheers fella's. Thats me sorted then, I'll get that sent off in the week, and then wait nervously to find out whether it gets there or not.........

E

Posted by: Chrismc

Should take it 7 days exactly

assuming you send it before lunch on day one

Posted by: stuckmojo

cheers Chris..., thanks for all that fella, I'll keep you posted...)

Posted by: stuckmojo

Success!!!!!! My business parcel got there ok, fine, great, dont really care.... However, my "personal" parcel..the one that I was really overly worried about and fretting like a girl over..also arrived safely, due I am sure to excellent advice from you guys..... Thanks very muchly for that.. So, next I'm going to be bothering you all with a newbies question on travel do's and dont's to Ukraine in a couple of months at the latest... so prepare yourselves..

Posted by: Dave1

Danged efficient postal service! On July 2 I mailed via United States Postal service a shoebox sized package to my girl in Simferopol, Ukraine (from Texas), anticipating that it would arrive just in time for her birthday on July 22. I talked to her today, and she has it already! I addressed it all in English(typed in large letters, all caps) with her name first, and country last, just like the USPS site says to, and it arrived in 11 days. It weighed about 2 pounds and cost about $16 to mail. Now I have to come up with another birthday surprise :-[

Posted by: blucatz

It just took 1 month for my girl to receive the Priority Envelope in Omsk sent thru the USPS. Last time I sent her a Priority envelope it took 3 weeks. I believe it sits in Moscow for a while before getting sent on thru to Omsk. The FedEx package sat there for 2 weeks before getting sent on thru.

Posted by: disculmawsu

O sent me a new pair of shoes about three weeks ago from Moscow and it has not arrived yet. However, I suspect US customs officials are holding the package up because she included some tubes of toothpaste with the shoes.

Posted by: EasyTarget

Toothpaste and shoes? what is she trying to tell you

Posted by: disculmawsu

I am not sure. My teeth are a extremely clean and healthy (two cavities in 42 years).
I think the shoes are partly because when I travel to Moscow I like to use walkers because they are comfortable and nice for walking which one does a lot of in Moscow.

Posted by: EasyTarget

The shoes I understood. The toothpaste being sent, I questioned it. Then I thought, maybe it is her favorite brand and she wants to make sure you have some on hand, when she comes to stay with you.

Posted by: disculmawsu

The tooth paste turned out to be samples from the dentist office where her cleans.