Is Royal Mail still having problems shipping overseas?

[Condottiere]

I know of the Royal Mail issues last month...

On February 8, I purchased some sprues from an eBay UK seller and it was sent International Tracked and small packets. A month later and still no progress using the tracking number. The seller told me that she's been having problems with orders from January and February, yet my Blackwell's order from last month arrived in 2 1/2 weeks and recent Victrix one is due this week. Last week, she did offer to refund and I could pay her back if I ever receive the package, but I thought I'd give one or two more weeks.

USPS can't help:

This tracking number is not yet eligible for an inquiry. Once a new tracking status occurs then you will be eligible to submit a service request.

Royal Mail is useless: the automated chat is pointless and I can't find a way to contact them by email. I can't call, due to the timezone difference and the cost per minute when placed on hold. 

[zemjw]

It is back on, at least according to the notice in my local post office.

A package I sent the day of the hack finally turned up at its destination earlier this week (although it was stuck in their customs for a couple of weeks). My Royal Mail tracking number did show progress, although it sat at "we've got your package" for weeks.

I'm actually surprised the package was accepted on the 8th Feb, as they stopped accepting things altogether for weeks. I think/hope yours will eventually turn up, but it is frustrating when tracking numbers don't show anything

[v_lazy_dragon]

I have a parcel from before Christmas still AWOL somewhere over the Atlantic but have given up on that one. Received a letter from the UK yesterday  dated March 3rd, so a 25 day transit time if that helps (I'm in Atlantic Canada)

[boywundyrx]

I'm waiting on something, untracked, shipped Jan. 31 to Canada still, and something sent mid-February with tracking is a mess - the tracking shows it getting to the nearest city in the UK two days later, but then jumps to tell me to use the tracking number with Canada Post, who tell me they're still awaiting the package.

Had a book from the UK arrive in a normal time through all that.  I had waiting until shipping was resuming before placing any orders, but "resuming" seems to have been a rather optimistic use of the term.

[Inkpaduta]

I ordered from the UK. The company waited to sent my package until after the troubles with the mail. It still took six weeks for the package to get to me.

[Lovejoy]

Royal Mail still have a LOT of stuff in transit. New parcels entering the system are going out fine, but stuff that's been sitting since the end of December onwards are moving very slowly. They are getting through eventually, but it is takings weeks.

When I worked for Royal Mail several years ago, new mail would be dumped into the nearest sorting bin that had any space in it, and then the sorters would take from the top of the pile. Which meant stuff at the bottom of the sorting bin could often sit for days before getting sorted. I expect with the strikes and then the cyber thing, that's happening again, just on a much bigger scale.

[OSHIROmodels]

Three parcels to the same customer in the states, one posted in the middle of Feb and two posted the middle of March all arrived within two days of each other at the end of last week.

Europe is a complete mixed bag. Three days to Spain, four weeks to Germany, both posted at the end of Feb.

[DivisMal]

I did receive an order from the UK yesterday which only took two and a half week, so nearly back to normal. Thing is with all these strikes, cyber attacks and Brexit problems it’s become very unpredictable.

[Elbows]

Only had one recently from Northstar to the United States - usual 8-10 days and fair cost.

PS: They use DHL, so I guess it's not relevant.

[mellis1644]

I got something delivered yesterday (in Canada) which was ordered Mid Jan from the UK. Some other things which I ordered after that have already arrived, so in a word yes UK post is still all over the place.

[nicknorthstar]

Only had one recently from Northstar to the United States - usual 8-10 days and fair cost.

PS: They use DHL, so I guess it's not relevant.

Yes, we moved to USPS and DHL for all USA packages, we don't use Royal Mail. Wish some other countries like Canada & Aus/ NZ would work out a similar deal that USPS have done with UK couriers, it's much better than RM.

[Condottiere]

It is back on, at least according to the notice in my local post office.

A package I sent the day of the hack finally turned up at its destination earlier this week (although it was stuck in their customs for a couple of weeks). My Royal Mail tracking number did show progress, although it sat at "we've got your package" for weeks.

I'm actually surprised the package was accepted on the 8th Feb, as they stopped accepting things altogether for weeks. I think/hope yours will eventually turn up, but it is frustrating when tracking numbers don't show anything

The USPS and RM are giving conflicting updates: going by the former, I assumed it's in transit and stuck in customs somewhere, but the latter still says "sender preparing item".

When the RM system went crazy, all eBay postage options from the UK switched to the Global Shipping Program and took some effort for the seller to switch it back to £5 Small Packets, as paying £20+ postage on two Chaos Spawn sprues purchased for £23 is silly. 

[Elbows]

Yeah, something a lot of people don't understand is that in the United States, USPS actually picks up and covers the cost of delivering the package when it hits U.S. shores.  It's an effort by the U.S. to increase purchases from other countries, etc.  On the flip side we have zero subsidized shipping for U.S. citizens - we get zero breaks sending packages anywhere else in the world.

So when you combine stuff like China's government subsidized shipping...with the USPS "footing the bill" when a package lands stateside, it's why you get "free" shipping from China on cheap products, etc.

Now if I ship a package to the UK, unless I have a business account with UPS/FedEx/DHL, etc....I'm paying 100% of the cost, and then the UK has its criminal charges to "accept" a foreign package (which as I understand seems to be an entirely arbitrary amount charged by random third parties...).

[Condottiere]

I used MyTello, to save on an international call, but I might as well have been talking to a brick wall. What's the point of listing a phone number (03457 740 740) as the only means of contact, when the automated message tells you they won't be able to answer you and redirects you to the website? Pressing "0" won't even help. For all its faults, at least I could reach someone at USPS during business hours, even though this might involve being on hold for ages.

Maybe my memory's off, but when I lived in Weybridge in the 90s and without internet access, I could count on Royal Mail's customer service line to answer my occasional issues. The only way to resolve this is to contact the seller and they'll then have to file a claim or I might be able to file a claim, just to find out the status and location of my package.

[Lovejoy]

Yeah, something a lot of people don't understand is that in the United States, USPS actually picks up and covers the cost of delivering the package when it hits U.S. shores.  It's an effort by the U.S. to increase purchases from other countries, etc.  On the flip side we have zero subsidized shipping for U.S. citizens - we get zero breaks sending packages anywhere else in the world.

So when you combine stuff like China's government subsidized shipping...with the USPS "footing the bill" when a package lands stateside, it's why you get "free" shipping from China on cheap products, etc.

Now if I ship a package to the UK, unless I have a business account with UPS/FedEx/DHL, etc....I'm paying 100% of the cost, and then the UK has its criminal charges to "accept" a foreign package (which as I understand seems to be an entirely arbitrary amount charged by random third parties...).

I'm not sure this is accurate, TBH. Every country who is in the Universal Postal Union acts the same way; they all handle shipping of international mail themselves once the parcel reaches their shores, and their costs are part of the price you pay as a mail customer - it's known as the 'last mile' charge.
Various countries have negotiated special deals; China was one of them. However, a few years ago, the US threatened to leave the UPU unless they were allowed to alter their terms for the 'last mile' fees; they claimed it was to encourage the American people to buy US products, rather than ship in from China.

But the US used the opportunity to increase their fees for ALL members of the UPU, resulting in the US now being the most expensive place in the world to post items to.