No, Iām afraid they have not.
A card I sent to Russia on July 2nd just arrived today after travelling 127 days! So there seems to be hope still
Now 25 postcards sent to Russia since July 15, 2021, have been expired.
Iāve got FI-3974138 today, which was sent on 4.07.
4 months of traveling. So, thereās really hope!
Two of my cards were registered after 65 and 130 travelling days.
I believe too most of the cards will eventually arrive slowly but surely, perhaps
(Mail from Russia seems to arrive smoothly, which makes me happy )
Over the past weeks we have been looking over the progress of this but itās a bit like watching paint dry . But, we have updates!
First, the not so good news. A big chunk of mail sent in early July still hasnāt arrived. We have been concerned because those numbers didnāt seem to be improving much.
However, over the last 1-2 weeks we are seeing the numbers slowly improving, so while thereās still many postcards in limbo, they seem to be steadily (albeit very slowly) arriving. For reference, week 28 (early July) is the most concerning week and, so far, only 22% of that mail has been delivered. However, this has improved in recent weeks. Postcards sent that week have now an average travel time of 104 days (!) and since most of it still traveling, that average will still go up!
And now for better news: 82% of mail sent in early September (just before we suspended the route) has already arrived! And, with an average travel time of 36 days. Thatās fairly close to what we expect to see for this route.
Without clear feedback from the two postal operators on what has been happening, we can only make an educated guess on whether things are truly solved. But from what we are seeing, we think thereās reasonable evidence that at least newer mail should now reach its destination.
So, today we are resuming mail from Finland to Russia.
We will continue to monitor this route closely to make sure delivery rates of new postcards are back to normal, but also, that the fairly big chunk of postcards sent in recent months will still find its way into Russian mailboxes.
I received two postcards from Finland (in Handmade RR) couple days ago sent on July, 5th, so there is some hope - maybe they are resuming the mail sending ālast in - first outā, as it happened before
This week 3 of my cards to Russia were registered They were sent Jul 4, 11 and 14!
I was really surprised today as I requested a new address and got Russia! The Russian flag is such a familiar sight, and Iām really happy to hear that such a big portion of the cards sent in early September has arrived without any problems and the mail route has been reopened.
I just had a card (FI-3974781) sent in early July registered after 133 days of traveling! The recipient was shocked that it took so long. I was really happy that it finally arrived, because I really liked that card. I still have a total of 9 expired cards to Russia, but based on all the evidence presented in this topic, I really do believe most of those cards will make it in the end.
3 days ago I received a postcard sent from Finland in July.
And today a letter sent from Mariehamn (Ć
land islands) on June 8 arrived
The envelope was stamped with RETURN TO SENDER / MISSENT TO JAPAN sign (no idea how it is possible)
So, the letter reached me after travelling 5 months
Interestingā¦
Good to know that mail sent in July is still being delivered! I have one sent on July 20th (Helsinki->Moscow), which is still on its way to the recipient after 125 daysā¦
Just a quick update on this: 36% of mail sent in week 28 has arrived now, so things continue to improve, although the average travel time for that mail is at 113 days.
For me, 6 are travelling to Russia and itās been half a year since anything reached itās destination. Itās very sad and makes this hobby frustrating, when almost every card sent there ends up not registered. I hope things get better. Feeling bad for the people who never get their cards.
Why do they have started to give addresses to Russia again?? I havenāt got any cards to Russia to reach the destination since June. After a break I got addresses to Russia again but none of these cards have reached the destination either. So over a half of my travelling cards are on their way to Russia and most of them are experied.
I think itās something we must test at some point.
If the cards start to arrive, itās good to test if the ānewā ones will arrive normally, or get stuck too.
I too have still a lot of expired, but one by one they seem to get there.
Also Iām a bit worried if all my travelling to Russia will go this slowly, so guess how surprised I was :
I think this gives hope!
One of mine has, after only 25 days of traveling which is perfectly normal for Russia. Just give it some time. Itās been less than a month since the mail route was reopened, after all, and even a monthās traveling time to Russia is nothing to worry about! They will get there, Iām sure.
We know itās exasperating at times, so to give everyone a bit of hope: we restored the route on November 13th and of those sent that same day, 22% have already arrived, so the route is definitely working again.