As @Macheng mentioned above, postal service in Japan is nearly always reliable all in all and very fast delivery especially from abroad to Japan. We are so very fortunate about all this in Japan.
I was rather surprised to see China is as high as in Japan ?? Is that really so ??
Edited to add :
Japan probably is the number one in the world as for the overall postal service. China probably is doing their best but still ā¦ the same high rate as in Japan ?? Is that really really so ?? What do you all think ?
If you have mails sent to China that you think they may get lost this year, you can message the recipients first, sometimes they may get busy and couldnāt reach you at once when they received your mail.
Many Chinese postcrossers can send and receive international mails as usual this year, not only me. If the address is reliable and translated accurately, mails will be delivered to the recipients eventually.
Thereāre many reasons that mails can get lost. Itās not fair to say the postal service in China doesnāt deserve a high score based on one personās own experience.
Since I just picked up writing postcards as one of my hobbies last year, I will just say what I observed.
Mail is delivered everyday for my area (including weekend). International mail is delivered once or twice a week because the English address need to be translated. If thereās enough room on the postcard, the postal worker will hand write the translation of the address, otherwise they will use an address sticker.
For domestic postcards and letters, they will stick a barcode on the lower left corner so that they can track where are the postcards and letters and reduce the rate of losing.
And I would say the postal speed is quite fast. I sent postcards to a Chinese postcard pal who lives in Harbin (quite far from Guangzhou), they arrived in two days. China Post can deliver mail even to remote areas.
It rains a lot here in Guangzhou, but most of the postcards I received are in a good condition (including the thin ones). Even though sometimes I receive one in a bad condition, I understand.
We can check the cost of postcards / letters / packages with different weight on the official website or WeChat official account of China Post and itās very convenient.
We can request for beautiful postmarks by sending letters to post offices without extra cost. Here are some of my collections:
Due to some issues, the postal speed was not stable last year. I know it caused some disappointment for both senders and recipients. I also lost a very beautiful card from my friend sent from Macau. But I guess the postal speed return to normal this year. Itās still costing more time to send to some countries from my area, but I received several hurry messages recently and some cards arrived, I think itās a good sign:)
Sometimes we also complain about the barcode and the delivery postmark, but overall, they did a good job by sending and delivering my cards and letters.
I think the UK being in the top rating is correct. We are certainly not the cheapest with internal postcards now costing 75p 2nd class or Ā£1.25 1st class, international costing Ā£2.20 (or sometimes Ā£2.00 for economy) but I cannot complain on speed. I only ever use 2nd class for internal mail and outside of December it is rare for a letter or card to take more than about 3 days, and often cards get delivered within 24hours. Bare in mind too that most of my post is between me and my parents who live in the Home Counties and I live in Scotland so weāre the whole length of Britain apart! Amazing really. This is also from both rural and large town locations so no real variance. Donāt believe me? There is even an old episode of Top Gear where they race a letter from the south of England to the far north of Scotland and the letter won! It got there quicker than you can drive!
I remain deeply saddened about Royal Mail being privatised and hope one day it will be back in public hands, but thatās all a bit political and probably not best for this thread.
Overall, it is still good, though like all places there is variability, particularly in the service you get in a post office and the price is becoming ridiculous.
Is there a specific reason, why a postal worker is a no-show on rainy days? Is it maybe rougher terrain, which cannot be walked/driven if it is soaking wet or is it something like āWell, I donĀ“t feel like working , if itĀ“s not sunnyā¦ā?
IĀ“m just a bit curious as āmyā postal worker was delivering mail by bike yesterday, seemingly unfazed by the heavy rainstorm, and amazingly even managed to deliver the mail bone dry.
In my experience, there are very few occasions when mail isnĀ“t delivered here due to weather conditions.
But I do get the impressions, mail in general isnĀ“t delivered on Mondays (for door-delivery) anymore in my region, which doenĀ“t bother me. I use a PO box soley for Postcrossing and only being able to check it 2-3 times a week, so I wouldnĀ“t notice ālazy-daysā by postal workers anyway ā¦
Hi !
French from France here. Even if French people always complain about post service (please note that we all donāt complain, but we only hear the angry people ) the postal service is very good here. Except in very small villages, the post man /woman delivers from Monday to Saturday. The delays are good too, we donāt have to complain about it. (Concerning the delays, I think Germany is well better )
One thing that has improved mail delivery here in the U.S. is the technology that is now available, particularly regarding scanners and tracking. I received this notice today regarding the delivery of a package to my address. It would have been impossible to have received this kind of advance notice ten years ago.
I live in the city, there are paved streets here. I do not know the reason, if I asked about it in the department, they would most likely answer something like: "the rain is just a coincidence, there is no mail for you. I canāt prove otherwise anyway.
Wow! Thanks a lot for this topic and to everyone here stating their opinions and giving their impressions. Iāve been wondering about a lot of these things during the last months and have now gained some āinsights and perspectivesā. BIG THANKS, everyone!
A few thoughts from a ācurrently living in the capital of Germany perspectiveā:
I was (and still kind of am) a bit convinced that the āgood old PRIVATE postcard and letter correspondenceā is going to die out (slowly but steadilyā¦)
@tomrinkoski I feel you A LOT in what you are describingā¦
So @NaruMinamino I found your latest impressions very uplifting!
Concerning
combined with
gives me honestly the CREEPS!
I can try to be at home during the certain time frame given, hit the refresh button multiple times time and again, listen for the post car, RUNNING to the door, etc. ā¦
And STILL in at least 80% of the time be sure to NOT receive my parcel.
Then the hunt starts where it could be: at one of the 24 neighbouring apartments in the same building?
Somewhere else in the street?
In the next postoffice (when? this evening? tomorrow? only after the weekend?)
In another post office? ā¦
Note: the tracking is VERY OFTEN stating something else than truly is the case(!)
The nearest āpostofficeā [am not sure whether it still can be named that since the privatizing process changed āDeutsche Postā S-E-V-E-R-E-L-Y from how it once (loooooong ago) was] is a 5 minutes walk away and I know the staff quite well ā they are getting yelled at regularly from customers who are complaining about MANY weird situations. They (= the staff) often smile to me a bit relieved when I have proceeded forward in the queue because they already know that I am never blaming them for what this company messes up.
Iāll spare you all the details I could āmonologue about on endā since my post here has gotten already very long.
Iāll close with the craziest thing I have experienced so far ā it happened earlier this year:
I was awaiting a parcel. It was returned to the sender with a sticker applied to it noting that I was DEAD!
And just imagine how it went on: the poor sender felt notified OF MY DEATH(!) via a sticker on a returned parcelā¦
And it was quite unprofessional how the whole story continued and was treated by the company and it took a loooong time and several errors more before I finally held this parcel in my (very ALIVE!) hands!
And nowā¦ check again how Germany is categorized in the chart up there and make up your own mind.
PS: Probably needless to say that I donāt yell at the people delivering my mail and parcels either, as I sadly frequently see and hear people doing. I KNOW that they are underpaid and I can SEE they have too high of a workload so I actually CHEER at them whenever they go on strike!
[Although I am of course NOT glad that the circumstances forcing them to go on strike.]
Sorry to hear about your unpleasant experiences with your postal service. In terms of my parcel deliveries, I would say the U.S.P.S. has at least a ninety percent accuracy rate, in terms of delivery prognostications, at least in my experience. As a matter of fact, hereās an update I just received vis-a-vis a parcel Iām expecting today. These updates are basically done in real time, i.e., the intended recipient of a parcel doesnāt have to wait until the mail carrier gets back to the post office to upload the delivery information on his scanner. The whole process is convenient, accurate, and extremely helpful.
Sri Lanka seems pretty stable and India seems pretty good lately.
Is this statistic map really really accurate all in all ??
Australia and New Zealand are lower rate than China ?? Really ??? And Japan (again, is probably the best postal service in the world) and China (where many people seem to experience quite many lost postal mails) are the same rate ?? Really ???
There may be many reasons for the postal mails to be lost. But I actually do not know how to read this statistic rate. Perhaps high lost mail cases but still it stays in the best rank as shown above ?? How so ???
Edited to add by me ( after this post of mine above was flagged with no reason stated, but I still have a right to edit now, so here it is) - 28 October :
I asked a fellow member from China who has lived in Japan about this matter. He did a great job explaining why he thinks China got a highest rank as shown in the first post above, after considering the several report points by UPU. So, now I think I know somehow how to read the ranking rate as for China. So, I would like to thank very much the fellow member from China in Japan
My post was flagged and I do not understand why it had to be flagged. No reasons stated why. My post above are simply full of questions, not offense or anything. My posts are off-topic ? I do not think so as the original poster is also asking if you agree with the ranking or not ā¦
Iād say Royal Mail is a mixed bag. Hereās some of my thoughts as someone who sends and receives a lot of post.
Pros:
Postage is relatively cheap and in-line with much of Northern Europeās costs.
I can reliably send mail to just about any country in the world.
Uniform pricing.
Regular deliveries: at least once a week I will receive post through my door.
Lots of commemorative stamps: while I donāt buy many new issues, there are always new stamps being produced.
Accessibility to post boxes: there are tons of these all across the country.
Cons:
Postage is gradually increasing in price, quicker than inflation. This is especially true for services without a price cap set by Ofcom, the regulator.
It takes longer for a card to come from my parents at the other end of the county (35 miles) than it does for me to send a card across the world: very inconsistent delivery times.
Uniform pricing means there is no financial benefit to sending a lighter letter/postcard.
I donāt receive post when it arrives at my local delivery office, only when they choose to do the deliveries on my road. This is usually when they have something chunky (a magazine or other large envelope) for me.
Commemorative stamps arenāt issued in āmake up valuesā such as 5p or 10p, meaning thereās only old or QR code stamps for these values.
As the Post Office and Royal Mail are separate entities, post offices often donāt sell commemorative stamps.
Iād say it is more like a 7-8 than a 9-10, but it is difficult to judge when you havenāt experienced other services directly.
I think there might be a misunderstanding. As I understand the topic, the question is āHow Good is your Postal Serviceā?
So all we can do is share our own experiences with our own Postal Service (and still they will be subjective). If I for example look at my āexpired postcardsā section, the only destination I have there currently are the USA. So if I, because of that, would write here that my impression was the rating for the Postal Service in the US would have to be much lower, that would not make too much sense and isnāt the question here. I leave it to the people residing in the USA to rate their Postal Service.
I can see that you, along with others, rated your Postal Service as quite good:
which is nice to know.
But I donāt think I or most of the other people who have posted so far are the right people to answer your question about the Postal Service of Chinaā¦
ā¦since for most of us this is not our postal service.
So weāll have to leave answering this question to Postcrossers actually residing in China, like e. g. @Huiying_Chen (did).
I noted that the guy in the video receives an āAmazonā-parcel though and the woman delivering it is neither wearing an Amazon-jacket nor a āDeutsche Postā-uniform but setting aside those issues the video definitely makes a point.
Iām curious about other points of view ā either from Germany (with different experiences, from e. g. a rural area) or countries we already have some impressions of and especially from Postal Services in countries we havenāt heard of yet.
Iād also like to read about the impressions on the Postal Service of the Topic Opener, @mustafatell.
Itās one of the courier services available, DPD - they also deliver packages in Poland. I donāt think Amazon has its own delivery service here (not in Germany, either - but not sure about that) - they always deliver through 3rd parties and never (or very rarely) is the 3rd party the postal company.
I got an answer from a member from China who lives in Japan and he did a great job explaining why he thinks China got highest rank, considering the UPU report points of (1.) Postal reliability of mainly track-and-trace mails - registered mails (2.)Postal reach (3)Postal relevance (4) Postal resilience
It was good to know the postal situations in China. Without his explanations, I would not have understood about this ranking more deeply.
He mentioned he was also surprised a bit to see China got the highest rank as in Japan. And he pointed the Postal reliability is based on only track-and-trace mails, registered mails, not about non-registered mails which he, like me, thinks the risk of the lost case is quite high in Chinaā¦
No wonder how to read this rating overall was rather difficult and confusing for me (about China)ā¦
I canāt tell Singaporeās rating because we are too small to be seen on the map
If I were to say though, I think we have great value for money mail service.
Pros:
We have a standard global postcard rate*
This makes life easier
*70 cents to Malaysia and Brunei, 80 cents to everywhere else
Mail seems to be processed relatively quick
My fastest record is 6 days for a card to reach Germany (happened earlier this year)
I donāt think we lose too many cards too, so thatās great.
We often have beautiful stamps
I also appreciate that they are usually related to us, instead of being frivolous issues that are not really related but issued for the sake of earning cash from collectors.
Cons:
Itās relatively difficult to get a variety of stamps in certain denominations.
For example, there are only 2 types of 5 cents stamp, and both are definitives.
20 cents stamps are also usually definitives
I would like to see some different issues at the post office (I do want to support you Singpost, but youāre making it hard!)
Following up on my first point, in addition to seeing different types of 5 cents, 20 cents at the post office, I would also like to see stamps with a variety of face values.
Our most common face value tends to be 1st local - usually every new release thereās one of these. Would love to see more 60 cents and 70 cents issues.
20, 30 and 40 cents too!
The lack of pictorial postmarks.
I mean, Singapore is one of the top 10 tourist destinations (by amount spent yearly). It is part of our bread and butter, so why not create such pictorial postmarks for our touristy spots? The Zoo, Gardens by the Bay etc.
Sometimes they fail to meet up to their service standards.
They claim that 98% of local mail gets delivered in one working day and 100% by two working days, but I had a card that took 5 days (postmarked 13th Oct, received 18th Oct.)
(Yes, there were two weekends in that time but it still took 3 working days, which is over their service claimā¦ Itās a small thing, call me nitpicky)
Overall I will give Singapore a 8.5 maybe.
Edit: I have weekday delivery, so thatās 5 times a week
Some places get Saturday delivery, so they get mail 6 times a week.
Edit 2: One more grip I have (first world problem) is that we donāt really issue (affordable) postcards, and we definitely donāt do maxicards, which I find a pity.
ā¦
) the postal service is very good here. Except in very small villages, the post man /woman delivers from Monday to Saturday. The delays are good too, we donāt have to complain about it. (Concerning the delays, I think Germany is well better 
it happened to me recently as well.
