Mail to China (2022 temporary suspension)

You might have noticed that your postcards to China have been taken longer than usual… and it’s not just yours. Today we have temporarily suspended all mail routes to China due to this. :frowning:

For quite a few weeks now we have been monitoring postcards traveling to China, as the news of large city lockdowns and of bottlenecks at China’s international airports have been reported to cause long delays. We hoped for things to slowly get sorted over time, but our data shows that improvements have been very limited and very little is arriving, with new lockdowns being announced. There are even domestic routes in China that are currently suspended and/or having long delays.

As of today, only 5% of postcards sent ~60 days ago have been registered in China. Even of postcards sent ~90 days ago, only about ~40% made it so far. The usual (global) average travel time to China is 50-60 days.

As it’s unclear when the situation will improve, to prevent more postcards from getting into this situation, we are temporarily suspending this destination, while we monitor for the already large amount of traveling postcards to finally arrive. We plan to restore the route when it becomes clear that the backlog is being sorted and delivered.

As for mail from China, although not doing great, seems to be less affected for the moment.

I will be updating this topic when we have more news. For moment, if you have postcards in this situation, try to be patient — things will eventually get sorted. If you are in China, I hope things will get back to normal soon so that you can get your due postcards.

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Thank you for monitoring mail movement during these challenging times.

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That’s very sad for those in China, but I understand why you’re doing this. For the sake of our Chinese friends, I hope the situation will resolve soon and that this won’t be for too long. :person_raising_hand:

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Slowly, but all postcards reach China. Why stop it? You don’t want to send postcards to China?

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We don’t have any delays on domestic routes, who told you this information? Shanghai was recently closed for quarantine, but it has been reopened and I received a postcard from there three days in advance.

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I haven’t received cards from China in a while through RR’s. I was already wondering what was going on. It might not be affected as much but there are definitely big delays to here.

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I would love to share my personal experience here☺️
Since 2022 China Post has become slow,not only for postcards but also packages😔
But most of the postcards do arrive me after 2-5 months,they are stuck in sorting center for long time to how they say to disinfect.But some who live in remote places do have some problems in receiving postcards ,some people who live in small places have never received anything in 2022.From January to April China Post never delivered any international posts to me,From April to these days they delivered 20-40 cards in one time approximately each month😔Packages are also slow,They now take around 2 months to arrive!(in 2021 only 2 weeks to arrive)
Intriguingly,my outgoings are normal,even faster in 2022,postcards sent by me in China takes 20-50 days to arrive in destination countries,but there are some Slavic countries that is not officially told by China Post I can’t send mails to but due to my personal experience I can’t send to(Croatia,Slovenia,Bosnia)
But at least everything still works!Hope everything will turn better soon😊

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Although it is very slow, it can be reached. I received an international postcard a few days ago. I don’t think it is necessary to suspend, and the domestic registered mail I tried to send to Shanghai has been successfully signed yesterday.

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It is true that postcards sent to China have been delayed due to the epidemic, and China Post may disinfect and put away mails from foreign countries and regions, especially those with serious outbreaks, in order to prevent the spread of the virus through postcards or mail and harm the health of the Chinese people.
But I don’t agree with the idea of blocking Chinese users’ addresses.
First, in the age of the COVID-19 pandemic, we need more unity and communication than isolation and shielding.
Secondly, postcards sent from China to other countries can be normally received and registered, indicating that China’s mail routes are generally normal. Although it might be a little slow.
Finally, it would be unfair to unilaterally block Chinese users’ right to receive postcards, and Chinese users would have no incentive to continue sending postcards abroad, and the trust and mutual benefit principles on which the site depends would collapse.

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It’s sad. I can still receive postcards here, albeit a little longer.

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Thank you for your continued monitoring of the postal routes. I admit that the mailing time to China has been extended, but it has not been interrupted, and I also received postcards from overseas today. Therefore, I think it is extreme to completely cut off the Chinese address. I hope you will consider this decision carefully!

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My experiences as a RR host:

From January, 18 of 32 cards to CN are still missing.

From February, 8 of 8 cards are missing.

In March, 4 users from CN participated and one single card out of 22 has been reported so far.

And in April, 2 users with a total of 14 cards - nothing received so far.

So I think Paulo’s decision makes sense.

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I want to send postcards to China even if I have to wait for a long time till they get there. Not one of my cards to China ever got lost in the past and I missed getting Chinese addresses these past months.

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Actually the speed of mail out of China has not changed much.About 10 days ago a postcard to Germany had been registered.It traveled 30 days.
But postcards to China have really slowed down.Hope to give China more patience. :slightly_smiling_face:
I would like to register postcard to me in advance so that the cards will not expire.
Thank you for attention.

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For Chinese users, only able to send but unable to receive.
What a good method of keeping sent/received balance. :+1:

It seems I would have much fewer chances of writing in Chinese language. What a pity.

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Does the decision of temporary mail suspenion to China make sense?
  • Yes
  • No

0 voters

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Thank you for sharing you data :blush:

However I think there is a difference between “missing” and “not arrived yet”, many of our cards are just on the way, stuck in the post office or something.

This week I received 2 penpal letters which were sent in February. I’m still waiting and checking the mailbox everyday. I’d rather have a little faith in our post office, and hope the world have a little faith in us ordinary good postcrossers.

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From my personal experience through tags, I managed to sent 2 cards to China earlier this year. And the later postcards I sent, none has arrived to its destination (yet). I hope our cards to China will arrive to their destinations soon, both from forum and official site

I wonder if the cards to China stuck somewhere else longer if they’re sent from far away countries? Perhaps postcrossers from China’s neighbor countries have their cards registered faster? (I have no idea)

I hope the temporary suspension won’t be long. Some thing I also wonder, if condition like this happens, does official postcrossing team contact China Post too?
Maybe if postcrossing team contact China post about the issue,they will give more detailed answers because of postcrossing big name

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As for my expired list, none of them is to China.
Then mails to China is suspended because of so-called delay.
Maybe delay is much more severe than missing. :+1:

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