"Problems with US to Australia post?" Topic

Hi all,

I understand that there are delays for packages being sent *to* the States, but is anyone having difficulties with packages coming *from* the States?

Reason I ask – ordered some figures from Old Glory last month, no sign of them. Got in touch with Teresa who provided a USPS tracking number – showed that the item apparently left Chicago on the 18th December, but then nothing – no record of it arriving or being entered onto Australia Post records.

(Spoke to my brother-in-law who is a supervisor at Australia Post – he is getting onto it at this end, so hopefully will get to the bottom of it – just very frustrating as I was hoping to make a start on the figures before going back to work!)

Cheers,
Paul.

Post from the US has been a bit slower generally in recent months – increased 'security' apparently. There are a couple of threads on the topic elesewhere on TMP. Add in the Christmas-New Year peak period & the break & everything may well take longer.

The little I've orderd from the USA in the past couple of months has been a little slower in arriving than I've experienced in the past, say 2 weeks rather than 1 week. Everything has turned up though!

Paul

Expect it to take much much longer. Consider Stateside is in deep winter, order placed near Christmas time then over Holiday breaks. Just keep checking your number through USPS it will show mate.

Same deal with UK to Oz. Though I do wish foundry would change back to their old freight firm, the new ones are a bit crap. Probably cheaper, but crap!

Hi Paul

Litko orders with USPS always take a month plus and are expensive. The tracking never shows anything at this end.

Cheers
Mike

I am having trouble with orders from Germany, UK and US to Australia at the moment.

Received last week a US package that had been sent "Priority Mail" on 15 December. Still waiting on German one from 14/12 – even though tracking says it left Germany on 10/1. Also a UK one from 21/12.

All much slower than usual.

Apart from the outrageous cost?

there are worldwide delays, we have just to be patient

why are there worldwide delays?

Gee I must have been lucky. Eight packages from different suppliers have arrived in very good time for me over the last four weeks. Three from the UK and five from the USA.

Thanks for the responses guys. Reading these and various posts on other threads helps put things into perspective. And, like Houdini, the 4 packages I ordered from different suppliers in the UK at around the same time all got here, so at least I have *something* to paint :)
Cheers,
Paul.

Most postal delays are related to the incident where a bomb was hidden in a bit of office equipment (a printer?) and was flown halfway across the world. Now everything over 500g is checked manually, apparently…

Aussies are charged a $9 USD levy to post stuff over 500g to the US. Perhaps it works both ways.

remeber guys most aussies take the Christmas new year period off (the last two weeks of dec and most of Janurary) it has just started to get busy this week at work and the roads are not that busy around sydney at the moment at least!

Isn't half of Australia underwater? That might add some transit time.

I had an Express parcel to Australia spend 2 weeks in limbo somewhere in Ottowa – it showed as received, then dropped off the face of the planet until it suddenly resurfaced & officially arrived on the last possible day to avoid a refund of the postal charges, even though it wasn't actually processed at the local P.O. until the next day.

Isn't half of Australia underwater? That might add some transit time.

No, only bits of it. Australia Post seems to be working at full speed although you might have trouble getting a parcel into some of the towns which are currently flooded. we've actually got bushfires on one side of the continent and floods on the other.
My understanding is the new and outrageous Aus. Post charge is to check parcels at our end before they go on the plane to the US.

I had concerns over a couple of parcels from OLD GLORY also, but both turned up.
Teresa was a great help, with prompt replies and provision of tracking numbers.
I suspect the problem might be at Chicago, (bad weather?).
Anyway, the parcels arrived eventually.

I believe a certain disgruntled Australian retailer has been snatching overseas packages and won't return them until the GST has been paid.

I'm still waiting for an order to arrive that was sent in late November. Got the first package, but am sitting in Sydney twiddling my thumbs waiting for the next one to arrive.

It's hit and miss. Some stuff I've received in two weeks, some I'm still waiting for months later.

I'm waiting for a parcel from the USA to the Philippines sent on November 19! My Postoffice tells me not to despair yet as there are indeed backlogs everywhere.

I had concerns over a couple of parcels from OLD GLORY also, but both turned up.
Teresa was a great help, with prompt replies and provision of tracking numbers.
I suspect the problem might be at Chicago, (bad weather?).
Anyway, the parcels arrived eventually.

Apparently USPS do stockpile mail at Chicago from time to time in order to ship in bulk consignment…how long did they take to turn up in the end, Scott?

It's hit and miss. Some stuff I've received in two weeks, some I'm still waiting for months later.

The inconsistency is kind of annoying/frustrating.

Cheers,
Paul.

If it stopped in Chicago it was more likely to fill up a container and save monney. The weather here has been cold and some snow but nothing as bad as hit the east coast the other week.

Add me to the list. A packet posted from the eastern states 12 December, and still no sign. That's now close to six weeks, which is WAY longer than anything I've experienced in recent years.

"…how long did they take to turn up in the end, Scott?"
Hi Paul
I usually expect to receive stuff from the US, (usually Old Glory), about 2 to 3 weeks after the order is sent.
Last two orders took a full month.
Having a tracking number is very re-assuring, (well, it is for me anyway)
Cheers

Ta Scott and AT. About the same time (usually) for me when I order from the States (usually OG as well). Just over a month now so hopefully not too much longer :P
Cheers,
Paul.

(Thanks TL for the local perspective as well.)

Paul, I have found that even mail from the UK is taking a week longer than normal even though their snow issues have dissipated. My US parcels took about 3 weeks min from the US to Perth and the UK ones at least 2 weeks, sometimes longer. Having said that, one parcel took just 5 days from the UK.

Watching the tracking numbers can be useless as one parcel seemed to just sit in Chicago for weeks and then suddenly turned up.

Hi Pete,
Thanks for that. Similar situation – I ordered a couple of WAB supplements (Age of Arthur and Vlad) from Forgeworld at about the same time as I put this order in, and got them 6 days later. The stuff I ordered from TAG, Westwind and Copplestone were all around the 3 week mark.
Cheers,
Paul.
(PS – how are those Arabs coming along? :)

An update (of sorts):
Still no sign of the missing OG package – but one that was sent from Brigade Games in NJ on the 13th of January arrived today (less than 3 weeks!)