Lessons learnt the hard way

Ha ha autocorrect caught me out! Postman PAT

Thank you all again for the wonderful tips and alternatives to Royal Mail! Loved the Postman Patricia analogy . I have noted the services mentioned and will use them in future!

I send money in birthday cards. But I always put the card, and its envelope inside another, boring and unremarkable, envelope so it looks like nothing worth nicking. Always safely delivered now!

Once sent a birthday card in a red envelope to DS when he lived in Thailand. It never arrived as apparently red envelopes signify cash contents?
Witzend have you tried Transferwise? Just sent £250 to Malaysia via them and it cost £2, and the transfers are quick too.

I've sent so many parcels to the US - mostly for Christmas - and have never had them go astray. Sister and niece live close to Boston on the E coast, don't know whether that may make a difference.
As my niece got older I wanted to send her money, but doing it via banks took so much in charges. Many times I've sent her dollars, enclosed in a small present or inside a book. Touch wood it's always arrived intact.

He actually reckons Postman Pat is very true to life, ie Pat losing stuff right, left and centre, getting his head stuck in trees, forgetting to shut his van door, etc. I loved Corrie's Blanche Hunt's take on the goings on in Greendale.

I guess I must just have been lucky as you say, gillybob! My DSIL actually despairs when I stick up for Royal Mail, as he works for the opposition....

gillybob, you are absolutely correct, Royal Mail is nothing short of a disgrace. We have had cards, money (mother in law used to insist on putting cash in birthday cards, despite us warning her, thankfully she doesn't now)gifts, parcels, and countless internet shopping purchases have all gone missing! Also cards and parcels opened, and stuff arriving months after it was posted! Royal Mail are not fit for purpose any longer, we use couriers now for all parcels, much better service.

How sad! I agree with you that traceable & insured is the way to go from now on.

Daughter and family have just relocated to US, after reading the above I think you have confirmed for me that a childrens wish list on Amazon and buy through Amazon is the way to go! DGS arrived in US just before his birthday last month and I ordered books for him online that were actually delivered on his birthday in the mailbox which was a great excitment as there was no postal system where they previously lived!,

Im sorry it looks as though your parcel really has gone missing schnackie, really annoying.

I'm forever sending parcels to family in Australia and they have always arrived but taken as long as 5 weeks, especially around Christmas.

I send a lot of chocolate because I always fill the parcel up to the limit and little boxes of smarties or chocolate shapes at Christmas go in to make up the extra weight I am having to pay for anyway. It all went wrong one Christmas when the parcel must have spent time in the sun and the presents inside arrived chocolate-coated.

I've been sending parcels to my DS & family in USA for twenty years. I always use Royal Mail & nothing has ever gone missing. Have I simply been lucky? No Kinder eggs sent (I didn't know they are illegal in USA!) but I always fill in the customs declaration form very carefully and I seal the parcel with yards of strong parcel tape. I never, ever, send anything with any sort of battery but I have sent chocolate bars. And nothing is ever gift-wrapped as that's always likely to cause a parcel to be opened.

Last year I sent Kinder Egg Advent Calendars to my grandchildren in America just for the hell of it. They arrived safely and were thoroughly enjoyed. I filled out the customs label as 'gifts'. Very satisfying bucking the rules!

On the whole though, I transfer cash to my daughter-in-law who buys and wraps on my behalf. She has much more of an idea of what they'd like and it's much more economical.

When I lived in America, my daughter sent me a package containing, amongst other things, a small box of specialty chocolates - 6 in total. When the package arrived, it was in a plastic sleeve with a note from US Customs, stating that they had been opened by them. Of the six chocolates, three had been cut in half, carefully put back into the box. Guess what I did with them!

Schnackie. My apologies. I am not suggesting you did not declare all the contents of your U.S parcel but it is so easy to miss, unintentionally and I have been there, an item off the extremely small customs form.

I've been sending parcels to family in Australia for more than 10 years but don't use the Post Office any more, I use the online service Parcel2go or Parcelhero......everything is tracked. I have had issues a couple of times though that have been entirely my own fault.
1. I enclosed a wrapped gift from my sister in law who said it was toiletries, I didn't realise it contained nail varnish! It came back to me?
2. I sent a toy with battery inside (impossible to get at without destroying the doll!) it came back to me! Some couriers do allow one battery but I'd chosen the wrong one.
There are no refunds for things like this, a very expensive lesson learned.....each time it cost £40-£50 ?
I'm very careful now ?

Kinder eggs are banned? I knew they had some strange ideas in the United States but this takes the biscuit.

Schnakie. Were you completely honest in filling out a customs slip that is attached to your parcel ?
Leave no stone unturned and you are able to obtain information concerning U.S parcels , from the PO, such as what foods are allowed to contain and must not contain.
Any parcel shown or not shown containing food can be scanned for drugs.
Apart from taking time to reach my family,the US postal service does not rush itself, no parcels have gone astray in the many years I have sent parcels to my family.
They have contained sweets, and various other U.K goodies.
How ever with the increasing costs of postage I now send money via my bank Not however the same as opening a parcel , they are getting older, but the variety of goods in the U.S is in my opinion second to none but nice to have the option from elsewhere.

Wow Maggiemaybe you are very lucky. I send a lot of letters and parcels for work and we have had masses of issues. Lessons learned either not to use them st all where possible or to insure everything .

Parcels to America containg Kinder Eggs are illegal because their customs experience has shown that the eggs will often contain drugs. Simple

Thank you all for your kind words and commiserations! I do maintain a tiny degree of hope that it may turn up someday!

My daughters were travelling Australia over the Christmas holiday so I sent them a parcel with some novelties in Santa hats, reindeer antlers, socks and a couple of Thorntons chocolate lollipops of a santa and a snowman. They had melted and the faces were all distorted (they sent me a photo of them) they looked really funny but they said they tasted lovely.

I send things via couriers wherever possible now as you can track them the length of the journey for no extra charge. it is infuriating when things get 'lost' in the post, they must be somewhere.

I also hate it when Royal Mail gives me 4 stamps as compensation for something that cost much more, things from my dad which I sent to my daughter broken and ruined, 4 stamps compensation.

Even if you pay extra for a signed delivery with the Post Office there is no gaurantee . I sent some precious photos in the post but Mickey Mouse( students in a shared house) signed and was accepted. The post office compensated me by sending me a book of 6 first class stamps. The postal worker was never asked why the the signature was accepted.

And I can't remember the last time I had a problem with Royal Mail.