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Hi Travel12,

Really seasoned travellers understand instinctively that the postal systems in most countries is nowhere as effective as what we're used to in North America, UK and Eurozone countries and as much as it is a real pain in the backside we have come to accept the delays since they are out of our control.

To answer your question - Yes, it is normal for Christmas cards (even those that are sealed and bear extra postage) to take an extremely long time to get delivered in many countries. Don't give up hope just yet.

With regard to the USPS delivery, you may want to call customs there and see if they can track the parcel in their system especially if it wasn't sent as a priority delivery. It may well be that you might even have to go there and claim the parcel, or authorize them to open it if they haven't already done so. Since you mention it contains foodstuffs don't be surprised it some products may have been confiscated since there are restrictions on what you can bring into most countries. If you know exactly what the contents of the package are and something is missing find out if it is on any prohibited list and was confiscated. If it's not on a list and is missing then demand an explanation on the spot.

Cheers,
William James Woodward - Brazil Animator, Íæż½ã½ã-blog Team

can we get to know??this my mail:abdoulkarim213@yahoo.fr

Thank you for your response WJWoodard! How would I go about finding the customs office so I can try to go claim or track my package?

Quote: With regard to the USPS delivery, you may want to call customs

Some one who obviously never dealt with VN Customs.

Contact UPS, give them the Tracker Number and get them to advise status. Foodstuffs are usually not a concern since VN boasts most bugs although they are cautious about US beef.

As for mail, VN is a signatory to the Postal Union and can send and receive mail from other nations. The Union agreement covers payments.

VN is not on a main mail route, it's mail goes via a regional hub and this can introduce delays. Assume twice the stated delivery at a minimum.

Religious items can be problematic and in years past the Customs have removed certain religious themes. Santa Clause and cute houses covered with snow are OK - it's those with 'icons' n them that might get censored.

You are always best sending mail Post Restante, Bưu điện Trung tâm Sài Gòn, Cong Xa Paris, TP Ho Chi Minh, VietNam with your cell number in brackets behind your name.

I have received unopened cards with two $50 USD bills enclosed (told my aunt not to do it) a few times and sent many postcards to Chicago.  They arrived here/there in about 12 days regardless of holidays or weekends.

My roommate just received many Christmas cards from Toronto in about the same amount of time.

catsophat wrote:

I have received unopened cards with two $50 USD bills enclosed (told my aunt not to do it)...

And people say VN Poste workers are thieves!

Good for them! (for being honest)

Yes all the postcards I sent out were received very quickly by my family. Perhaps I had them write my address incorrectly... (building#) Street name (apt#)? Will having two numbers on the top line confuse the VN mail carriers?

I think the problem may be more of a local one (i.e. ward or district) than a Vietnam one. I hardly ever receive my utility bills before they are already past due. Most of the time I go ahead and pay them without the bill. (Just take a previous month's bill stub to show the bank/office workers my address and they look it up.) I think whoever is supposed to be delivering the mail to my building is either just lazy, or holding all the mail for several days and then bringing it to our building all at once after they get a sizeable "load". I typically go for a week or more with NO mail, then all at once, my box will be stuffed full. Have not had any problems with anything being opened.

The card shouldn't be too bad, at least on my experience from Australia eg 2 weeks or less. It must be reasonably quick once in VN.

Letters might not be opened, but expect every parcel to be individually inspected. It should get through if it isn't valuable (maybe snacks are valuable because they are edible?) or controversial like a book that criticises the VN government even in an oblique way, 'pornographic', religious as noted etc. Then maybe never.

I just got a book in a parcel in about 3 - 3.5 weeks from Australia. Opened, but OK and not bad timing.

Perhaps it is unfair to assume all cashed valuables will disappear from parcels, but that is the good warning and I do know what a pittance Government workers are paid...

Quarantine shouldn't be a problem for food - but don't try that to Australia! No way, but in reverse, fine. I have seen trade sized boxes of cherries etc from coming in with individuals as checked baggage.

My utility bills are delivered to my door with the option to pay at that time but I am usually not home. Would not trust the mail to get them on time.

saigonmonkey wrote:

I think the problem may be more of a local one (i.e. ward or district) than a Vietnam one ...

I agree, that's why I recommend picking the stuff at the Post Office (all districts have 'central post offices').

Local delivery is so bad VNPT even has a number you can call to order a duplicate invoice AND they are OWNED by the Post Office!

I actually changed the address VNPT had for my condo/office in TP HCM from their strange collection of hieroglyphics to a full fledged address to the Hiem/Street where the building is located and, surprise, bills now arrive.

The same with the Co-Op Mart (have you collected your annual payout yet?) and Lotte Mart allegiance plans - I even get deliveries of weekly specials, too.

I get better service out in the country. I live in 'greater' Ban Me Thuot yet the post man/xe om driver happens by several times a week - even Sundays.

If you want to guarantee delivery use registered. BUT there are two types of 'registered'.

One registered is where you take the piece to a counter, pay above regular mailing rates and they don't give you a receipt! This is the wrong one.

The other is more of a courier service. Cost me VND22,000 to send hotel keys back to a hotel in Rach Gia, MeKong - 2 day service!

Registered (courier style) has a record of each employee who accepted the package en route to it's delivery and they are trackable.

Unfortunately, gone are the days where cute yellow mail collection boxes mounted atop a pole littered the streets, but there are many small Buu Dien agency places.

One fortunate thing for me - my landlord lives in the same place. Bills and mail magically appear as available and things get fixed.

Worth the slight sneaking aroundedness that happens on occasion to avoid censure on some private matter...

Well I received a notice that my box will be delivered today (I could have picked up Friday but opted for the drop off Monday). Which means it took my box only five days to get through customs. Majority of the wait was on travel. The notice also states I have to pay 626,000 dong in customs tax. I think that's ridiculously high considering it's only a box of snacks. We will see if they actually drop it off today and the actual cost. Felt I had to update for future inquiries!

Go to Customs and appeal the duty.

Should I pay the duty on delivery then appeal or refuse to pay before getting the box?

Up front that does look like a lot of duty. I'd go ahead and pay it than review line by line the customs charge for each item. When they deliver the box and pay you should get at least two maybe three forms that show more information than you'll ever believe. Than make the decision to appeal or not. Good luck

Received my box today and EVERYTHING my family sent was in the box. Thank you customs and mail workers!
Box from the states took five days in customs.
I have my receipts and will have them translated to see why the duty was so high.
Appreciate all the advice from this forum.. Hope this string helps someone in the future!

For interest, can you tell us the itemised duty costs? What was so expensive? Or was it a mistake?

The form only has one basic code for food with a 35% duty on what my family wrote was the value of the box (60 USD). Then a 10% VAT. The total was 606 VND plus 20 for delivery equaling the 626,000 I was charged on delivery.

Not sure why my family wrote such a high value since the snacks couldn't have been more than 40$. Im guessing they prob didnt know they would be asked that so they eyeballed it at the post office before mailing.

I won't be fighting the charge because honestly I doubt they'd give me much back and I'd probably spend it in taxis to/from their office.

Travel12 wrote:

The form only has one basic code for food with a 35% duty on what my family wrote was the value of the box (60 USD). Then a 10% VAT. The total was 606 VND plus 20 for delivery equalling the 626,000 I was charged on delivery.

Of course, many people write the honest price down on a declaration, which is where things get expensive.

VN Customs has a large database with the VN Government's valuation of items in it. It is surprisingly large and suggests international co-operation between countries but food is not a strong pricing component.

They could have switched packaging and said "Home made"!

Travel12 wrote:

I won't be fighting the charge because honestly I doubt they'd give me much back and I'd probably spend it in taxis to/from their office.

Your taxi fare would be nothing. The Customs House, a very famous landmark in the fall of SaiGon in 1975, is located on Ham Nghi - right at the end near the river.

It usually has hundreds of motorcycles parked outside - the motorcycles of the customs agents fighting their way to the counter inside!

I import hundreds of thousands of LEDs for one of my enterprises and even though contracting with the Chinese manufacturer is possible, it is cheaper to buy through their VN agent as the difference is minimal and the duty hassles paid for.

I am glad to hear they arrived complete - things are looking up. If you send items with big mail charges, make sure a machine printed paper tape is used - not stamps - as they don't get stolen.

Thank you for the location of the Customs office! I'll save it for future reference.
Actually my taxi fare would be about a 300,000VND trip, which is half of what I paid in duty. Don't think it's worth the trip this time.

Heh, I ordered a webcam for a friend in Vietnam while in Europe. Months passed. He wrote the camera never arrived, I asked the Chinese company who claimed it was already sent. I wrote them off as scammers and forgot all about the camera. Several months later when sitting and drinking tea at my friends house, the camera arrived, box open and camera damaged. You go figure...

The VN Post Office tends to be honest with shipments, especially when registered/recorded delivery.

No one ever promised speed.

Next complaint?