# Receiving mail from UK



## StevieD (Sep 21, 2019)

So, my mum posted a card to me with some money in it on Sunday the 15th to me in Spain, from the UK. She put 2 first class stamps on it, and on their website Royal Mail say it would take max 5 days. I’ve looked on a few forums and stuff and people say it’s actually more like a week. I actually went to the post office today to ask if they had it there waiting to go out and they didn’t. There was a bit of a language barrier but I think she said it could take up to 15 working days! But I think she might have thought I was talking about a parcel, I’m not sure. I panicked a little because I will be leaving here in a few days. I stopped by tourist info and in there they said in their experience it takes a week for letters to come from the UK. The post office said to check back again on Monday and I will also probably call Royal Mail tomorrow. It’s not tracked or anything but they still might have some advice. But in the meantime does anyone here have any advice? Thanks!


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## tarot650 (Sep 30, 2007)

All depends where it is sent from in the UK.Have had stuff sent here off ebay,sometmes got it within a couple of days and other times a couple of weeks.Have had stuff off Bang good from China and got that quicker than the UK.am suprised with having money in it you didn't have it recorded delivery.Hope you get it sooner or later.Honestly don't think you will get any joy off Royal Mail without a certificate or tracking number but you never know.


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## blondebob (Aug 16, 2019)

There is a very high chance it will have "got lost" in the system. Especially if it was notes inside a card and just normal mail. Good luck hope you get it


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## Carl waters (Sep 21, 2019)

StevieD said:


> So, my mum posted a card to me with some money in it on Sunday the 15th to me in Spain, from the UK. She put 2 first class stamps on it, and on their website Royal Mail say it would take max 5 days. I’ve looked on a few forums and stuff and people say it’s actually more like a week. I actually went to the post office today to ask if they had it there waiting to go out and they didn’t. There was a bit of a language barrier but I think she said it could take up to 15 working days! But I think she might have thought I was talking about a parcel, I’m not sure. I panicked a little because I will be leaving here in a few days. I stopped by tourist info and in there they said in their experience it takes a week for letters to come from the UK. The post office said to check back again on Monday and I will also probably call Royal Mail tomorrow. It’s not tracked or anything but they still might have some advice. But in the meantime does anyone here have any advice? Thanks!


early days, i have had post from Britain arrive in three days equally i have had post take weeks and some not at all  price up a PO box to rent, since sharing my mates i have had no post going missing.


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## Carl waters (Sep 21, 2019)

blondebob said:


> There is a very high chance it will have "got lost" in the system. Especially if it was notes inside a card and just normal mail. Good luck hope you get it


I have had a couple of letters delivered with very neat cuts in the end of the envelopes obviously to have a sneaky look, could have been tampered with anywhere from posting to delivery.


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

I regularly get Christmas cards in the middle of January. But on the other hand I sometimes get birthday cards a week early. Never had one go missing though.


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## StevieD (Sep 21, 2019)

Thanks guys. I checked and it has a cheque in it not cash, so good luck to anyone trying to post it haha. I asked why it wasn’t recorded delivery too and apparently my mum usually sends stuff here without a problem. I hope it’s not lost in the system 😢


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## StevieD (Sep 21, 2019)

Oh man I hope it’s not been tampered with ><


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## StevieD (Sep 21, 2019)

*trying to cash it, rather!


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## Megsmum (Sep 9, 2012)

Absolutely no reason to believe it’s the spanish end. Plenty of mail goes missing in the U.K.

In 5.5 years. Never had an issue. Somethings take 4 days others take 7


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## StevieD (Sep 21, 2019)

Thanks that’s encouraging 🙂


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## MataMata (Nov 30, 2008)

There are 3 different levels of Royal Mail international post and tracking which range from 'until an item leaves UK' to full 'end to end' with traceability ar every step so choose the one you want or need carefully. 

For a better than basic (and in tracking terms all but useless) service the price rises very steeply, e.g. for a simple 100gm letter the relative costs are £1.60, £6.55, and £7.86.

https://www.royalmail.com/personal/international-delivery/international-tracked-signed


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## The Skipper (Nov 26, 2014)

Megsmum said:


> Absolutely no reason to believe it’s the spanish end. Plenty of mail goes missing in the U.K.
> 
> In 5.5 years. Never had an issue. Somethings take 4 days others take 7


My experience over 12 years of living in Spain is the same. We get regular post from the UK and have never experienced any problems with delays or non-delivery. The one problem we do experience is the fact that we live in a rural area and there are no postal deliveries, so we have a post office box number address. Some Spanish government departments, particularly the Tax Office, continue to send letters to our actual address, despite being told over and over again that they should be addressed to our post office box number. Fortunately, the postman has the good sense to leave these at our local town hall and we get a call from there to tell us there is an official letter awaiting collection.


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

The local knowledge of the men and women who deliver the mail is vital, because Spanish postcodes only go to city level, not street level. Many street names were changed during the dictatorship then changed back again after the transition, or given an entirely different name subseuently. My friend's electricity bills are addressed to C/ San Jose - the name changed over 30 years ago, but the postman knows all that.


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## Love Karma (Oct 10, 2018)

Sadly I cannot report the same. Many items especially birthday cards have gone missing over the years. In May 2018 a letter with a cheque inside went missing from a bank in the U.K (there was no option for it to be sent other than airmail). So after a few calls to bank in u.k and trips to post office here it became apparent both sides blamed one an other. So as an experiment I got 6 friends in the U.K to buy a birthday card and send to my address in Spain. Result 4 turned up after between 7 and 11 days the other 2 just evaporated. Still I couldn't trace whether it was at the U.K end or Spain. So I then bought 2 cards ( 1 red envelope 1 white) myself and addressed them to myself and posted them together at a big yellow post box* just 300 mtrs *from my home. Inside card of the red envelope one I enclosed an old dollar bill, this never turned up. The white envelope did turn up but took 15 days to make the 300 mtr trip from post box to my house.....I actually video'd and photographed the entire process and took it to the Post office and asked for an explanation, lots of shrugging of shoulders and eventually an apology and the excuse of being short staffed.


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## Carl waters (Sep 21, 2019)

Love Karma said:


> Sadly I cannot report the same. Many items especially birthday cards have gone missing over the years. In May 2018 a letter with a cheque inside went missing from a bank in the U.K (there was no option for it to be sent other than airmail). So after a few calls to bank in u.k and trips to post office here it became apparent both sides blamed one an other. So as an experiment I got 6 friends in the U.K to buy a birthday card and send to my address in Spain. Result 4 turned up after between 7 and 11 days the other 2 just evaporated. Still I couldn't trace whether it was at the U.K end or Spain. So I then bought 2 cards ( 1 red envelope 1 white) myself and addressed them to myself and posted them together at a big yellow post box* just 300 mtrs *from my home. Inside card of the red envelope one I enclosed an old dollar bill, this never turned up. The white envelope did turn up but took 15 days to make the 300 mtr trip from post box to my house.....I actually video'd and photographed the entire process and took it to the Post office and asked for an explanation, lots of shrugging of shoulders and eventually an apology and the excuse of being short staffed.


When i first moved into my house i realised that my address was the exact same address as another house on the urb, i called around to the other home owner and explained the situation and we agreed (we?) to move each others post if it was put in the wrong letterboxes situated at the main gate. For months i would have mail delivered not delivered so i sent myself a 'test' letter in a bright red envelope that i had left over from christmas from the post box at the bottom of the street. A few days later it was there in HIS letterbox so i waited to see what he would do with it, and yes a couple of days later it was gone out of his box but not in mine, so i thought if that's the game you want to play then lets go for it, let's just say that he is totally oblivious to a couple of fines from traffico, and quite a bit of correspondence from various sources. I use a PO box now. 
I still get random post for addresses that is in towns miles away, i think the postman just doesn't want to take any letters back to the depot (these i drop off back at the post office though).


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## Carl waters (Sep 21, 2019)

The Skipper said:


> My experience over 12 years of living in Spain is the same. We get regular post from the UK and have never experienced any problems with delays or non-delivery. The one problem we do experience is the fact that we live in a rural area and there are no postal deliveries, so we have a post office box number address. Some Spanish government departments, particularly the Tax Office, continue to send letters to our actual address, despite being told over and over again that they should be addressed to our post office box number. Fortunately, the postman has the good sense to leave these at our local town hall and we get a call from there to tell us there is an official letter awaiting collection.


Some government depts wont deliver to PO boxes, same in Britain.


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## kalohi (May 6, 2012)

I think it very much depends on the local post office you're dealing with. We moved house 2 years ago after living for 23 years in the next town over. For those 23 years I never once had any trouble with letters being delivered. Nothing went missing and everything was always delivered in a timely manner. Then we moved here (a different post office) and the postal service has been a disaster. We only get mail delivery 2 or 3 times a month. Multiple times letters have gone completely missing, and also on numerous occasions we've had someone else's mail delivered to us. In those cases we've dropped the letter off at the correct address...but I'm assuming that others who have mistakenly received our mail have just tossed it in the bin. I complained at the post office, and their answer was that they are hugely understaffed. They're able to deliver priority mail daily, but general mail gets piled up and delivered only if there's extra time. They actually requested that I file a formal written complaint (which I did), because the poor workers are frazzled. 

So I don't know why at one post office they don't have enough workers while at the post office in the next town over they seem to properly staffed.


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## Carl waters (Sep 21, 2019)

kalohi said:


> I think it very much depends on the local post office you're dealing with. We moved house 2 years ago after living for 23 years in the next town over. For those 23 years I never once had any trouble with letters being delivered. Nothing went missing and everything was always delivered in a timely manner. Then we moved here (a different post office) and the postal service has been a disaster. We only get mail delivery 2 or 3 times a month. Multiple times letters have gone completely missing, and also on numerous occasions we've had someone else's mail delivered to us. In those cases we've dropped the letter off at the correct address...but I'm assuming that others who have mistakenly received our mail have just tossed it in the bin. I complained at the post office, and their answer was that they are hugely understaffed. They're able to deliver priority mail daily, but general mail gets piled up and delivered only if there's extra time. They actually requested that I file a formal written complaint (which I did), because the poor workers are frazzled.
> 
> So I don't know why at one post office they don't have enough workers while at the post office in the next town over they seem to properly staffed.


''In those cases we've dropped the letter off at the correct address...but I'm assuming that others who have mistakenly received our mail have just tossed it in the bin'',,,,,, just covered this in my comment, it happens alright


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## StevieD (Sep 21, 2019)

Wow thanks so much for sharing your experiences everyone 🙂 I’m hoping it’ll arrive tomorrow, coz then it’ll have been a week. If it doesn’t I’m gonna give up hope and will know better for the future!


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## Carl waters (Sep 21, 2019)

StevieD said:


> Wow thanks so much for sharing your experiences everyone 🙂 I’m hoping it’ll arrive tomorrow, coz then it’ll have been a week. If it doesn’t I’m gonna give up hope and will know better for the future!


I use a PO box now and as far as i know i have not had any mail from Britain go missing.


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## StevieD (Sep 21, 2019)

It arrived!


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