Sending a parcel

[Son of Clyde]

It is my understanding, a parcel to Russia or Ukraine should be printed in Roman letters as legibly as possible so the USPS can at least read the city, village, province and country.

My wife seems to think she can send a package handwritten in Russian.

Will this package get delivered as she wishes to send it or am I correct?

I am talking USPS not a Russian based company that does its own mailings.

[Shadow]

Clyde, what about putting both Roman and Cyrillic adress on the packages ?

The USPS will send it to Russia/Ukraine if they can read it is the country of destination, otherwise they will try to trace the sender.
The post delivery guys in Russia/Ukraine would prefer an address written in Russian as otherwise they might have problems reading where to send it.

[catzenmouse]

We write Russian Federation underlined above and below the address then put the address in Cyrillic characters in the middle. All USPS needs is to get it to Russia/Ukraine.

Ken

[Sohkay]

SoC,
I have sent many packages to Ukraine using only Roman characters and all packages have arrived at their destination.

What I find interesting about your question is that it sounds like the type of question that occurs during the post-romantic "power struggle" phase of some relationships. She doesn't believe you. Is this correct?

BTW, whatever happened with the camera?

[Son of Clyde]

Thanks for the answers. Yes we had a little tiff over this. I was wanting to print in both languages and she was wanting to write in cyrillic letters with Ukraine at the top in Roman letters.

All I know it the quality of service at our local post office.

UPS would have charged $100.00 for a 8 ounce package and I imagine FedEx or DHL would be charging $40.00 or more.

She wanted to send it as cheaply as possible so USPS is the way to go.

BTW, she saved the camera "for family."

[PeeWee]

It is my understanding, a parcel to Russia or Ukraine should be printed in Roman letters as legibly as possible so the USPS can at least read the city, village, province and country.

My wife seems to think she can send a package handwritten in Russian.

Will this package get delivered as she wishes to send it or am I correct?

I am talking USPS not a Russian based company that does its own mailings.

Because I mail things on daily basis to everywhere in the world because of my little airliner import/export and sales business I do know a lot about this subject. I have mailed parcels both ways. Sometimes in English sometimes addressed in Russian. Either way works. The key to this is that you must write "Russia" "Ukraine" "Canada" or whichever country you send it to at the very bottom of the address in English.

Peewee

[viking]

I agree with PeeWee. Make sure that the country is clearly marked. English has always worked fine for me. Also, regardless of what the PO tells you, make sure you get a tracking number. Can save you a month in delivery time. Seems if the number is there, it had a much better chance of 1. being delivered, and 2. being delivered in a reasonable time. Do not believe that it will take 4-10 days. Double that and you should be ok.

[Son of Clyde]

The employee at UPS thought her number 6 was a letter G. This is when I knew there was a problem. Legible is the way to go, and is best to print and not write the letters.

[Wayne]

If you send packages to the same address often, why not type out the address in both English and Russian on your computer, then you can merely print it out when you need it.  You could just do this and have the labels ready whenever she wants to use them.

From my experience sending letters and packages to Russia and Ukraine, if it is something valuable or important papers, send it so it is tracked the entire way.  US mail gobal express seems to work and might cost less than UPS, DHL or Fedex.  If it is merely a letter to relatives and is sent in a thin envelope, it usually goes through.

[tim 360]

If you are not sending high value items, which I don't, I find USPS to be excellent and inexpensive using eithier First Class Air Mail or their Global Express with 2 price tiers. Go to USPS com or your PO.  Just make sure that the country name is in English and prominent, once there that countries postal system takes over. No problem.

For quite some time I printed the address in Russian. Friends in larger cities there told me to address them in English which is just fine and that they would get the package or envelope.  And they were correct. 

Some mail can move quite fast these days. Usually the larger the package the slower it moves.

[PeeWee]

If you are not sending high value items, which I don't, I find USPS to be excellent and inexpensive using eithier First Class Air Mail or their Global Express with 2 price tiers. Go to USPS com or your PO.  Just make sure that the country name is in English and prominent, once there that countries postal system takes over. No problem.

For quite some time I printed the address in Russian. Friends in larger cities there told me to address them in English which is just fine and that they would get the package or envelope.  And they were correct. 

Some mail can move quite fast these days. Usually the larger the package the slower it moves.

Here is what I do. If the parcel is going from the US to either Canada, Mexico, or UK the I ship Gobal Priority Mail. The mail delivery system in those three counties seem to be the worst in the world. I sent a small airplane part to Port Alberni BC Canada. From Seattle to Pt Alberni, via air mail, a distance of 300 miles took one month. I sent another to Singapore. That took three weeks and that was after it went first to Thailand, then Hong Kong, then to Tokyo, and then to Singapore. The receiver thought that because the box said "Boeing" on it along with the address that it somehow confused the postal system. Another good example I found is that if I am sending something to Mexico that if I put the sign of the cross on the box and then the words "Jesus" under it that every parcel seems to get there without a problem.

Russia, from the US, does not seem to be much of a problem. France is a hit a miss proposition as well. You cannot get tracking service for some countires and others will not allow Global Priority. Each country is different and to be successful one needs to know what system works best for each country.

For Russia I can print English and not have a problem. That is for Moscow mind you. I have shipped only to Moscow, Vlad-k, and Astrakhan. But all have arrived. In return I have often received parcels from Moscow and Vlad-k, written in English and not had a problem. As long as you write the destination country at the very last you will have a high chance of your parcel arriving.

Peewee the mailing pro

[dorogoyroberto]

Russia, from the US, does not seem to be much of a problem. France is a hit a miss proposition as well. You cannot get tracking service for some countires and others will not allow Global Priority. Each country is different and to be successful one needs to know what system works best for each country.

For Russia I can print English and not have a problem. That is for Moscow mind you. I have shipped only to Moscow, Vlad-k, and Astrakhan. But all have arrived. In return I have often received parcels from Moscow and Vlad-k, written in English and not had a problem. As long as you write the destination country at the very last you will have a high chance of your parcel arriving.

Peewee the mailing pro

Does Russia and Ukraine now participate in the Global Priority Mail program?

Roberto
Kiev, Ukraine

[tim 360]

Yup.  But not every small town.  You got to check first.

[PeeWee]

Does Russia and Ukraine now participate in the Global Priority Mail program?

Roberto
Kiev, Ukraine

Nyet. You cannot send anything to Russia Global Priority Mail but you can send Global Express and Global Express Guaranteed. I recently mailed a parcel to Astrakhan, Russia via regular air mail. The elapsed delivery time was 8 days.

Example:  1 pound via air mail is 10 bucks
                          via GPE is about 27 bucks
                          via GPE G is about 79 bucks

I choose air mail unless it is a high priority shipment...valuable documents. Or if the shipment is going to Canada, UK, or Mexico...the postal systems in those countries leave much to be desired and they are somewhat undependable. I have had more shipments lost, returned, or delayed in those 3 countries then all other countries combined.

Peewee

[aikorob]

Packages to Odessa usually took 4-5 weeks using Global Express; but then I got smart and also rut her address in Cyrillic. The past few packages, it has cut the time down to around 3 weeks.