Frustration with sending parcels/dutch post office

[Anouk]

Hello, I really am irritated with tnt post, which is our local postal service provider in nl. They are costly when sending parcels and they do not provide tracking outside of the eu. Not that I have ever had any problems with package snot arriving yet (knock on wood) but I just think it is totally stupid that you cannot have tracking outside of europe, and you can have it inside of europe but it is bloody expensive... I have called fedex once to see how costly it is to send parcels through them but that is really expensive.
Greetings, Anouk,

 

[walkingman]

TNT also operate in the UK. We avoid them like a plague.

 

[Zorander]

When I won my current pair of Sextett back in Jan-08, I got it off someone in The NL. It never arrived after months of waiting and, after heated periods of disputes and angry e-mails, I eventually left negative feedback.

Guess what: it arrived in Jun-08. Talk about speedy delivery.

I hope this does not represent the speed of the dutch postal service in general.

p.s. I can't recall what carrier was used.

 

[Lil' Knight]

I've just got a package from the NL yesterday. It's quite fast I think, only 8 days to arrive.

 

[Anouk]

Hello, I have in general no problems with the speed of arrival, knock on wood. I just hate it that there are no tracking options at all outside of the eu. I will go check with the local post office to verify this.
The only good thing about using the post office that I can drop the package off at a certain location which I know, I dont think i can do this with dhl or ups or fedex (fedex is way too expensive anyway and some other dutchie had problems with dhl).
Greetings, Anouk,

 

[walkingman]

Tracking usually reverts to the local couriers who handle the delivery on the other side. For example when I recently sent a parcel to a head-fi'er who's living in Costa Rica, I was not able to track the parcel once it arrived at his country. However he was able to continue tracking it using his country's postal services website.

 

[Anouk]

Hello, Well I guess it is difficult if something does not arrive and you are the sender, unless it is insured but that is very costly. International parcel plus is only insured upto 145 euro and that is already very costly outside of europe, let alone adding extra insurance. I mean it is difficult for the party on the other side to believe if you have sent it or not but on the other hand you as the sender cant influence how slow or fast tnt post is... So I guess things can get heated and difficult.
Greetings, Anouk,

 

[apatN]

I did not have any problems with TNT (that sounds stupid btw) and they tend to deliver pretty fast in The Netherlands and also deliver in time internationally.
For tracking they might not be the best but are you sure they don't even do tracking outside the EU?

 

[tk3]

They used to do tracking for overseas, but apparently they don't anymore.
On their site it doesn't list tracking as one of the features for outside-EU shipping anymore, so I assume they canceled it.

I found them to be very reliable though.
Over the years I've probably sent over 50 packages in and outside EU, and I recall only once that the package didn't reach its destination and got returned to me.

 

[walkingman]

We used them once and even then they managed to lose our parcel...

Wasn't TNT UK the company that lost some important UK government mails?

 

[apatN]

I would not send my important government mails by TNT. Don't they have Mi5 for that sort of things?

 

[Anouk]

Hello,
I just called with tnt customer service (a friendly clerk at the post office gave me their number because I could not findit on their website after an extensive search) 45 eurocent pe rminute btw and they keep you waiting at least 5 minutes. According to the lady on the phone you cannot track any signature on dilivery packages. You CAN track parcel plus packages, i knew you could do this inside of europe but on the site it clearly states that this does not work outside of the eu. According to the woman 'most countries' outside the eu accept tracking with parcel plus. She did not specify which countries though and i could not find it on the site either... Well at least it seems some kind of tracking is possible outside eu although i am not sure to which countries it is possible....
Greetings, Anouk,

 

[Anouk]

Hello, I just checked the tnt site to see how costly international parcel plus is to the usa for example:
0-2kg 24,10 euro (eur 18,80 inside of europe)
2-5kg 34,20 eur (eur 25 inside of europe). This will have packages insured for eur145 and according to the lady it will have tracking to most countries outside of europe although she did not specify to which...
Greetings, Anouk,

 

[krmathis]

Same issue up here as well.
The postal service is quite fast and provide tracking worldwide. But the prices are hilarious, especially outside Europe.

Thats what happens when the postal service is owned by the state, and have close to none competition.

 

[Anouk]

Hello, Tnt post is not owned by the state (at least not anymore, i think), well one consolation is that either fedex or dhl are still even more expensive. I am not sure about ups but I bet it is too....
Greetings, Anouk,