½ûÂþÌìÌÃ

Post from China for small items is extremely unreliable bought over the internet. 

MP (Magyar Posta) personnel often incorrectly deliver items and possibly items get stolen or confiscated for no apparent reason.  MP will leave notes in your post box saying your delivery is there but they will not actually deliver it.  When collecting you need ID even if it's collecting items for children (and then you need their ID too or at least their permission).

Internationally there are for more chances of sending packages here as other countries have a better developed market for parcel services. 

The unit costs can be quite reasonable.  For example, from the UK to Hungary, 15-20kg is  about £25 or 9000 HUF.   That's much cheaper than say excess baggage on a plane.  If I have a collection of items to send to Hungary, I collect them together there, parcel them in the UK and send them by UK parcel service rather than take them on the plane with me.    Takes about 3-4 days to reach Hungary and if you don't use MP, it'll be delivered to the door.  For some really bulky items, it's possible to use private couriers who charge by the kg.

Getting stuff from the USA is much harder and much more expensive.  US international postal services (especially USPS) are extremely expensive to European destinations.  There's a general ignorance and inflexibility on using alternate and cheaper shipping methods from North America.   It's very difficult to avoid import duties,  VAT and outrageous service fees from there.

True, receiving or sending from Hungary to the US is a mixed bag.
Sometimes they arrive in a reasonable state and time and other times...
I used to mail myself packages from the US to HU.
When the delivery address was in ERD over a decade ago, they always arrived in a speedy manner and undamaged.
Last time I did this my address was in Budapest.
Waited and waited and waited.
Had my husband speak to the postman. Went to a couple of different post offices asking what was up since it had been months of waiting for my package to arrive.
My husband even spoke on the phone to the HU post master.
Nothing, no package and by then it was 5 months of waiting.
I finally decided it was a lost cause and asked for my insurance claim.
Wow, within a day or two I got a note in my mail box that my package had finally arrived.
It had been placed by a third party postal carrier and was in storage in the Netherlands all those months!
I never ever send packages from the US now.
I mailed a light package less then a kilo to Ca, from HU, took about 2 months to arrive , this was around 2 years back.
Post cards take over one month to arrive in the states from HU so I wouldn't be mailing any if I wanted to say hi back home in a hurry.
I am not even mentioning pricing , the service alone is bad enough to really put me off from sending packages.
I have mailed post cards from HU to Ca. during the communist years, those took 2 months to arrive, I was home from holiday before anyone received my cards back home.
Now it takes at least one month, guess things are improving , at a snails pace.
My immigration status was all mixed up and a huge hassle because I trusted the HU post office to deliver on time after I paid for registered quick service to the US.
My sister didn't receive my urgent mail for over 6 weeks,I was nearly deported because of the slow mail service not delivering on time even though we paid extra for quick delivery.
Just saying, I don't trust the mail and wouldn't hold my breath waiting for anything to be delivered on time.
The US post office is not as well run as it used to be either.Still waiting for a package from Amazon, been 11 days since they messaged it was sent out.
Our local post man seems to place packages in the wrong  boxes. We received someones package a couple weeks back,. Had the same package mix up last time I was here 3 years ago.
I confronted the mailman a few days ago and of course they cover their stupid jobs by always saying they are not the regular postman, like they job share? Don't think so, they are just covering up for being lazy and sloppy at their jobs.

More on the post master,
When my husband phoned the post master in Budapest to ask about my misplaced/lost. delayed package, they claimed it hadn't entered Hungary or cleared customs as of that time.
I was informed by  a note in my mail box 2 days later after placing a insurance claim, just odd stuff.
Like it just turned up like magic.
I did find out though that the gov. post offices between the US and HU use a third party carrier at least that is what they told us.
Not sure but it seems no one is responsible for anything, it's always someone else who made a mistake.
Also in the past the US post office had a reasonable way to send packages.
You could pay premium and have it air mailed or use a much cheaper rate that went by ship and delivered between 6 to 8 weeks.
I used the cheaper postage but paid for insurance.
They no long offer the shipping rates, it's all by direct mail now.
I once sent a large package of clothing from HU to the US to my son, shoes and clothing.
It cost about half to mail the box as I had spent on everything.
Not worth it to me to order anything outside of HU.
Some people never have an issue with the mail but I seem to always be on their bad side.
Again when I asked the local NV postman about my package from Amazon taking so long, he said he wasn't the regular carrier for our area, same old excuse I heard so many times, they must tell them what to say in case a customer has a problem, just pass the problem on to someone else who isn't there.

Priscilla wrote:

How easy is it to send and receive packages in Hungary?

I order now a lot online. Yes, it is easy to get packages in Hungary, if purchased in Hungary. Takes just a few days. Private delivery is usually better than the Hungarian Post office, but the post office gets it there as well.

If you order from abroad, which I use to do, but do less these days, it may take a bit of time to arrive.

Priscilla wrote:

Is the public postal system efficient?

It is a mixed bag. Have gotten a lot of letters very late, especially from the USA. Which can be very awkward when the letters say I must respond by a specific date, and that date was two weeks before the letter was actually delivered.....

Priscilla wrote:

Do people tend to prefer using private shipping services? Which ones?

If I ship abroad, or if others want to ship to me, I recommend UPS if one can afford it. All the other deliver services I have found to be very problematic.

Priscilla wrote:

How do the costs of the private shipping services compare?

UPS, for me at least, has always delivered my packages and letters in the time stated. But that is only my experience. And they are not cheap.

Priscilla wrote:

How long does it take generally to receive packages from abroad in Hungary?

Once had a "Second Day" letter to me shipped with DHL take a month to get to me.

I rarely ship abroad using the Hungarian post office to the USA because the last one I did took 7 weeks (and I paid, special priority, air Mail rates which they said would take only 10 days to deliver).

Priscilla wrote:

Are packages delivered right to your doorstep, or do you usually have to go collect them somewhere?

All mine have been shipped to the street curb, but not the door. I have to take it up our hill to my house and our door. Unless I am not at home to receive it. Then I may need to pick it up.

Have shipped here to our house just about everything, including a bath tub and a large, 250 KG wood stove.

I have never had any success using the Hungarian Posta system. Even recorded mail coming from the uk tends to never arrive. So I dont waste my time and energy pandering to thieves.
I would like to find out more about private delivery companies and sometimes I wish I could trust getting things delivered that I order on ebay or Amazon but so far I am not prepared to take the risk.

Fortunately for me I have a home in the uk and fly frequently. So I get everything delivered there and visiting friends bring it or I bring it back in an extra suitcase.
Some people are lucky and don't have these problems  but my name means Wealthy in Hungarian.

I've had major problems receiving packages in Budapest from outside Hungary - mainly from Amazon UK or Amazon Germany. Several issues: first, with Magyar Posta, delivery of letters and packages are handled by different people. If you're not home all day, package guy should leave a notice of attempted delivery, but sometimes they don't feel like it. When they do, sometimes package is at nearby post office and sometimes at depot, far from center of town. Also, Magyar Posta sometimes outsources local delivery to someone like GLS, who are even worse - several times they left no notices, or notice that they'd made three unsuccessful attempts to deliver, so now returned package to sender.

The only thing worse than all this is combination of Royal Mail and Magyar Posta - Royal Mail also sucks - for example, their latest innovation is 'Air Mail', with estimated delivery taking 2 to 3 weeks, and tracking is simply not available.

My solution has been to rent a mailbox address at a UPS store (Mailboxes Etc) in Vienna, and go there occasionally from BP to pick up accumulated packages from Amazon. I know - it's insane! But there's simply no way to reliably receive packages from outside Hungary.

Dr. Andre wrote:

someone like GLS

It is essential to include in the delivery instructions a phone contact and a request to call before delivery. If you do that, then GLS will call to see if you are home, and tell you when they will retry delivery if you are not available to receive the package. GLS almost always requires you to sign for the package, so you have to be there to receive and sign for it.

I get packages from GLS all the time, and yes, they do always call before delivery when requested. But they often only speak Hungarian..... And if you don't.... Well.... that is just the tough part of living in a country where you don't speak the language.

I've never had a problem with Amazon or others like GLS or UPS.   The problem is MP (Magyar Posta).  They don't want to bring it to your house, they want you to collect it and they don't care if you do or not. 

If you get something from Alibaba from China, you've only about a 1 in 5 chance it'll arrive. I've bought stuff off Ebay and it's taken 3 months to arrive and that's after 2-3 attempts.  Stuff just disappears, even with tracking.

It could be they delivered packages but just delivered it to the wrong house. This happens a lot but I wonder if it's caused by street name changes. My street was part of a bigger street but over time, it received a new name and that name is the same as streets in towns all over the country.  Moreover, all the houses are still labelled with the old name. One digit wrong or bad writing and there's a good chance it's gone to another XYZ utca in another town.  Hence best to include a phone number.

BTW, I've had airport taxis go to other towns because they don't pay attention to the post code or put the wrong town name in the sat nav, e.g. my  village is called Budakeszi but they see Budakalasz, both beginning with Buda but they don't check the list. So they press OK but the first one selected is Budakalasz where unfortunately there's a street with the same name.

fluffy2560 wrote:

BTW, I've had airport taxis go to other towns because they don't pay attention to the post code or put the wrong town name in the sat nav, e.g. my  village is called Budakeszi but they see Budakalasz, both beginning with Buda but they don't check the list. So they press OK but the first one selected is Budakalasz where unfortunately there's a street with the same name.

Do they try to charge you for the extra KM they travel because they "got it wrong"?

Just wondering, because if they at least *try* to charge, seems less a "lack of attention" and more a scam.

For many years, the postal system had a poor reputation for delivering goods and the package was empty. Of course, no on can pinpoint which country's postal system was really to blame, but it was consistent with packages coming from all over Europe and the US.

When I was still teaching at the university, I had packages sent there. It was safer. Now that I am retired, the only thing I order online are used books from the US. The mail person has never delivered them to my door, but leaves a note for me to collect them at a specific post office the day after. The package has to be returned to the P.O. at the end of the attempted delivery day.

Thanks - but I speak Hungarian very well, and I always had full info on the package including local phone, and I was definitely either at home or carefully watching for a call or text (or email) when the packages were due to arrive, and on several occasions GLS didn't contact me at all or only after their 'last attempt'. Best result was the packages were returned to sender; a couple of times, nothing.

Dr. Andre wrote:

Thanks - but I speak Hungarian very well, and I always had full info on the package including local phone, and I was definitely either at home or carefully watching for a call or text (or email) when the packages were due to arrive, and on several occasions GLS didn't contact me at all or only after their 'last attempt'. Best result was the packages were returned to sender; a couple of times, nothing.

That is really interesting.

But.... I can see how that may happen. Local variation is not uncommon. Local delivery people may give lousy local service in one place but not others.

Sadly....I have experienced this, so it may be one possible explanation.

klsallee wrote:

fluffy2560 wrote:

BTW, I've had airport taxis go to other towns because they don't pay attention to the post code or put the wrong town name in the sat nav, e.g. my  village is called Budakeszi but they see Budakalasz, both beginning with Buda but they don't check the list. So they press OK but the first one selected is Budakalasz where unfortunately there's a street with the same name.

Do they try to charge you for the extra KM they travel because they "got it wrong"?

Just wondering, because if they at least *try* to charge, seems less a "lack of attention" and more a scam.

It's a good point but I think it was just incompetence and laziness.  I wasn't paying anyway and of course if I was, I wasn't paying a driver who was not arriving on time and therefore unable to get me to the airport on time. 

But anyway,  the last guy didn't turn up and Mrs Fluffy had to do an emergency transfer.   I had this a few times where I've had to get in my car and drive down to the airport and leave the car in the airport car park.

We're about 300m over the border from Budapest, so Budapest rates do not apply and the rate is individually negotiated which means it's a rip off.   Essentially it goes from 7500 HUF to the airport at Budapest city rates to 12-13K HUF with the extra 300m included. 

Mrs Fluffy couldn't take the BS on pricing last time when trying to get a taxi for me and said she'd get up earlier and drop me off.   It's become a bit of a concern so I now arrange my travel around school times so she can come and get me or vice versa.

The postal system in Hungary is terrible. Things rarely get delivered, and what is posted can often be lost or take weeks to arrive to its European destination, even registered post. Parcels do get delivered to workplaces, but for residential deliveries, the system is awful. Often the smallest of parcels is not delivered, and one must wait at the post office in line for ages to collect what is yours. They only hold them for a week, so if you are away much longer, you will miss your post anyway. VAT costs for orders from abroad are also prohibitively high, and sometimes parcels are kept in the warehouse at the airport for weeks, with no progress.

When it comes to the Hungarian postal service, welcome to the Stone Age.

MusicianBen wrote:

The postal system in Hungary is terrible. Things rarely get delivered, and what is posted can often be lost or take weeks to arrive to its European destination, even registered post. Parcels do get delivered to workplaces, but for residential deliveries, the system is awful. Often the smallest of parcels is not delivered, and one must wait at the post office in line for ages to collect what is yours. They only hold them for a week, so if you are away much longer, you will miss your post anyway. VAT costs for orders from abroad are also prohibitively high, and sometimes parcels are kept in the warehouse at the airport for weeks, with no progress.

When it comes to the Hungarian postal service, welcome to the Stone Age.

I agree with this post.
I do however know a lady in HU who often shops online from the US.
She seems to get her packages without issue.
Maybe the co. she orders from ship overseas allot and have some "clout"?
I was once going to order my fave brand of jeans from the US but when I saw it would cost over $50 for shipping alone, I decided not to order.
In the states ATM and have bought several pairs of the same style just to have them in stock when I need them. Think my suitcase limit has already been filled,months more to go here so once again I'll have to spring for a 3rd bag of luggage or store things again.
It really gets frustrating sometimes to need something and realize, dang, I have it but it's in storage other side of the world.
Gets hard to have 2 of everything one here and one there.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

MusicianBen wrote:

The postal system in Hungary is terrible. ....welcome to the Stone Age.

I agree with this post.
I do however know a lady in HU who often shops online from the US.
She seems to get her packages without issue.
Maybe the co. she orders from ship overseas allot and have some "clout"?
....

I think she must be using parcel delivery services and not the ordinary national post office (i.e. it ends up in MPO).   It's a bit difficult sometimes as MPO has a contract with whoever was the courier in the other country.  So you don't always know who will finally deliver the package in HU.  I think the courier part of MPO is called MPL (Magyar Post Logistics). Might even be separate. There's a huge MPL depot about 5km away from my house.

If it's the post(wo)man (MPO) themselves, then it always seems more likely to be lost.  But if it's got tracking, then you've got a better chance.  I don't think it's always directly malicious.  I think sometimes it's  just pure laziness and lack of interest.