Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
I would like to test how well the post is working next month. I can offer to three members who collect Thai stamps a free used King Prajadhipok (Rama 7) 10 baht 1928 stamp. These are Scott 220 and SG 264. Now Stampworld values these at $13.98 each but I do suspect that this is a rather high valuation. Siamese stamps of this period tend to have a rather heavy postmark.
Ideally these would go to members who already collect Thailand and Siam. The only conditions are you message me when it (hopefully) arrives and that you don't then sell it on Stamporama as I wouldn't mind being the one who did that.
I need one volunteer from the US or Canada, one from the UK and one from continental Western Europe. Sorry for now to members in Australia but presently the air transport connection and post going there from Thailand is seriously delayed. (I have family and friends in all the eastern Australian states.) Maybe when it improves you can twist my arm and ask for one.
I will use unregistered airmail with a small envelope reinforced with card. I will use the post office labels rather than nice stamps which may stop pilfering at this end.
So message me and tell me you collect Thai stamps. I will pick three lucky winners and in the next few weeks send off the post. It will at least give me an idea how well the post is working.
Danny
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Thanks for the response. Anyone in Western Europe collecting Thailand? I will put the names in a 'hat' on Tuesday morning my time (still Monday for most of you.)I will let my wife draw out the ticket for each region. If you don't win I will try and find something else to send later.
Danny
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OK, I'm closing the list now. Only one each from the UK and Western Europe so they are winners. I will draw the winner from the US and Canada later today. I will post out sometime next week. If I can I will post something nice to those who don't win in the draw the following week just to get a bit more data for the test.
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Well there were seven responses with just one from the UK and one from France so Nigel and Michel yours will be in the first ones posted early next week. Seeing all seven of you have different first names I think you know who you are. I decided to split Canada and the US so Doug and Charlie yours will also be posted early next week. I had a look through my hoard and Paul, Michael and David I will send you the same stamp about 7 - 10 days after the first four go out to continue the postal test. (I must have bought a bulk lot of these back in the 1980s, but they had obviously been picked for postmarks already.)
They have the heavy postmarks typical of the period. One has a hinge remnant. No obvious, to my eyes at least, other problems. I would call them good used, but in eBay speak they would extra fine used
King Prajadhipok was the seventh monarch of the present dynasty and the second youngest of King Chulalongkorn's (Rama 5) 77 children and so wasn't prepared to become king. He was the last absolute monarch in Siam as the revolution of 1932 turned the country into a constitutional monarchy. King Prajadhipok eventually abdicated and lived the rest of his life fairly quietly in England.
Here's the seven stamps which I will post out. I will add a comment here on the day they posted. Please would those who receive them post a comment or PM me when they arrive.
I will use 6½ x 3½ inch (16.5 x 9.5 cm) lightweight airmail envelopes with card stiffeners. The stamp will be in a small plastic zip-lock bag taped to the card. (I know tape not so good.) Anyway below are the stamps to be posted.
Enjoy, Danny
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This is a very cool project Danny. Good luck with it.
Will be interesting to see if the Thailand-Canada route is any more efficient than the Canada-Australia journey (my last two mailings took between 46 days and "never" to reach there)...
Dave.
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Thanks, Danny!
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"Will be interesting to see if the Thailand-Canada route is any more efficient than the Canada-Australia journey (my last two mailings took between 46 days and "never" to reach there)..."
Dave, that's the reason I'm not including Australia in the free stamp offer. I think both Australia and New Zealand took the right approach to stopping the Covid pandemic in their countries, but until air transport returns to something like normal we have to expect slow postal delivery times.
I buy off someone in Fiji on eBay. I'm guessing the Fiji mail goes through either Australia or New Zealand. I knew the post would be slow as a friend told me he had bought from the same seller, but it does eventually get through. The two deliveries not very long ago took 78 days and 55 days.
Anyway that's why I am testing our delivery times before jumping in as a seller
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04:02:22am
" ... The two deliveries not very long ago took 78 days and 55 days. ..."
But I bet they were even more appreciated when they arrived.
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I am waiting for the enveloppe to arrive. A fine project. I would like to kow the result of the experiment, when it is achieved obviuosly. Michel
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I live a few miles away from Bangkok's 'new' airport. Pre-Covid I could see planes either coming in or going out regularly. At busy times just after darkness their lights would be visible on the horizon every 2 or 3 minutes. It has not been busy for over a year now, but this morning quite a few aircraft flying over us. Today is the official ending of restrictions on vaccinated tourists visiting Thailand so it looks promising. Hopefully there will be knock-on affect with international post. I plan on posting the first four envelopes on Thursday and the other three a week later. (Thursday is when I go out for a coffee or two with some friends at a coffee shop in one of our many shopping malls.) There are two post offices on the way, the main district 10250 Onnut office and a sub-post office in the mall next to where I drink the coffee
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Danny, i had a collector from Australia purchase a cover from me on eBay early in October. I told him i had no idea how long delivery would take and to let me know when it arrived. It arrived in exactly 21 days....not too bad i thought.
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I think I read last week that Australia is opening up travel corridors (do they call them bubbles?) to certain countries. I saw Singapore mentioned. If they open up to Thailand, just up the road a bit, I can try out the post to there. Seems lots of planes that had been stacked near Alice Springs in Australia's center, are being made ready for service.
Air traffic in and out of Bangkok's main airport was light last night, but certainly picked up a bit from before.
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First four go out tomorrow.
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So the test started today. The first 4 small airmail envelopes all weighing under 10 grams with card and plastic bag protection of the stamp. Destinations were France, the UK, Canada and the US.
I used the sub-post office in the Haha shopping mall which is connected by a foot bridge to the mall where I have my Thursday coffee meeting with friends. Ha Ha in Thai actually sounds like 55 and this mall is at the intersection of Soi (lane) 55 and the main road. (So in emails to or from a Thai person, 555 means laughing.)
Now here is where it gets strange. The cost, roughly converted to USD for a small under 20 gram airmail letter to Canada was $0.85, To France and the UK $1.03 but to the US it was $1.61. Now according to the rate sheet the US should have been $1.06 so what was going on?
I found the image below posted on the Thai Post's website. It is about Covid restrictions on international mail. The first line of the chart is mail to the US. In the last column of this line where I have added the blue circle you will see there is no airmail letters to the US weighing 40 gram or under. Of course what they mean is there no small letter 20 gram rate and everything up to 40 grams is charged at 50 gram rate. Quite what the Covid connection is I'm not sure. I will get someone to translate it later.
Anyway the test is off and running. Another 3 letters to post next week. I will PM the first 4 'targets' today
Stay safe
Danny
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The translation for the first column showing the countries is as follows. I'm still not sure what the connection with Covid is.
USA
France
Brasil
Mexico
Slovakia
Slovenia
China
Japan
New Zealand
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Next (last) three posted today. Same post office as before as it was next door to my Thursday coffee lunchtime meet up. I was hoping at least one of last week's envelopes had made it through, but that was probably wishful thinking. Off to view lots in Bangkok's premier stamp auction tomorrow.
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Hi Danny,
I'm delighted to report that I received the Thai stamp in today's post.
Thanks again!
Nigel (in the UK)
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Thank you Nigel. You are the first. Enjoy and I will start to build the spreadsheet with delivery times now
That one was delivered in 8 days. That's not great but I was hoping all of them will make it in two weeks, so fingers crossed.
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Well not going so well with the first four. Just one to the UK arrived within two weeks (8 days actually) but the other three, Canada, France and the US yet to show. I guess I jumped the gun a bit and maybe after the new year would be a better test. The later three envelopes have just passed their first week in transit. There does seem to be more aircraft in the sky over Bangkok airport so hopefully it will improve.
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DannyS Do not be discouraged. Mail at the best of times can take 10 or 14 days from Europe and Asia.
I hope I will be able to give you a positive report next week.
Doug
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Thanks Doug. That was 15 days travel time. I actually thought Canada would be the slowest after past experience of sending books there. US and France still to arrive from the first lot.
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In the past few months I sent envelopes at the same time from Ontario Canada to England (received in 8 days), Indiana USA (just over 2 months), and two to Australia (just over one month for #1 and "still not arrived" for #2 two months later).
It's all a massive crap shoot these days...
I'll let you know when we hit the jackpot here for your mailing Danny.
Cheers, Dave.
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Thanks Dave
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Interesting post .... Cheryl
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As of Sunday, Nov 21, nothing to report in France. Michel
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Thanks Michel.
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12:12:32pm
" ... As of Sunday, Nov 21, nothing to report in France. Michel. . "
Nor here.
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Nor here either (Texas, USA)
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I guess I have to hope for arrival in a 30 day window. I think past that it makes selling from here not very feasible at the moment.
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I think I may have jumped the gun a bit. I have been watching the online flight tracker and although Bangkok's main airport is busier than last year, it is nothing like 2019. Most flights are internal, regional or one of the Gulf airlines. Hardly any direct ones to Europe, North America or even Japan. It seems a lot airmail has been moved by cargo aircraft so the Thai post office is finding what space and connections they can. I did notice a FedEx flight inward bound a couple of hours ago though so it looks like the courier cowboys are still running. Let's see how it is in the new year although still interested in the delivery times on this lot.
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h
It did arrive in France on Nov 23rd. THanks, and good luck to the end of your testing. Michel
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So good to hear Michel. I was going to post earlier that on an online flight tracker I saw a few hours ago an Air France flight heading to Paris. That got me thinking about how the Thai post office would send mail to France. My guess is that would have a mail contract with the Thai International airline, another state owned company. So I looked up what flights Thai was running to Paris and at the moment it is just one a week leaving over the weekends. Let's say that this was on last weekend's flight and arrived in Paris on Sunday, would that make sense in you receiving it today? If so that would mean the envelope missed two weekend flights. Could be a backlog I guess.
Thai have flights into London 5 days a week which would explain why the UK arrived quicker. The US and Canada I'm still trying to figure out
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A flight arriving in CDG (Paris airport) on week-end, I am not surprised to have the mail delivered at home the following Tuesday. It would be on the excellent side of the service. Usually most of the time we still have the J+2 delivery for first class mail. I assume that international mail is considered fist class.
Anyway, thanks and gook luck for your future sales. Michel
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Hey Danny. Your envelope arrived today, 12 days after being mailed. I think that's an incredibly fast delivery from your part of the world (see my previous comments on mailing times from elsewhere) and that should give you positive feedback about selling to Canada in future.
Also loved the mailing label, much better than ours!
And finally, your cost Thailand-Canada was 28.00 Baht - that's CA$1.07. My cost to send the stamp back to you would be CA$2.71. Unbelievable!
Congrats on this initiative - I think it worked out great for you.
Cheers, Dave.
P.S. Yesterday, when I posted my final few envelopes from my last sale, I asked about delivery of a letter to Thailand. They looked it up and said "we estimate 4-6 weeks to be safe".
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Another win Dave. 12 and 15 days for the two envelopes into Canada. The France and UK deliveries do make some sense to me now. Thanks for the information Michel. I suspect your one didn't even leave Thailand until last Saturday. That leaves the three on their way to the US. Going back to my idea that Thai Airways International has most of the Thai post office contracts I wonder who has the contracts for mail going to the US. Thai International lost its FAA category one license even before Covid over poor safety regulations here in Thailand. That means it was not running regular flights into the US. I think the recent flights have been repatriation flights for Thais returning home during Covid. I will ask around and see if I can find out which airline has the contract. If it's with a cargo airline it could explain why there is no 20 gram rate into the US. Maybe US delivery problems have nothing to do with Covid. I don't think there are any US airlines flying scheduled services here at the moment.
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I asked on one of the local forums about airmail post into the US and who is carrying it. An answer was various airlines with stopovers in their country of origin. He was finding about 40 days was to be expected on parcels even before Covid. Hopefully airmail envelopes will travel quicker.
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Just bumping this post. It's now 27 days since the first mailing to the US and 20 days for another two. All the other non-US mailings made it without terrible delays. It does seem to be a problem of no scheduled flights to the US from Thailand. Right now 30 days would seem like a win
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I'm still on the lookout, in Anchorage, Alaska, USA. LOL
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Fingers crossed
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Our mail delivery here always slows down this time of year though and some days we get skipped completely. Sometimes its weather related and sometimes staffing issues I think.
Mind you DHL got a package here from Maidstone in England in 5 days, door to door.
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02:08:22am
Danny,
WE went over to a daughter's house this weekend
and did not check the mailbox until we returned.
And when my Son-in-law did this evening, guess
what popped out ?
Apparently desperate to escape the clutches of
the USPS your envelope almost jumped into Rob's
jacket pocket.
Drum Roll and Beat to Colors, HUZZAR.
So your envelope arrived late Friday or more
likely sometime Saturday, finally, and in good order.
Yours, Charlie
The missinng link
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Charlie,
That is so very good to hear. I will take last Saturday as the arrival date which will make it exactly 30 days. I doubt it, but were there any transit marks on the envelope? I suspect it stayed in a large bag of mail which passed through a third country airport.
Paul and Michael this means we should be looking at next weekend for yours to be delivered. If the last two arrive I will feel far more confident in selling on SoR. I think another test run may be worth doing after the Christmas/New Year holidays if the original volunteers are up for it and the last two arrive in about the same delivery window. I would like to try it using 'real' stamps instead of the post office labels. The gift would only be some low value stamps from the same period.
Danny
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01:49:14am
" ... The gift would only be some low value
stamps from the same period. ..."
Any postally used Thai stamps are
appreciated, Danny, just no love letters.
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I promise no love letters
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"...just no love letters..."
Hey Danny.
As you can tell from his avatar, Charlie is a cranky old geezer.
I'm a cranky young geezer, and would gladly accept a love letter. Might make my wife jealous enough to give me a little extra "something-something" over her two week Christmas get-away from the little brats at her school.
BTW, would it be worthwhile for your recipients to send something back to you to see how the return post is? I'd be happy to do so - but I'd wait until late-January to get past the Christmas rush and give a more realistic view.
Cheers, Dave.
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I'll keep my fingers crossed. I've been waiting to receive a package that was mailed to me from Nebraska, and according to the tracking data has been sitting in the post office in Kansas City for a week. That's only 717 miles away from me. Let's see which one gets here first!
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Hello Dave
I can't promise a love letter. I have two of the seven original letters still to arrive, both to the US and they have passed the 30 day window. I would be happy to receive mail from others, but I have to admit my own incoming purchases come to me via my daughter in Wales as I don't like to place the temptation of unregistered mail in front of the staff at the main international incoming mail sorting facility here. Charlie is sending me one which will be interesting.
Following on from love letters, back in the late sixties or early seventies two writers collected copies of letters sent by bargirls to, I think, mainly GIs who had spent R&R periods in Bangkok. One of the writers had made a living by writing these letters for his clientele. I think it's available on Amazon Kindle called Hello My Big, Big Honey. Nowadays I guess it's all done by email
Still hoping for good news on the last two letters.
Danny
p.s. I don't publish the above book in English although I do publish the German language eBook edition One of the authors died a few years back under mysterious circumstances at Angkor Wat in Cambodia, but the other, an American journalist, is still writing books about the weird and wonderful in this region. I haven't seen him for more than a year because I don't get out that much since the Covid lockdowns.
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My package from Kansas arrived today. It was sent via 2-Day Priority Mail. It took about 10 days to arrive.
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Mail from England has been arriving ok and on time. Takes about a week from Suffolk in England to Anchorage in Alaska. I figured it would slow down for Christmas but as I just got a package the other day my mom mailed a week prior, it doesn't seem to have done so yet.
Sadly still nothing form Thailand though. I would be more than glad to send you something by return post just to see if it is any quicker the other way though.
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Thanks Paul. I started off hoping they would all arrive within 30 days but the response I got on the local forums was I should add another 15 days to expected delivery times into the US. Right now I'm just hoping they arrive at all
Hold off on sending me anything until we see whether they turn up. It does seem the Thai post office is holding back mail until they find a carrier to take a larger amount.
The first one to be sent to the US did get there in exactly 30 days but right now we are mixed in with all the Christmas mail.
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I saw an announcement yesterday from the postal service. They stated that mail volumes during this holiday season are higher than last year, and that the postal service has staff shortages slowing down mail handling. Even my post office asked me if I wanted a job there.
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Sounds good Danny, I will stand by on returning anything for now. I am ever optimistic and hopeful for the mail though and am keeping my fingers crossed I get yours before Christmas. 
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Exciting news Danny!
I see from todays Daily Digest e-mail (a preview of the mail supposedly being delivered by the post office that day) that there is a letter in there from Thailand. Seeing as I don't know anybody else in Thailand, I'm putting money on the fact it's yours.
I will inspect it further when I get home and actually have it in my hands, but looks like it arrived in time for Christmas. I'll report back this evening when I have looked it over and will let you know if I spot any clues about its journey.
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That's a bit of good news.
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Wonderful news, yes. Sadly there were no clues as to where it went on its journey. The envelope was remarkably clean. Thank you so much for doing that though, I don’t have the stamp you sent so it’s new to my collection.
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Thanks for the news. That is exactly 40 days. Just one to land now and that's going to Texas. Once that one arrives I will ponder on how to go ahead. I now suspect the airmail bags leave here once a month or when they build up to certain weight which makes some sort of sense. I know for the US they have dropped the 20 and 40 gram airmail rates so everything, no matter how small, moves up to the next weight. We really need to Thai Airways to restart US flights as soon as possible.
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The letter to Texas landed this morning (December 21). Thank you!
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Thank Michael and Paul. So they both took 40 days. I'm trying to make sense of the travel time but it seems to lack any logic.
So the letter to the US which was posted on the 4th November took 30 days to arrive while the two that left on the 11th November took 40 days. The second two were going to such totally different parts of the US that it points to the delay not being in the US. It leaves either it being at this end waiting on a flight or at a transshipment hub country awaiting an onward flight. I have read on the local forums about a trackable item that this could well be Turkey.
Thanks to everyone taking part.
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"The second two were going to such totally different parts of the US that it points to the delay not being in the US"
Danny, that is not necessarily true. It depends where the point of entry to the US the mail came. Mail entering through Chicago customs does not come out of there very fast. St. Louis is also very slow processing incoming mail. New York City and San Francisco are generally quick. Without any entry marks on the envelope, there's no way of knowing where the envelope came into the US. Remember, this is US Customs, not the postal service.
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Some cities remain back logged from last year
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I should write an email to the senior manager in charge of outgoing Thai post and see if there is a explanation. I'm sure the sailing ships probably did it faster in the Nineteenth Century.
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This post has been moved to this discussion topic as it has run its course as a classified ad. Danny, if you no longer need this information, I can delete this post for you.
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No, it's fine right here. Best wishes for this new year.
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Is the little white label, with the addressee name on it, to make up for insufficient postage? seems to me that 20 Baht is way too cheap for international mail.
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The white label is a standard postage label out of a post office clerk's printer. It looks like the stamps were put on by the sender and then taken to the post office. 20 baht may have been the 20 gram airmail rate, but the envelope was 2 grams over so the clerk in Samut Sakhon (a little to the west of Bangkok) charged the sender another 21 baht to make up the 40 gram rate.
As of the 1st November there was no longer a 20 or 40 gram airmail rate so today it would cost 53 baht. This was sent on the 25th September. Can you recall when it arrived in Texas?
p.s. I suspect the 20 baht stamps were a few baht under the 20 gram rate which is why the sender took it to the post office. If the sender hadn't put the stamps on, it may just have crept in on the 20 gram rate
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Not all that far from where I live, considering the distances in Texas!
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By the way the elephant on the bottom of the label is obviously squashed. It wasn't always that way. The label printers, I think from Pitney Bowes, originally printed a larger label. When the label was made shorter the elephant in the design became shorter but still had its original width. I don't know enough about how the Pitney Bowes postage meter printers work to say why this was never fixed.
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It arrived on 12/4/21.
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"It arrived on 12/4/21."
Wow, that's scary from where I'm sitting. That works out at 70 days. My test letters took 30 days for one and 40 days for the other two, so it was a bit better in November. Thailand Post will have sort out the US airmail otherwise local businesses will start to complain.
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It doesn't surprise me, lately a month or two, even three is the norm for mail to arrive from the Far East.
Delays to Europe are also extreme, I heard that due to the covid-19 all the mail goes to the Netherlands and from
there to their respective countries, I letter to Western Europe used to take a week max, now two or three or even a whole mont is the norm.
On our part I think the Joy of having a "great" postmaster may have something to do with it, I say.
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I have an ebay purchase from Hong Kong so not sure when it will arrive.
Update: mailed 12/21 per seller and it showed up today (Jan 5) in Informed Delivery.
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I had been planning to try my hand at selling both approvals and in the auction. Then along came Covid and the international post out of Thailand went to hell in a handcart. Postal charges went up considerably and as we all know prices seldom go down. Next month Thailand is opening up to foreign tourists who have been vaccinated and are prepared to jump through a few hoops with testing so there will be an increase in air transport hopefully.
I would like to test how well the post is working next month. I can offer to three members who collect Thai stamps a free used King Prajadhipok (Rama 7) 10 baht 1928 stamp. These are Scott 220 and SG 264. Now Stampworld values these at $13.98 each but I do suspect that this is a rather high valuation. Siamese stamps of this period tend to have a rather heavy postmark.
Ideally these would go to members who already collect Thailand and Siam. The only conditions are you message me when it (hopefully) arrives and that you don't then sell it on Stamporama as I wouldn't mind being the one who did that.
I need one volunteer from the US or Canada, one from the UK and one from continental Western Europe. Sorry for now to members in Australia but presently the air transport connection and post going there from Thailand is seriously delayed. (I have family and friends in all the eastern Australian states.) Maybe when it improves you can twist my arm and ask for one.
I will use unregistered airmail with a small envelope reinforced with card. I will use the post office labels rather than nice stamps which may stop pilfering at this end.
So message me and tell me you collect Thai stamps. I will pick three lucky winners and in the next few weeks send off the post. It will at least give me an idea how well the post is working.
Danny
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re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
Thanks for the response. Anyone in Western Europe collecting Thailand? I will put the names in a 'hat' on Tuesday morning my time (still Monday for most of you.)I will let my wife draw out the ticket for each region. If you don't win I will try and find something else to send later.
Danny
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re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
OK, I'm closing the list now. Only one each from the UK and Western Europe so they are winners. I will draw the winner from the US and Canada later today. I will post out sometime next week. If I can I will post something nice to those who don't win in the draw the following week just to get a bit more data for the test.
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re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
Well there were seven responses with just one from the UK and one from France so Nigel and Michel yours will be in the first ones posted early next week. Seeing all seven of you have different first names I think you know who you are. I decided to split Canada and the US so Doug and Charlie yours will also be posted early next week. I had a look through my hoard and Paul, Michael and David I will send you the same stamp about 7 - 10 days after the first four go out to continue the postal test. (I must have bought a bulk lot of these back in the 1980s, but they had obviously been picked for postmarks already.)
They have the heavy postmarks typical of the period. One has a hinge remnant. No obvious, to my eyes at least, other problems. I would call them good used, but in eBay speak they would extra fine used
King Prajadhipok was the seventh monarch of the present dynasty and the second youngest of King Chulalongkorn's (Rama 5) 77 children and so wasn't prepared to become king. He was the last absolute monarch in Siam as the revolution of 1932 turned the country into a constitutional monarchy. King Prajadhipok eventually abdicated and lived the rest of his life fairly quietly in England.
Here's the seven stamps which I will post out. I will add a comment here on the day they posted. Please would those who receive them post a comment or PM me when they arrive.
I will use 6½ x 3½ inch (16.5 x 9.5 cm) lightweight airmail envelopes with card stiffeners. The stamp will be in a small plastic zip-lock bag taped to the card. (I know tape not so good.) Anyway below are the stamps to be posted.
Enjoy, Danny
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01:52:22pm
re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
This is a very cool project Danny. Good luck with it.
Will be interesting to see if the Thailand-Canada route is any more efficient than the Canada-Australia journey (my last two mailings took between 46 days and "never" to reach there)...
Dave.
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09:30:15pm
re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
Thanks, Danny!
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re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
"Will be interesting to see if the Thailand-Canada route is any more efficient than the Canada-Australia journey (my last two mailings took between 46 days and "never" to reach there)..."
Dave, that's the reason I'm not including Australia in the free stamp offer. I think both Australia and New Zealand took the right approach to stopping the Covid pandemic in their countries, but until air transport returns to something like normal we have to expect slow postal delivery times.
I buy off someone in Fiji on eBay. I'm guessing the Fiji mail goes through either Australia or New Zealand. I knew the post would be slow as a friend told me he had bought from the same seller, but it does eventually get through. The two deliveries not very long ago took 78 days and 55 days.
Anyway that's why I am testing our delivery times before jumping in as a seller
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Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..
28 Oct 2021
04:02:22am
re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
" ... The two deliveries not very long ago took 78 days and 55 days. ..."
But I bet they were even more appreciated when they arrived.
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10:27:45am
re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
I am waiting for the enveloppe to arrive. A fine project. I would like to kow the result of the experiment, when it is achieved obviuosly. Michel
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re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
I live a few miles away from Bangkok's 'new' airport. Pre-Covid I could see planes either coming in or going out regularly. At busy times just after darkness their lights would be visible on the horizon every 2 or 3 minutes. It has not been busy for over a year now, but this morning quite a few aircraft flying over us. Today is the official ending of restrictions on vaccinated tourists visiting Thailand so it looks promising. Hopefully there will be knock-on affect with international post. I plan on posting the first four envelopes on Thursday and the other three a week later. (Thursday is when I go out for a coffee or two with some friends at a coffee shop in one of our many shopping malls.) There are two post offices on the way, the main district 10250 Onnut office and a sub-post office in the mall next to where I drink the coffee
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re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
Danny, i had a collector from Australia purchase a cover from me on eBay early in October. I told him i had no idea how long delivery would take and to let me know when it arrived. It arrived in exactly 21 days....not too bad i thought.
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re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
I think I read last week that Australia is opening up travel corridors (do they call them bubbles?) to certain countries. I saw Singapore mentioned. If they open up to Thailand, just up the road a bit, I can try out the post to there. Seems lots of planes that had been stacked near Alice Springs in Australia's center, are being made ready for service.
Air traffic in and out of Bangkok's main airport was light last night, but certainly picked up a bit from before.
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re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
First four go out tomorrow.
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re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
So the test started today. The first 4 small airmail envelopes all weighing under 10 grams with card and plastic bag protection of the stamp. Destinations were France, the UK, Canada and the US.
I used the sub-post office in the Haha shopping mall which is connected by a foot bridge to the mall where I have my Thursday coffee meeting with friends. Ha Ha in Thai actually sounds like 55 and this mall is at the intersection of Soi (lane) 55 and the main road. (So in emails to or from a Thai person, 555 means laughing.)
Now here is where it gets strange. The cost, roughly converted to USD for a small under 20 gram airmail letter to Canada was $0.85, To France and the UK $1.03 but to the US it was $1.61. Now according to the rate sheet the US should have been $1.06 so what was going on?
I found the image below posted on the Thai Post's website. It is about Covid restrictions on international mail. The first line of the chart is mail to the US. In the last column of this line where I have added the blue circle you will see there is no airmail letters to the US weighing 40 gram or under. Of course what they mean is there no small letter 20 gram rate and everything up to 40 grams is charged at 50 gram rate. Quite what the Covid connection is I'm not sure. I will get someone to translate it later.
Anyway the test is off and running. Another 3 letters to post next week. I will PM the first 4 'targets' today
Stay safe
Danny
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re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
The translation for the first column showing the countries is as follows. I'm still not sure what the connection with Covid is.
USA
France
Brasil
Mexico
Slovakia
Slovenia
China
Japan
New Zealand
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re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
Next (last) three posted today. Same post office as before as it was next door to my Thursday coffee lunchtime meet up. I was hoping at least one of last week's envelopes had made it through, but that was probably wishful thinking. Off to view lots in Bangkok's premier stamp auction tomorrow.
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re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
Hi Danny,
I'm delighted to report that I received the Thai stamp in today's post.
Thanks again!
Nigel (in the UK)
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re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
Thank you Nigel. You are the first. Enjoy and I will start to build the spreadsheet with delivery times now
That one was delivered in 8 days. That's not great but I was hoping all of them will make it in two weeks, so fingers crossed.
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re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
Well not going so well with the first four. Just one to the UK arrived within two weeks (8 days actually) but the other three, Canada, France and the US yet to show. I guess I jumped the gun a bit and maybe after the new year would be a better test. The later three envelopes have just passed their first week in transit. There does seem to be more aircraft in the sky over Bangkok airport so hopefully it will improve.
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re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
Thanks Doug. That was 15 days travel time. I actually thought Canada would be the slowest after past experience of sending books there. US and France still to arrive from the first lot.
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11:06:19pm
re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
In the past few months I sent envelopes at the same time from Ontario Canada to England (received in 8 days), Indiana USA (just over 2 months), and two to Australia (just over one month for #1 and "still not arrived" for #2 two months later).
It's all a massive crap shoot these days...
I'll let you know when we hit the jackpot here for your mailing Danny.
Cheers, Dave.
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re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
Thanks Dave
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10:46:16am
re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
Interesting post .... Cheryl
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10:15:22am
re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
As of Sunday, Nov 21, nothing to report in France. Michel
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re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
Thanks Michel.
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Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..
21 Nov 2021
12:12:32pm
re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
" ... As of Sunday, Nov 21, nothing to report in France. Michel. . "
Nor here.
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09:00:23pm
re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
Nor here either (Texas, USA)
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re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
I guess I have to hope for arrival in a 30 day window. I think past that it makes selling from here not very feasible at the moment.
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re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
I think I may have jumped the gun a bit. I have been watching the online flight tracker and although Bangkok's main airport is busier than last year, it is nothing like 2019. Most flights are internal, regional or one of the Gulf airlines. Hardly any direct ones to Europe, North America or even Japan. It seems a lot airmail has been moved by cargo aircraft so the Thai post office is finding what space and connections they can. I did notice a FedEx flight inward bound a couple of hours ago though so it looks like the courier cowboys are still running. Let's see how it is in the new year although still interested in the delivery times on this lot.
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08:20:16am
re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
hIt did arrive in France on Nov 23rd. THanks, and good luck to the end of your testing. Michel
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re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
So good to hear Michel. I was going to post earlier that on an online flight tracker I saw a few hours ago an Air France flight heading to Paris. That got me thinking about how the Thai post office would send mail to France. My guess is that would have a mail contract with the Thai International airline, another state owned company. So I looked up what flights Thai was running to Paris and at the moment it is just one a week leaving over the weekends. Let's say that this was on last weekend's flight and arrived in Paris on Sunday, would that make sense in you receiving it today? If so that would mean the envelope missed two weekend flights. Could be a backlog I guess.
Thai have flights into London 5 days a week which would explain why the UK arrived quicker. The US and Canada I'm still trying to figure out
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12:38:00pm
re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
A flight arriving in CDG (Paris airport) on week-end, I am not surprised to have the mail delivered at home the following Tuesday. It would be on the excellent side of the service. Usually most of the time we still have the J+2 delivery for first class mail. I assume that international mail is considered fist class.
Anyway, thanks and gook luck for your future sales. Michel
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02:26:25pm
re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
Hey Danny. Your envelope arrived today, 12 days after being mailed. I think that's an incredibly fast delivery from your part of the world (see my previous comments on mailing times from elsewhere) and that should give you positive feedback about selling to Canada in future.
Also loved the mailing label, much better than ours!
And finally, your cost Thailand-Canada was 28.00 Baht - that's CA$1.07. My cost to send the stamp back to you would be CA$2.71. Unbelievable!
Congrats on this initiative - I think it worked out great for you.
Cheers, Dave.
P.S. Yesterday, when I posted my final few envelopes from my last sale, I asked about delivery of a letter to Thailand. They looked it up and said "we estimate 4-6 weeks to be safe".
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re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
Another win Dave. 12 and 15 days for the two envelopes into Canada. The France and UK deliveries do make some sense to me now. Thanks for the information Michel. I suspect your one didn't even leave Thailand until last Saturday. That leaves the three on their way to the US. Going back to my idea that Thai Airways International has most of the Thai post office contracts I wonder who has the contracts for mail going to the US. Thai International lost its FAA category one license even before Covid over poor safety regulations here in Thailand. That means it was not running regular flights into the US. I think the recent flights have been repatriation flights for Thais returning home during Covid. I will ask around and see if I can find out which airline has the contract. If it's with a cargo airline it could explain why there is no 20 gram rate into the US. Maybe US delivery problems have nothing to do with Covid. I don't think there are any US airlines flying scheduled services here at the moment.
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re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
I asked on one of the local forums about airmail post into the US and who is carrying it. An answer was various airlines with stopovers in their country of origin. He was finding about 40 days was to be expected on parcels even before Covid. Hopefully airmail envelopes will travel quicker.
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re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
Just bumping this post. It's now 27 days since the first mailing to the US and 20 days for another two. All the other non-US mailings made it without terrible delays. It does seem to be a problem of no scheduled flights to the US from Thailand. Right now 30 days would seem like a win
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re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
I'm still on the lookout, in Anchorage, Alaska, USA. LOL
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re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
Fingers crossed
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re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
Our mail delivery here always slows down this time of year though and some days we get skipped completely. Sometimes its weather related and sometimes staffing issues I think.
Mind you DHL got a package here from Maidstone in England in 5 days, door to door.
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Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..
07 Dec 2021
02:08:22am
re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
Danny,
WE went over to a daughter's house this weekend
and did not check the mailbox until we returned.
And when my Son-in-law did this evening, guess
what popped out ?
Apparently desperate to escape the clutches of
the USPS your envelope almost jumped into Rob's
jacket pocket.
Drum Roll and Beat to Colors, HUZZAR.
So your envelope arrived late Friday or more
likely sometime Saturday, finally, and in good order.
Yours, Charlie
The missinng link
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re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
Charlie,
That is so very good to hear. I will take last Saturday as the arrival date which will make it exactly 30 days. I doubt it, but were there any transit marks on the envelope? I suspect it stayed in a large bag of mail which passed through a third country airport.
Paul and Michael this means we should be looking at next weekend for yours to be delivered. If the last two arrive I will feel far more confident in selling on SoR. I think another test run may be worth doing after the Christmas/New Year holidays if the original volunteers are up for it and the last two arrive in about the same delivery window. I would like to try it using 'real' stamps instead of the post office labels. The gift would only be some low value stamps from the same period.
Danny
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Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..
13 Dec 2021
01:49:14am
re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
" ... The gift would only be some low value
stamps from the same period. ..."
Any postally used Thai stamps are
appreciated, Danny, just no love letters.
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re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
I promise no love letters
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06:11:40pm
re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
"...just no love letters..."
Hey Danny.
As you can tell from his avatar, Charlie is a cranky old geezer.
I'm a cranky young geezer, and would gladly accept a love letter. Might make my wife jealous enough to give me a little extra "something-something" over her two week Christmas get-away from the little brats at her school.
BTW, would it be worthwhile for your recipients to send something back to you to see how the return post is? I'd be happy to do so - but I'd wait until late-January to get past the Christmas rush and give a more realistic view.
Cheers, Dave.
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10:19:38pm
re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
I'll keep my fingers crossed. I've been waiting to receive a package that was mailed to me from Nebraska, and according to the tracking data has been sitting in the post office in Kansas City for a week. That's only 717 miles away from me. Let's see which one gets here first!
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re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
Hello Dave
I can't promise a love letter. I have two of the seven original letters still to arrive, both to the US and they have passed the 30 day window. I would be happy to receive mail from others, but I have to admit my own incoming purchases come to me via my daughter in Wales as I don't like to place the temptation of unregistered mail in front of the staff at the main international incoming mail sorting facility here. Charlie is sending me one which will be interesting.
Following on from love letters, back in the late sixties or early seventies two writers collected copies of letters sent by bargirls to, I think, mainly GIs who had spent R&R periods in Bangkok. One of the writers had made a living by writing these letters for his clientele. I think it's available on Amazon Kindle called Hello My Big, Big Honey. Nowadays I guess it's all done by email
Still hoping for good news on the last two letters.
Danny
p.s. I don't publish the above book in English although I do publish the German language eBook edition One of the authors died a few years back under mysterious circumstances at Angkor Wat in Cambodia, but the other, an American journalist, is still writing books about the weird and wonderful in this region. I haven't seen him for more than a year because I don't get out that much since the Covid lockdowns.
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04:26:44pm
re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
My package from Kansas arrived today. It was sent via 2-Day Priority Mail. It took about 10 days to arrive.
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re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
Mail from England has been arriving ok and on time. Takes about a week from Suffolk in England to Anchorage in Alaska. I figured it would slow down for Christmas but as I just got a package the other day my mom mailed a week prior, it doesn't seem to have done so yet.
Sadly still nothing form Thailand though. I would be more than glad to send you something by return post just to see if it is any quicker the other way though.
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re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
Thanks Paul. I started off hoping they would all arrive within 30 days but the response I got on the local forums was I should add another 15 days to expected delivery times into the US. Right now I'm just hoping they arrive at all
Hold off on sending me anything until we see whether they turn up. It does seem the Thai post office is holding back mail until they find a carrier to take a larger amount.
The first one to be sent to the US did get there in exactly 30 days but right now we are mixed in with all the Christmas mail.
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08:46:53pm
re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
I saw an announcement yesterday from the postal service. They stated that mail volumes during this holiday season are higher than last year, and that the postal service has staff shortages slowing down mail handling. Even my post office asked me if I wanted a job there.
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re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
Sounds good Danny, I will stand by on returning anything for now. I am ever optimistic and hopeful for the mail though and am keeping my fingers crossed I get yours before Christmas.
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re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
Exciting news Danny!
I see from todays Daily Digest e-mail (a preview of the mail supposedly being delivered by the post office that day) that there is a letter in there from Thailand. Seeing as I don't know anybody else in Thailand, I'm putting money on the fact it's yours.
I will inspect it further when I get home and actually have it in my hands, but looks like it arrived in time for Christmas. I'll report back this evening when I have looked it over and will let you know if I spot any clues about its journey.
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re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
That's a bit of good news.
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re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
Wonderful news, yes. Sadly there were no clues as to where it went on its journey. The envelope was remarkably clean. Thank you so much for doing that though, I don’t have the stamp you sent so it’s new to my collection.
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re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
Thanks for the news. That is exactly 40 days. Just one to land now and that's going to Texas. Once that one arrives I will ponder on how to go ahead. I now suspect the airmail bags leave here once a month or when they build up to certain weight which makes some sort of sense. I know for the US they have dropped the 20 and 40 gram airmail rates so everything, no matter how small, moves up to the next weight. We really need to Thai Airways to restart US flights as soon as possible.
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09:31:13am
re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
The letter to Texas landed this morning (December 21). Thank you!
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re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
Thank Michael and Paul. So they both took 40 days. I'm trying to make sense of the travel time but it seems to lack any logic.
So the letter to the US which was posted on the 4th November took 30 days to arrive while the two that left on the 11th November took 40 days. The second two were going to such totally different parts of the US that it points to the delay not being in the US. It leaves either it being at this end waiting on a flight or at a transshipment hub country awaiting an onward flight. I have read on the local forums about a trackable item that this could well be Turkey.
Thanks to everyone taking part.
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10:38:35pm
re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
"The second two were going to such totally different parts of the US that it points to the delay not being in the US"
Danny, that is not necessarily true. It depends where the point of entry to the US the mail came. Mail entering through Chicago customs does not come out of there very fast. St. Louis is also very slow processing incoming mail. New York City and San Francisco are generally quick. Without any entry marks on the envelope, there's no way of knowing where the envelope came into the US. Remember, this is US Customs, not the postal service.
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re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
Some cities remain back logged from last year
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re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
I should write an email to the senior manager in charge of outgoing Thai post and see if there is a explanation. I'm sure the sailing ships probably did it faster in the Nineteenth Century.
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11:57:10pm
re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
This post has been moved to this discussion topic as it has run its course as a classified ad. Danny, if you no longer need this information, I can delete this post for you.
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re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
No, it's fine right here. Best wishes for this new year.
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re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
Is the little white label, with the addressee name on it, to make up for insufficient postage? seems to me that 20 Baht is way too cheap for international mail.
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re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
The white label is a standard postage label out of a post office clerk's printer. It looks like the stamps were put on by the sender and then taken to the post office. 20 baht may have been the 20 gram airmail rate, but the envelope was 2 grams over so the clerk in Samut Sakhon (a little to the west of Bangkok) charged the sender another 21 baht to make up the 40 gram rate.
As of the 1st November there was no longer a 20 or 40 gram airmail rate so today it would cost 53 baht. This was sent on the 25th September. Can you recall when it arrived in Texas?
p.s. I suspect the 20 baht stamps were a few baht under the 20 gram rate which is why the sender took it to the post office. If the sender hadn't put the stamps on, it may just have crept in on the 20 gram rate
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02:23:26am
re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
Not all that far from where I live, considering the distances in Texas!
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re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
By the way the elephant on the bottom of the label is obviously squashed. It wasn't always that way. The label printers, I think from Pitney Bowes, originally printed a larger label. When the label was made shorter the elephant in the design became shorter but still had its original width. I don't know enough about how the Pitney Bowes postage meter printers work to say why this was never fixed.
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re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
It arrived on 12/4/21.
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re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
"It arrived on 12/4/21."
Wow, that's scary from where I'm sitting. That works out at 70 days. My test letters took 30 days for one and 40 days for the other two, so it was a bit better in November. Thailand Post will have sort out the US airmail otherwise local businesses will start to complain.
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re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
It doesn't surprise me, lately a month or two, even three is the norm for mail to arrive from the Far East.
Delays to Europe are also extreme, I heard that due to the covid-19 all the mail goes to the Netherlands and from
there to their respective countries, I letter to Western Europe used to take a week max, now two or three or even a whole mont is the norm.
On our part I think the Joy of having a "great" postmaster may have something to do with it, I say.
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re: Testing the post. A free 1928 stamp from Thailand/Siam
I have an ebay purchase from Hong Kong so not sure when it will arrive.
Update: mailed 12/21 per seller and it showed up today (Jan 5) in Informed Delivery.
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