Foreigners are banned from sending a parcel?!?

Hello KruChris

Welcome on board Expat.com

Never heard about that before! 

Did you try sending your parcel via DHL?

If it persists, maybe ask a local to help you out. 

Looking forward to read other members comments about this issue.

Regards
Kenjee
Expat.com

Cheers, Kenjee. It happened at Vietnam Post in Mong Cai. And when I returned with a helpful local, that woman wouldn't budge. She called the number on the form, too. Can it be that this country is suffering from "jobsworth" hordes?

We drove to some private parcel service, where the contents were inspected, but then they let me be the sender.

In Thailand, they now ask to see ID. Which makes sense to combat drugs.

KruChris wrote:

Mong Cai. The woman at the EMS counter keeps refusing. Turns out that I am not allowed to send any parcel, based on national origin!

Maybe you are from Venus... or Mars? I send and receive parcels regularly from both the main post office in Saigon and other post offices.

Last year my wife received a phone call from the post office to say that she had better come immediately (the guy was most emphatic) and pic up a parcel addressed to me - the sender in UK had included my wifes phone number on the parcel at my request.

She went straight away and on arrival at the post office found a parcel for me from the UK which contained 250 grams of VERY mature Gorgonzola cheese. The post office manager told he that the Customs department at the airport had called the post office and told them to come and remove it urgently as it was stinking their building out.

I must say that 3 weeks in transit had aged it nicely and it really did stink. But it was lovely on an oatmeal biscuit with red wine.

Just as an observation, I really dont know how anyone in Vietnam can complain about the smell of a bit of cheese, when some of the fish dishes and sauces that they eat are definitely an acquired taste (including that ginger sauce that tastes of sick) 

Mind you, two years ago in the UK a postal clerk refused to accept a parcel from me  because it contained a safety potato peeler that I was sending to a mate in the Solomon Islands,  "because it had a "blade" on it", despite the fact that the "blade" was an inch long and  held captive between two plastic pillars and had a plastic guard attached to it.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct … 2373062901

Communication is often challenging. I was suspecting some mistake and sat in a  hair, waiting to talk to a manager. The clerk showed up and called the number on my form. I then gave her the # of an English teacher. She was adamant. And she used the computer to look up the relevant section.

Perhaps it was from the late '70s?

The whole ordeal was upsetting and left a sour taste in my mouth.

Now I wonder if this can really be a one off issue in all of Vietnam?!?