Sending and Receiving snail mail in Hungary

Stephanie99 wrote:

Has anyone had problems receiving parcels from overseas here?

Just my experience, but have not had any problem overall with Hungarian Postal service. It is actually a company, no longer a fully owned government agency. All packages that I ordered have arrived, and I often mail order from abroad. Even large deliveries (largest delivery to date was 200 kg). But it can be very slow.

Stephanie99 wrote:

the postal service wanted to collect tax from her on it

Anything you get by mail from outside the EU is an import. Even if it is used. And you can be required to pay taxes on the value.

Stephanie99 wrote:

How do you go posting things home.

Have not personally had any problems with Hungarian post within Europe or to/from the US other than speed. Hungarian Postal service uses EMS as their courier if you want the least expensive courier service. I have never had problems using EMS. There are also DHL and UPS.

Thanks for your feedback!

I'm from the U.S., so my experiences may be different, but I'll share them anyway.
Receiving and sending letters is not a problem for me.  It takes about 10 days to get to and from Eastern US.
I had the same problem paying tax on a package I actually sent to MYSELF before I arrived.  I was told if the value is over 45 Euro, you will pay 25% tax.  Luckily I was able to provide them with my college acceptance letter, and explain that I was actually mailing my own items to myself in preparation for school - it wasn't even a gift!  They miraculously let me off the hook, but from now on, when my family mails me something, I tell them to make sure the customs form doesn't declare any value over 45 euro, that way I avoid taxes.
To send packages OUT of Hungary, I find it horribly expensive, so I will have to wait until someone visits me, or until I visit home, in order to give souvenir presents.  I only send flat items that can fit in an envelope, it seems that price is going up too, however.
For Christmas and birthdays, I found it cheaper to buy items online and have them mailed directly to the recipient, I'll even make my own photo cards online and have them mailed within the States.  It's a little less personal, but international shipping is outrageous!

octobop wrote:

For Christmas and birthdays, I found it cheaper to buy items online and have them mailed directly to the recipient, I'll even make my own photo cards online and have them mailed within the States.  It's a little less personal, but international shipping is outrageous!

That's a really good idea, I will get onto that quickly as it is my brother's birthday soon! Thanks for the tip.

I assumed I would be able to send things home easily (such as boots or winter clothes) as we are leaving in October. Perhaps I will try to do that from London (I have sent things home from London before, years ago) when we go.

Thanks for your feedback and tips!

Stephanie99 wrote:

That's a really good idea, I will get onto that quickly as it is my brother's birthday soon! Thanks for the tip.

If you use Moonpig.com, your card can be printed and posted from within Australia.

We have massive problems and have had for the last 4 years with recieving postage from within the EU (UK primarily)...  The problems seem to be with consistancy some times a parcel can take 3 days to turn up and other times a simple letter can take 6 weeks! 

Never had a problem with parcels leaving here and heading to the UK though, they turn around very quickly although not particularly cheaply.

bjonesphotography wrote:

other times a simple letter can take 6 weeks!

Anything over 10 days should be dealt with in a written complaint.

If you can prove (such as by the cancellation on the stamp that the time delay occurred in Hungary (look if there is a Budapest cancellation)) then you should go to your nearest post office and take a written protocol (in Hungarian it is called: jegyzőkönyv). They have to do this by law for a complaint if you request it. It is serious if you do this. It also needs two witnesses who view taking the protocol (which the post office has to provide) to be a valid legal complaint. Don't let them try to convince you that you have to bring the witnesses, or witnesses are not available -- they have to provide them.

Often, nothing will change unless you take a protocol. But, yes, things often do change after taking a protocol. If not, take another protocol until things do change.

fluffy2560 wrote:

If you use Moonpig.com, your card can be printed and posted from within Australia.

Awesome tip, thank you!

bjonesphotography wrote:

We have massive problems and have had for the last 4 years with recieving postage from within the EU (UK primarily)...  The problems seem to be with consistancy some times a parcel can take 3 days to turn up and other times a simple letter can take 6 weeks! ...

I also have the same problems. It's always fast (relatively) to the UK but quite dismally slow to Hungary. I received a Christmas card 2 weeks after the event. I've been waiting 2 weeks for another letter from the UK.

Things can be quite bad in other places. I regularly received very delayed letters in Austria which had travelled via Melbourne because people in the UK didn't pay attention. There's definitely a difference between Austria and AustrALia. I doubt such a problem exists for Hungary.

I guess the problem can be anywhere between the originating country and destination country. It is not necessary that the delays occur in Hungary, it can be anywhere between these two destinations. Sometimes i have seen problems due to language or missing letters (to/from scandinavia, hungary etc which use special, non-latin characters)

Funnily enough, just after I posted this on the forum, I got a slip in the mailbox saying there was a package waiting for me at the post office!
A little 'care package' from home - Vegemite, Tim Tams, a magazine and letter - very sweet! - posted on 25 February and arrived on 6th March, so it took about 2 weeks from Melbourne, Australia. It had not been opened either, which was good.
It cost $30AUD (just over 7000 HUF) which I thought was pretty expensive - nice one Australia Post! I hope it's not that pricey to send things home, because I just bought another pair of shoes...

*eats Tim Tam*

Stephanie99 wrote:

..... - Vegemite, ....

Eeeewww...

Try Marmite instead (you can get it in Tesco).

fluffy2560 wrote:

Stephanie99 wrote:

..... - Vegemite, ....

Eeeewww...

Try Marmite instead (you can get it in Tesco).

It's not the same!! I grew up on Vegemite sandwiches.

Stephanie99 wrote:

fluffy2560 wrote:

Stephanie99 wrote:

..... - Vegemite, ....

Eeeewww...

Try Marmite instead (you can get it in Tesco).

It's not the same!! I grew up on Vegemite sandwiches.

I think there needs to be more Marmite vs Vegemite debate.

Let's not mention Bovril.

fluffy2560 wrote:

Stephanie99 wrote:

fluffy2560 wrote:

Eeeewww...

Try Marmite instead (you can get it in Tesco).

It's not the same!! I grew up on Vegemite sandwiches.

I think there needs to be more Marmite vs Vegemite debate.

Let's not mention Bovril.

Bovril sounds like something you would put in the wardrobe to repel moths...!

Vegemite all the way.

Healthy debate is welcome, but I'm completely biased about this issue, obviously

Stephanie99 wrote:

...Bovril sounds like something you would put in the wardrobe to repel moths...!

Vegemite all the way.

Healthy debate is welcome, but I'm completely biased about this issue, obviously

I know, I'm just stirring it up for fun. I have the Vegemite vs Marmite discussion with a lot of folks from down under.  I'm a Marmite person myself. Bovril we just don't talk about.

fluffy2560 wrote:

I know, I'm just stirring it up for fun. I have the Vegemite vs Marmite discussion with a lot of folks from down under.  I'm a Marmite person myself. Bovril we just don't talk about.

Now I'm curious about Bovril!

We have hijacked the thread... oh well!

Stephanie99 wrote:

fluffy2560 wrote:

I know, I'm just stirring it up for fun. I have the Vegemite vs Marmite discussion with a lot of folks from down under.  I'm a Marmite person myself. Bovril we just don't talk about.

Now I'm curious about Bovril!

We have hijacked the thread... oh well!

It's a little difficult to hijack your own thread

On all foods foriegn there are a couple of options, neither are cheap but you should be able to find some of the items you are talking about in one or the other.

The first are these guys http://britishpantry.hu/ and I noted on Facebook a while back they had started selling some Australian produce http://britishpantry.hu/index.php/terme … csoport/19  I'm not sure if they have a shop but they deliver in Budapest


The second is a store colled Azsia (or something along those lines) it used to be on the lower floor of the grand market hall but has now moved to bigger premises.  If you follow the road ahead off Szabadság híd on the Pest side of the river, walk past the Market hall it is on the corner of the next side road.  I'm sure this shop is the reason we rarely go to Budapest now as we spend far too much money in there when we go!

Hi,

I can only comment on inbound packages: There's a lot of historical fluctuation in reliability.
Amazon.com and other popular on-line retailers shipping to Hungary at all is a good indication of current affairs: at times of outrageous amount of theft they stop shipping here for a while.

Oh, and Stephanie is homesick already, how cute :-)

szocske wrote:

......Oh, and Stephanie is homesick already, how cute :-)

Surely not, she's just received a care package containing Vegemite. When she's singing the praises of British Marmite or oh dear, the dreadful Bovril, then we'll know she's finally gone native (at least in a partial sense....)

For those interested further in this non-discussion:

Bovril

Marmite

Vegemite

szocske wrote:

Hi,

I can only comment on inbound packages: There's a lot of historical fluctuation in reliability.
Amazon.com and other popular on-line retailers shipping to Hungary at all is a good indication of current affairs: at times of outrageous amount of theft they stop shipping here for a while.

Oh, and Stephanie is homesick already, how cute :-)

Good to know about Amazon - I looked at a few things then decided not to buy, as I had read terrible things about the Magyar Posta and theft. Might risk it with something small and see what happens - will probably be fine.

Oh, and I'm not really homesick, I just craved Vegemite on toast, and I LOVE Tim Tams!!

fluffy2560 wrote:

szocske wrote:

......Oh, and Stephanie is homesick already, how cute :-)

Surely not, she's just received a care package containing Vegemite. When she's singing the praises of British Marmite or oh dear, the dreadful Bovril, then we'll know she's finally gone native (at least in a partial sense....)

For those interested further in this non-discussion:

Bovril

Marmite

Vegemite

Hang on, hang on, what's with the biased smilies?!

Also, Bovril and Marmite will never feature in my kitchen!!

Stephanie99 wrote:

I had read terrible things about the Magyar Posta and theft.

Take what you read about Hungary in English with a grain of salt. Many English publications about Hungary have an agenda behind them. As do the Hungarian publications in Hungarian: which are usually backed by one political party or another. Real independent, or even investigative, journalism is uncommon.

As for Magyar Posta, there was an accounting scandal (some may call it embezzlement) under the last administration a few years ago. But that did not affect deliveries as far as I know. Any company will have some bad apples. And I can only say I have personally never had anything stolen that I have had delivered or sent by the Hungarian Postal Service. Yet.

That is not to say there may not be some regional variation. Also do not discount theft from mail boxes as well. You have to remember, this is still basically a very poor country, especially in the country side. And some petty theft may occur in the poorer regions.

One can always find room for improvement. But it could be worse. For example, at least I know of no Hungarian Postal worker to "go postal":

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/go_postal

All I can say is sometimes Amazon ships to Hungary, and it's a pretty good indicator of the likelihood of an inbound package not getting stolen.

A few years ago there was an episode of "amazon does not ship". Right before that, my company ordered a bunch of technical books. All English and useless outside of a small circle of professionals. The package tracked nicely up to the border, then never arrived. I think they tried sending it twice then refunded the money and stopped shipping to Hungary. A few years later Amazon started shipping again, we ordered again, and it arrived.

I heard similar stories from friends first hand, but that would be second hand to you guys, no better than all the forum discussions on the subject. This one for example seems to have hit the limit of the number of posts possible: http://forum.index.hu/Article/showArtic … &na_order=
(they could all be cheating lying paid supporters of a political party, I'm just not sure which to suspect as the complaints span the last 12 years, with the governing and opposition parties trading places every 4 years.)

szocske wrote:

The package tracked nicely up to the border, then never arrived.

I once had a DHL package sit in Budapest for almost 3 weeks undelivered. So this I can believe.

As for index.hu, I consider that a tabloid site. We all know anyone can post to a mostly un-moderated forum and say just about anything. Which is why teasing out fact from fiction can be fruitless there.

Except of course all us honest folks here at expat-blog, who never steer you wrong.