Others Experiencing Long Delivery Times From Europe?

[paulfg]

Of course.
One pipe coming from Greece. It moved quickly from local office to the “sorting center” in Athens. Hasn’t updated since the 15th.

Another pipe coming from The Danish Pipe Shop. As of the 18th it has been “dispatched from the sorting center”.

In the past, in my experience, average shipping time from Greece/Italy to my porch was about 10 days.

I have sent 3 parcels from Greece to US and they all arrived at chicago around 7th June having left Greece on 21st May,no updates since.
One I sent slightly earlier arrived at chicago a few days before(around 4 June) and was shown delivered last Saturday/

from another forum,they stated that Chicago was working with about 30% of the normal level of staff.

 

[craiginthecorn]

This is the third time it’s been dispatched from a sorting center.
they’ve got one on every corner.
Edit:
Just updated again..

June 23, 2020, 11:55 pm
Processed Through Facility
ATHENS AIR MAIL UNIT (AMU), GREECE

Welcome to the Waiting Room...

Here's my current USPS status:

May 8, 2020, 10:33 pm
Processed Through Facility
ATHENS AIR MAIL UNIT (AMU), GREECE

 

[guylesss]

Not exactly back to normal. But at least for packages from the UK, to my part of the world, and for now (and for me), things do seem to be significantly improving-- two packages delivered yesterday (3/5 weeks in transit), two finally moving my way within the USPS domestic system, scanned last night and again today, after weeks in international scanning limbo. So, at least back to the pace of a Christmas week with a couple back to back blizzards.

Your kilometerige may vary.

 

[pappymac]

I have a package from Estervals that has been in tracking since June 9.

 

[Ryszard]

Welcome to the Waiting Room...

Here's my current USPS status:

May 8, 2020, 10:33 pm
Processed Through Facility
ATHENS AIR MAIL UNIT (AMU), GREECE

It's likely to stay that way for the time being, unfortunately. Even parcels from Greece to neighbouring countries within the EU are severely delayed. I've been waiting almost a month for a parcel from Greece to Austria, which would usually take around 2 to 5 days at most. A friend of mine living in Greece spoke to ELTA (postal provider) and apparently they got a huge backlog in Athens and the parcels are just sitting in a warehouse waiting for transport to become available.

USA to EU is equally delayed with the USPS currently using "air to sea diversions" due to the lack of air transportation available. I've been waiting months for three parcels which are stuck at Miami and Chicago outbound mail centres. Either they are on a freight ship at the moment or (more likely) sitting in a warehouse somewhere waiting to be processed. I'm guessing the backlog is enormous so I am not surprised that EU to USA is similarly bad.

These days I am choosing courier services (DHL, UPS...) wherever available, they have proven to be faster and more reliable than the regular postal providers during the COVID-19 situation. I'd love to order a couple of things from the US but it's too much of a gamble whether the parcels will ever arrive at the moment.

Another parcel from Ireland was recently determined lost after 4 months in transit to Austria. The last tracking information shows an outbound scan at the Dublin mail centre, nothing after that. After an investigation they said maybe it got held up in France, maybe it was lost somewhere on the way... either way it was determined lost eventually.

Bottom line: If you can wait, you are probably better off waiting and not ordering internationally right now. If you absolutely have to order something, better pay the extra dollar for DHL/UPS or another courier service. It really sucks to wait months with nobody being able to tell you what actually happened to your supposedly lost parcel or where it was held up / lost.

 

[timelord]

I'm waiting on 3 orders from the US (all USPS)...

Ordered 6th May, sat in NY until 18th June then reported as process in Roissy, France. WTF? I live in Brazil, why on earth would USPS send it to France? (I don't actually believe it's left NY; my experience of USPS tracking - at least for international deliveries - is that it is usually not based on scanned events and is simply made up.)

Ordered 1st June, USPS reported it arriving in São Paulo on 8th June which was just wishful thinking on their part. It actually arrived in Rio (direct from US) on 16th and finally processed by customs today (9 days is pretty quick for Brazilian customs...). Hopefully should arrive early next week.

Ordered 11th June, USPS reported this one as arriving in São Paulo on 16th June which was news to Correios Brasil. It actually landed in Rio on 23rd June.

Oh, and I have an order (a couple of watches and not pipe related) from Russia which left Christopol on 24th April and has been stuck in Moscow since 27th April - it cleared Russian customs on 29th April but there haven't been any flights since then.

 

[Devil Anse]

Placed Estervals order on May 16th. USPS notified today that package passed through Customs in New Jersey. Arrival to my house shown as July 1st.

 

[Misanthrope]

The two orders I made at The Danish Pipe Shop around June 14 are now in my mailbox according to USPS tracking, which isn’t half bad. The April order from Cigarworld.de, on the other hand, remains in “Origin Post Is Preparing Shipment” status.

 

[bluegrassbrian]

The two orders I made at The Danish Pipe Shop around June 14 are now in my mailbox according to USPS tracking, which isn’t half bad. The April order from Cigarworld.de, on the other hand, remains in “Origin Post Is Preparing Shipment” status.

wow.. my danish pipe shop order was shipped on the 18th.
As of yesterday it was processing through Chicago. That gives me hope!

 

[samuelgawith01]

My last international purchase was five days ago from Scandpipes in Sweden.I don't expect to see it until next month.Until everyone gets vaccinated,(hopefully),this isn't going to improve anytime soon.

 

[paulfg]

I have sent 3 parcels from Greece to US and they all arrived at chicago around 7th June having left Greece on 21st May,no updates since.
One I sent slightly earlier arrived at chicago a few days before(around 4 June) and was shown delivered last Saturday/

from another forum,they stated that Chicago was working with about 30% of the normal level of staff.

well the first parcel of the 3 finally shows processed through Chicago and on its way to another facility ,the other 2 still no updates.

On the Greek post front ,I sent a parcel to Germany and it arrived in 4 days much quicker than before,so things are improving but still the backlog to clear.Unfortunately its now on its way back shown unable to deliver (unclaimed) returned to sender

 

[Ryszard]

The two US parcels I've been waiting for since early May have finally arrived in my country and are now awaiting customs inspection - May 7th was the last status change in the US and I already thought they were lost in transit after all this time. ?

Now let's hope customs will just wave them through and won't spoil the fun by adding horrendous amounts of tax.

 

[bluegrassbrian]

My Danish Pipe Shop order had been in customs (Chicago) since June 26.
Today, July 10, it’s finally cleared customs and had moved on. Hopefully just a couple more days.

My other parcel in Greece hasn’t moved since June 23 and it’s still there.. in Greece... for the foreseeable future.

 

[Misanthrope]

I finally got that wayward order from Cigarworld in Germany that was missing for a couple months (2 Al Pascia Curvy 02s) a couple days ago, and now I'm not even really interested in those pipes anymore. ?

 

[paulfg]

My Danish Pipe Shop order had been in customs (Chicago) since June 26.
Today, July 10, it’s finally cleared customs and had moved on. Hopefully just a couple more days.

My other parcel in Greece hasn’t moved since June 23 and it’s still there.. in Greece... for the foreseeable future.

are you sure its in Greece,it may be it hasnt yet been processed in the US customs.
I sent 3 parcels that left Greece on 23rd May,arrived at Chicago 8th June but there was no update on tracking until it was processed in Customs about 2 weeks later. I found out about the arrival on 8 June after calling he Greek postal service helpline.
the last of the 3 parcels is out for delivery today,the other 2 were delivered in the last week

 

[bluegrassbrian]

are you sure its in Greece,it may be it hasnt yet been processed in the US customs.
I sent 3 parcels that left Greece on 23rd May,arrived at Chicago 8th June but there was no update on tracking until it was processed in Customs about 2 weeks later. I found out about the arrival on 8 June after calling he Greek postal service helpline.
the last of the 3 parcels is out for delivery today,the other 2 were delivered in the last week

Anything is possible in the world of international shipping 2020.

It hasn’t updated since:
Dispatched from sorting center
Athens, Greece

Someone else had the exact same tracking description from Greece and his had been stuck like that more than a month before mine I think.

Edit: it was Craiginthecorn. His had been there since May 8, according to his post closer to the top of this page.

 

[irishearl]

About 3 months ago ordered from smokingpipes eu and it took 8-10 days to get to me in the US from Ireland.

 

[craiginthecorn]

My parcel from Greece looked like it hadn't arrived in the USA until it left the Chicago international distribution center. Chris Asteriou, who had sent it, had checked with the Greek postal service and they told him that there's an international tracking system that is inaccessible except to post offices and that my package was in Chicago and had been for weeks. I'm betting that their claim is true. I have my beautiful Asteriou bulldog now, but am waiting for a 1921 amber-stemmed Dunhill Bruyere which mailed from France a couple weeks ago. According to USPS, they have only been informed that the package is coming. The French postal service indicates that it left the country on July 2nd. I'm guessing that it's in Chicago.

 

[mityahicks]

I've been waiting more than a month on a package from Greece as well.

 

[Rattray]

I've ordered accessories from the UK. The order left 5 Jun and is still not arrived. It cleared Customs 3 weeks ago and there's been no updates since. This is not the only parcel I have that's being taken charge of by Canada Post that's incredibly delayed. I decided to try a private courier on an order in the UK placed 2 weeks ago and 5 day later, I received it. Guess what I'll do from now on? That's right.