parcels from UK to EU

[UntilYourNextHairBrainedScheme]

I ordered something from the UK which was dispatched on 18th December according to the company, and was "leaving the UK" on 20th December (according to Royal Mail tracking) - however it appears to be suspended in a perpetual hand over as it hasn't been received by Deutsche Post, according to the tracking Website.

Has anyone in an EU country received parcels ordered from the UK shortly before Christmas? In normal circumstances things would arrive in 3-5 working days, but of course bank holidays, covid and brexit together...

Could it have got stuck on one of the lorries in Kent?
We got a parcel at the beginning of December and that was no issue. We also sent ours to the UK mid-December and they arrived in less than a week.
Fingers crossed it will turn up soon.

I have been trying to send a parcel from the U.K. to an EU country. The post office in the U.K. would not accept any parcels going to the EU because flights were/are suspended. We weren’t even allowed to leave it with them. There are big backlogs. Similarly, my DC in Europe was not able to send a parcel to the U.K. We submitted the parcel again yesterday but were told it still would not be going anywhere for some time, and we also had to fill in a customs declaration, because of Brexit.

Thank you both, that's interesting - especially not being allowed by the post office to post a parcel in either direction!

The parcel has actually finally shown up on the tracking website as being in Frankfurt Airport now, so perhaps things are getting moving again!

Something couriered from London on 18th arrived here (France) today, along with a Christmas card posted the same day.

DD wasn't allowed to post anything to France last week

I received a parcel today (in France) from a friend in the UK. Postmarked Dec 8th, so it took over 3 weeks to get here.

I sent NY cards to the UK on Dec 21st, which have not yet arrived, 9 days later.

I presume the chaos at Dover, along with with slower overall delivery times in the UK and EU due to Covid, are to blame.

I received a parcel today from Germany that was posted on 17 Dec using DHL. It sat in the export centre from the early hours of the 18th and was only registered as having arrived in the UK yesterday.

I am in Switzerland and today received a parcel from the UK that was posted on Dec 17th. It came via air mail, isn't that the case for most parcels from/to the UK?

I posted a parcel for Christmas on 15th December, it arrived with family in Germany today. Apparently the German postal system is crap at the moment too which I think is just exacerbating delays.

I posted a parcel to Greece via Parcel Force International Priority on 8 December. It's been sitting at the International Hub 'prepared for export' since 12 December and hasn't moved. I've chased it three times with no success. I have no idea whether it is due to Christmas, Brexit or incompetence but I'm not very happy.

We ordered something to be sent from the UK to the EU on the 7th Dec and arrived on the 22nd Dec. This was sent with DHL and so avoided the problems with Royal Mail and reached Europe before the problems with Kent. The parcel was stuck in a Germany for ages before moving into Austria, no idea why it took so long to get through Germany. However, around the same time we also ordered a parcel from the US to the EU, which managed to get there about a week before the UK one.

We were specifically told it was because there were no flights between the UK and EU countries, because they were suspended due to the new variant of Covid. Nothing to do with lorries held up at Dover. My parcel is still listed as at Heathrow, and hasn’t left the country. We looked at sending via DHL too, and they too said that deliveries were suspended.

That's interesting, Daisy, as I read somewhere that the ban on flights didn't include freight and postal flights.
Anyway, my New Year's cards will arrive in Scotland in time for Easter, probably...

It turned up today, whoch seems to be similar to the recent experience of others in France and Germany on this thread.

I'm not sure its Deutsche Post as things ordered within Germany are turning up within a couple of working days (obviously discounting bank holidays), both at home and at work.

Anyway at least it turned up, even if two weeks after it was registering as dispatched!

Hope everyone still waiting gets/ is finally able to send their parcels and other post!