International Mail in the time of COVID-19
 

Dear Info Desk,

I do not see a subforum for US Mail - so I thought I would start here, and perhaps someone can either answer or tell me where to post...

I mailed a First Class Package - International Service to New Zealand on March 24, 2020. The package cleared Customs on March 28, 2020, and USPS tracking says it is at the Jamaica International Service Center with the status of "International Dispatch Ready". The lady at my local post office is also befuddled as to why it is still sitting at JFK (Jamaica) .I know ANZ is flying a daily flight from LAX every day, but no US carriers are flying to New Zealand to the best of my knowledge.

I have also recently mailed packages to Australia - and while it has taken forever for them - they were dispatched from JFK (Jamaica) to EWR and then flown to LAX to meet the one United Flight from LAX to SYD. One package (mailed April 24) has arrived, and the other is leaving EWR tonight.

Does US Mail have to fly on a US carrier? That cannot make sense! Can anyone shed light on how international first class mail moves - especially now? Is my package going to be stuck at JFK until US carrier flights to NZ resume?

Thank you. I am frustrated, and the recipient in New Zealand is MORE than frustrated.

Sukie NY

Hello and welcome to Flyertalk. I think this is not something we can help you with, and it something more related to the US Postal service, than us. Flyertalk is a community composed of travelers where we exchange our experiences, thoughts, ideas and inquiries with regards to travel and all that it consist of traveling, car rentals, hotels, etc.

Having said that, I would mention the following. I'm a US Customs Broker for an international freight company. I presume that you filled out the proper forms for international mail. US Mail does not need to fly on US carriers, all countries have a reciprocal agreement when it comes to mail. Secondly, true customs clearance does not occur until the package arrives at its destination, in this case New Zealand. The clearance you may have seen could be more of an "export" clearance.

Why the parcel might be held up in Jamaica, NY could be for numerous reason. Maybe the parcel may have been broken while in transit, perhaps the parcel contained something that shouldn't be shipped and it is being held by the post office for investigation, maybe there is a backlog of mail between the US and NZ, but I really find that hard to believe. Typical transit time of such parcel is 10-14days.

My suggestion, file a claim with the post office, also initiate a trace as well. You should start right here https://www.usps.com/help/missing-mail.htm
Also try to find the phone # for the JFK international station, and try to reach someone there. Good luck.

I do not. Given the massive reduction in air passenger aircraft flying around the world and even with the cargo airlines (DHL, UPS etc) still flying, from what I read on-line, a big increase in air freight rates and big increase in packages now being sent a delay would not be unexpected. As a guess the government postal services will not pay premium freight rates.