No EMS to Metropolitan France ? One of two incongruities on the rate-page of the Thai Post

  The picture shows  various options for sending a parcel to France : 1- France, 1 - France again ( the same page of rates, this additional choice is a misleading redundancy ), 2 -France Metropolitan, 3 - French Guiana, 4 - French Polynesia, 5 - French Southern and Antarctic Territories.

Since several years the France Metropolitan rate page shows no EMS option, although this option is on the France rate page : Probably the word Metropolitan was understood in some process in the reverse sense : as territories or islands or whatever which is not the mainland; or in " non metropolitan " the " non " would have been accidentally deleted;  but then why the choices 3, 4 an 5 ?

[ Add. In 2013 the correction has not yet been made.]

As I was told on the phone by employees of the Thai post that their French partner ( French Post, or Chronopost I presume ) was responsible for not accepting EMS in the metropolitan France in signed conventions I suggested that someone at the Thai post could verify the meaning of " metropolitan " and take action so that the choice "Metropolitan France" be removed as it is from the postal rate page and users of the post would avoid unintended activities that are time and money consuming.
 By the same token one of the two identical choices : France , could also  be removed. [Add. that has been done finally after some time ]

No post in the world offer the choice of a "Metropolitan France" not served by EMS : all post offices abroad identify the metropolitan France as France.

I emailed the address of this post on 16 September 2011 to postalcare@thailandpost.co.th and through their request form. Their French partners La Poste and Chronopost don't have email addresses.


On the right a map representing Metropolitan France;








Hoya and other plant collections are for sale on aleyagarden.com Plant care is available in various posts of this blog. Contact : aleyagarden@hotmail.com

Find all Aleyagarden posts on http://aleyagarden-blog.blogspot.com

Hoya, Hoya seeds, Orchid seeds, Ferns, Fern spores and other plant collections are for sale on aleyagarden.com Plant care is available in various posts of this blog. Contact : aleyagarden@hotmail.com

Find all Aleyagarden posts on http://aleyagarden-blog.blogspot.com

Express service for envelopes to Brazil

Is there an express service like EMS for envelopes to Brazil ?
Yes EMS document, but it is expensive.
Please click on the picture to see all the available options for a 135 gr content. The Additional column is for additional registration.

In September 2011 it would cost 900 + registration 65 THB to send an EMS envelope of 135 gr.
At a Paypal rate of 28.6 THB per $ and their 3.5% fee we get : 965/28.6 = 33.75$; x 3.5% = 1.18. Adding a part of the fixed fee of 0.35$ per transaction we get a total of 35$
For the other options the calculation is the same, for instance with Small Parcel Air at 90 THB : 90+65 /28.6, x 3.5% and rounding up to add part of the fixed Paypal fee.

Hoya and other plant collections are for sale on aleyagarden.com Plant care is available in various posts of this blog. Contact : aleyagarden@hotmail.com

Find all Aleyagarden posts on http://aleyagarden-blog.blogspot.com

Which day is best for posting parcels ?

Is Monday the best day ?

- SHORT ANSWER : during the week ends sorting stations work at the posts and planes fly but Customs don't work; if the arrival country has a fast postal service, then THURSDAY is the best choice for posting parcels because these parcels take usually from 24 to 48 hrs before take off whatever the distance to the airport they are posted; and travelling in plane during the week-end is usually followed by an early arrival in the week ( Monday or Tuesday ) on the conveyor belt of the arrival country; on that condition parcels have a higher probability of being picked before the next week-end. ( ie : an arrival after the Wednesday may prevent the parcel from being picked up for delivery before the week-end ).


- LONG ANSWER : All parcels may be delayed by the Customs non working during the week end, whatever the day these parcels were posted : the rule is first out from the container first in the queue on a conveyor belt and all parcels picked from this conveyor for customs inspection will be delayed in the same way.
From this conveyor the sorting is done randomly. Assuming that the sorting is not done 24 hours and 7 days a week we want the parcel to queue as early as possible on the conveyor belt so it has the highest probability of being picked during working time : a parcel being on the conveyor as early as Monday morning has a higher chance of leaving the conveyor before Saturday than a parcel arriving on this conveyor a Wednesday for instance.

When to mail a parcel in Bangkok or at Phuket international airport so it can be on the conveyor belts abroad on Monday morning ? Assuming an average 48 hours in transport between Thailand and the destination country, Thursday or Friday should be the best days for posting your parcels. A small Parcel Air posted on a Thursday in Bangkok would arrive on the foreign conveyor on Sunday. With a fast postal service like in some European countries the parcel would typically stay in the sorting station 24 hours before being dispatched for delivery, taking 24 to 48 hours : it would be delivered luckily on Tuesday or most probably Wednesday. So the total time of travel from posting to delivery would be 6 days. With 1 more day delivery would be on Thursday, total 7 days. Would the parcel be diverted to the customs, the delivery would be delayed 48 hours, up to the Friday : total 8 days from posting to delivery.
A small parcel air posted on a Monday in Bangkok would be delivered luckily on Friday and typically on a Saturday in the same fast service : total 5 days. With 1 more day ( a more probable situation ) , delivery would be on Monday, total 7 days. But if it were directed to the customs, as they don't work on Saturday, with the average time spent of 48 hours the delivery would be necessarily postponed to Wednesday : total 9 days from posting to delivery.
Shipping small parcel air on Thursday seems the best option if we take in account the most typical situations instead of the luckiest : in a fast service 6 - 8 days versus the 7 - 9 days of the Monday posting.
But the average time in most counties is 10 - 12 days so that the parcels normally stay in the postal system over the week end; therefore the day of mailing does not matter : posted anytime from Monday to Saturday all small parcels air queuing on the conveyor belts will take 10 - 12 days to be delivered.

What about posting at Phuket International airport ?
EMS parcels from there take planes to Bangkok airport so they arrive at the sorting station of this airport faster than if carried from anywhere else in Bangkok and Thailand by truck.
Small air parcels are carried by trucks the day of posting if posted at Khok Kloi post office in our area before 15 : 30. When posted there, small air parcels take as much time as if they were posted in Bangkok : this is probably because what matters is the time of the registration at the post for loading the parcels on a plane, not the distance to the plane : queuing on a night truck or in a warehouse at Bangkok airport doesn't make any difference.

Hoya, Hoya seeds, Orchid seeds, Ferns, Fern spores and other plant collections are for sale on aleyagarden.com Plant care is available in various posts of this blog. Contact : aleyagarden@hotmail.com

Find all Aleyagarden posts on http://aleyagarden-blog.blogspot.com

Up to 150 euro commercial goods to the EU are free of import tax

I am in Europe, will I pay taxes, how does taxation work in practice ?

Effective since 1 Decembe 2008 commercial goods sent by mail to the EU are free of import duty up to 150 euro ( raised from 22 ). However the VAT should theoretically still apply.

From our buyers' information rarely taxes are to be paid for small amounts of plants in postal shipments. Obviously there are many parcels and they can't be opened all for checking. Envelopes are also a very safe way of shipping satisfactorily fast, registered or not.

Below a tax payer in France deemed that there were three situations on a forum in 2006, at a time when import duty was levied under 22 euro ( instead of 150 since December 2008 ):

1) Seller declares a value above 60€ and parcel is EMS, taxation has a 80% chance of being applied.
2) Seller declares a value above 60€ and parcel is Small Air Parcel, taxation has a 40% to 50% chance of being applied.
3) Seller declares " Gift " on the parcel, value is above 60€ and parcel is sal or Small Air Parcel, taxation has a 0% to 10% chance of being applied.

http://forum.hardware.fr/hfr/Discussions/Viepratique/frais-comment-determiner-sujet_44139_1.htm

Si ton vendeur écrit le prix réel sur le colis et que tu prends en EMS, c'est à quasi 80% DTC surtout si le prix dépasse 60€.
Si ton vendeur écrit le prix réel sur le colis et que tu prends en SAL/air mail, c'est à quasi 40 à 50% DTC surtout si le prix dépasse 60€.
Si ton vendeur écrit "gift" sur le colis et que tu prends en SAL/air mail, c'est à quasi 0 à 10% DTC si le prix dépasse 60€.

Hoya and other plant collections are for sale on aleyagarden.com Plant care is available in various posts of this blog. Contact : aleyagarden@hotmail.com

Find all Aleyagarden posts on http://aleyagarden-blog.blogspot.com

Weights of hydrated freshly cut flowers of Hoya : carnosa and lacunosa

back to the making of soap and Hoya fragrance




Three carnosa and three lacunosa flowers : they are freshly cut and fully hydrated.






The fresh lacunosa flower above, still fully hydrated weighs only 0.63 grams.




The carnosa flower, much bigger is also 10 times heavier : 7 grams

Hoya and other plant collections are for sale on aleyagarden.com Plant care is available in various posts of this blog. Contact : aleyagarden@hotmail.com

Find all Aleyagarden posts on http://aleyagarden-blog.blogspot.com

Italian customs : the low value of an EMS parcel content is suspect and consignee should contact ??

Invoice and phytosanitary certificate were inside the parcel. The cost of transport by EMS was about 43 $ . The price of the plant content, 5 Dischidia non rooted cuttings, was much lower : only 9 $.
This value was on the invoice and on the EMS slip too. Did the Italian customs officer deem the value too small to be right ? Maybe; they informed on the track and trace site that the invoice was missing and then that the consignee should contact the customs at a number ( CONTATTARE 803.160 ), probably to confirm this value; the message was posted 3 times. As a result the shipment was delayed and finally ready to be delivered but consignee was absent. All this mess of time and money, just for 5 small cuts of plants, legally sent with a phytosanitary certificate. Thumbs up. If you wish to order in Italy please contact us so we can arrange safer and cheaper method of transport and if the mail is EMS please follow up on the tracking site of the Italian post for important messages from the Customs for you... Note that you cannot count on Paypal to decide in your favor if you declined to answer - or if you genuinely did not see - the message from your customs. Paypal considers that Customs formalities, including contact of consignee for confirmation of content or value can't be ignored by the receiver. Here are issues with the Italian customs in a few threads : http://community.ebay.it/topic/Fare-Affari-Nel/Pacchi-Dagli-Usa/600080269?&#msg1900107036

http://forums.ebay.com/db2/topic/International-Trading/Italian-Customs-Requesting/510296488?messageID=524535134

http://www.mtb-forum.it/community/forum/archive/index.php/t-112983-p-6.html

http://www.tfpforum.it/index.php?action=printpage;topic=14508.0

In the EU countries since 2008 goods up to 150 euro are free of import duty. Only would be levied the VAT, which is not likely to occur given the cost incurred by the operation.Hoya, Hoya seeds, Orchid seeds, Ferns, Fern spores and other plant collections are for sale on aleyagarden.com Plant care is available in various posts of this blog. Contact : aleyagarden@hotmail.com

Find all Aleyagarden posts on http://aleyagarden-blog.blogspot.com

Hoya that are less likely to survive a long trip

Hoya that are less likely to survive a long trip and should be bought as big and established as possible are :

Hoya acicularis
Hoya aff. Sigillatis
Hoya blashernaezii
Hoya campanulata
Hoya camphorifolia
Hoya danumensis
Hoya dennisii
Hoya filiformis
Hoya imbricata
Hoya megalaster
Hoya microstemma
Hoya odetteae
Hoya parvifolia
Hoya patella
Hoya picta
Hoya praetorii

Nota : these cuttings certainly can survive long trips : Horticulture can be a serious thing using hormones or products that tremendously modify the survival rates of stressed plants.


Hoya and other plant collections are for sale on aleyagarden.com Plant care is available in various posts of this blog. Contact : aleyagarden@hotmail.com

Find all Aleyagarden posts on http://aleyagarden-blog.blogspot.com