Larry and Trish Erwin

International Board Representatives

Corsica 

Change in the delivery of US parcel delivery in Europe

The U.S. Postal Service quietly ditched direct delivery to 23 countries in Europe, and signed up Consignia, the partially privatized British postal service, as its single contact for the region in October of last year. The switch was intended to reduce operating costs and times associated with multiple delivery points in Europe. But U.S. postal officials acknowledge that the plan, hastened into operation after the Sept. 11 attacks tangled domestic and international package transport, has come at a high cost to consumers, both through fees of up to E20 imposed by Consignia to process paperwork through customs, and in uncertainty over whether parcels will reach their destinations at all.

Numerous interviews with expatriates bear out complaints of high fees and interminable journeys of much-awaited packages. Frustrated, many now urge colleagues and friends to switch to Federal Express or United Parcel Service for overseas delivery.

They also say they have given Consignia and its affiliates a series of deadlines to improve services such as on-time delivery performance. Many countries have improved in recent months, but stubborn problems linger in Spain, Portugal, Belgium and Sweden, with the worst service recorded in France.

The agency in France that oversees anti-fraud, competitiveness and consumer protection issues has opened a dossier with French customs and the French post office to examine the practices of Extand, including the additional fee. Extand, along with Royal Mail and German Parcel, is among the 23 affiliates of General Logistics Systems, the arm of Consignia that runs the parcel network in Europe.

To be sure, all European countries assign customs duties and taxes to certain parcels. But a new burden is placed on consumers in Europe receiving packages worth more than E45 because they must now pay fees for customs-processing that are often higher than any imposed by the national post offices that used to handle packages sent from the United States. General Logistics Systems charges through its affiliates a handling fee averaging E17 (Euro) per parcel, and which may be as high as E20 (Euro), for "escorting" the paperwork for the package through customs. A value-added tax is assessed on the fee.