Mail Delivery

I would get mail addressed to a business address - I have had no problems when that has been done but time has varied (from Australia) from 1 week to 3 weeks but the first magazine I had sent took 4 months (I received the next three copies before getting the first!

Yeah, its pretty much snail mail here.

Even statements from my HK bank takes about 1week to get here !

I think a lot of the time it sits at the post office waiting for the address to be translated.

My mail just arrived today and I think you are right. It was translated from pinyin to traditional Chinese (and not very well, so says my gf). The best thing to do may be to have it addressed in both pinyin for the US postal service and in traditional Chinese for the locals. Still it was two weeks and I guess that is not too bad, as long as I know what to expect.

Receiving parcels is a bit of a pain. Whoever transcribes my name onto the package collection form always does it incorrectly. So when I go to collect my parcel the name on the form does not match the name on my passport and hence I have to argue with the post office people that the package I am collecting is indeed for me!

My mail from usa usually takes 4 weeks. O_o That is if they don't get lost.

I have one letter completely lost (>6 weeks), but I received another in only 10 days. I sent a Mandarin version of the address to my parents in a Word document (you can do this in Windows) and they printed it on the envelope. This keeps the local Zhuhai post office from having to do the translation manually which I think is what causes the delay.

As an alternate approach, can try a forwarding service like www.pmipmi.com. Been doing this for a couple years for all mail and magazines and never lost a one.

A bit pricey solution, but everything comes in a big sturdy USPS envelope (thoroughly snooped by customs) and it's like x-mas every two weeks when the new mags show up!