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Q: Is it possible to sue the postal service in China for slow deliveries?
I don't think it's outrageous when I say that the negligence and inefficiency of the Chinese postal service has caused great personal distress, anxiety, loss of sleep and potential economic loss. I have been waiting for 3 weeks for a letter which arrived on the Mainland on Sep 21 and which still hasn't been delivered to my address in China. My husband's visa depends on this letter and we've already booked our flights to Europe as requested by the embassy. I cannot wait another day or week to submit the visa application because that it turn may mean that we don't get the visa on time before the scheduled flight. It's just not alright to call yourself the post and not deliver letters on time. The whole service is a total sham! Someone at the very top should get fired to ensure better service!
Honeychile,
Rant away cause you ain't neva gonna see any snail mail crawling from your home country to a big, fat, ole morass like this one called China. I can't tell you how many letters, certificates, birthday cards, lottery checks and shit I have NEVER received in this primeval land coz they ain't got the resources or know-how to deliver to home addresses with no numbers on the front of the building facade or even mailboxes.
Your best bet is to hire a Chinese friend with a fixed address for mail receipt. Or an employer add.
Other than that, nobody sues nobody in this country. Why? Because it is still in the Dark Ages when it comes to law and civil rights. Give them another 20 or 30 years. They'll get it right. In the meantime, go home if you want civil rights.
Moonlake; have you tried tracking down where this post might be?
I fully understand your frustration because I had to wait three months for a Certificate of No impediment to turn up three years ago. In the end, I managed to go to Chongqing and get a new one, and then returned to the UK at the end of Jan 2010, and still beat the thing on it's trip back to the UK. They didn't even bother trying to post it.
Honestly; How anyone can see any benefits or positives in this country compared to their home country. Such considerations should be punishable by electrocution by the nasal hairs.
Moonlake:
The tracking number stopped after it left Europe and there was no way of telling where it was in China. But I have good news: I just got it this very moment! It was sent to my office and normally it gets brought up directly to the front desk. This time however, the postman decided to leave it in the mailbox of the lobby. Luckly my gut feeling and intuition told me to check the mailbox and there it was: the most beautiful brown envelope I've ever laid eyes on!
God I feel so sorry for you. I will break my vow (to not post negative) for you. In every facet, incompetence is China and China is incompetence.
I am not defending anyone, just stating a point. I will love to see if a letter arrived to the Postal Services of USA, or England, or Australia or Italy, or France or Germany, with name and address written in Chinese Characters. Bet you that it will either be delivered after a few months, when someone could translate the Chinese characters, or returned to sender, or dropped in a garbage can. I bothered to have my name, and my address in China written in local characters, and included my phone number too. I receive mail from USA within 11 to 14 days of date stamped on envelope.
Flemingo:
It'd be quite hard to write 25 maple street in Chinese though. I had 5 letters sent my way from NZ and Aus, one arrived, it was from the only person who didn't put Chinese on the envelope, only pinyin. Go figure.
I find the Postal Service in China to be great. The last time I mailed something, when I was leaving, one of the girl clerks yelled out " I love you".
I have posted stuff from Australia to China and China to Australia ,Somebody at a postal service put the translation of the details on the package as for law suits ...... Good luck with that 
This is what I did when shipping (it made the shipping go many times faster):
1) In the top-right corner, my U.S. address in English.
2) In the middle, put the name and address in Pinyin/English
3) Below that, write the name and address in the correct Chinese format, along with a phone number at the very end.
This way works the best for me. 1-2 weeks to ship documents to me, vs. 3 months doing it the other way. Try this method, please.
Correct Chinese format:
Zip Code
Name (in Chinese or English)
China => Province => City => County Level City? => District => Road => Building Number => Apartment Number
Phone number
Example::
Shi Zhenxiang
1337 Yangguizi Road, apartment #200
Fengkuang County, Youbing City
Shenjingbing Province
People's Republic of China, 102100
...and then write the Chinese format below it, complete with your phone number:
102100
屎珍香
中国神经病省有病市疯狂县你妈区洋鬼子路1337号200室
+86-186-1337-7337
Hope this helps.
Flemingo:
This works for EMS and other registered couriers, standard post where you buy a stamp, the phone number is of no use, we were waiting and waiting for a letter from HuBei to get here to Shenzhen, we tracked it, saw it was in Shenzhen already, so called up, they said for standard post we gotta go to the post office and collect it ourselves, we asked why they didn't at least call to tell us this, they said standard post don't make phone calls. Total Bullshit.
Hulk:
Don't use standard post!
After I adopted that method, whether I used it for within China, or to and from the United States, I have had no trouble with any of my packages. It's worked in multiple provinces. Standard post is a bit asstastic.
Scandinavian:
Don't knock standard post. If you want your envelopes wrinkled and your packages of mummy's home made cookies beaten up good, then China Post delivers most times.
Update, Update! I got it! I actually got it! Maybe the postal bureau got a sixth sense about an impending law suit (only joking)! Wow, I'm so happy. It took over 3 weeks but it's finally in my hands. Thanks for all the answers everyone!
Congrats
How many torches did you order from Echina?
Business addresses work better, the mail is actually delivered faster to them.
Also worth noting is that the size of your city will depend on how quickly you get your mail, bigger cities have faster delivery times that smaller ones, an example being my wife sending her passport (the one to visit HK/Macau) to her hometown in the middle of nowhere took about 10 days (it's 1000km away) but when her family sent it her back it took less than 48hrs.
Now you need some fireworks to celebrate it I guess...
