Sending a letter by airmail

[azngrl444]

If I want to send a letter by airmail, can I just put the correct amount of postage and then write airmail on the side or do I have to get the airmail sticker from the post office? The post office near me recently closed and the nearest one is far away. Where else can I get the stickers from?

Thanks!

[KellyMBel]

YOu don't even have to write airmail on the side! When I mail airmail I just put the address on the envelope and then the country on the bottom, put it in my mailbox, and the post office does the rest! I know it doesn't matter because I have gotten successes without writing airmail. I think at the postoffice they will put it on though! I hope this helps...

-Kelly

[TheCollector]

Hi guys

It does depend on which country you are sending from, but more importantly how good your local postal/sorting office is It sounds like Kelly's is pretty good

Your letter will certainly still get there if you don't write or 'sticker it' to say AIRMAIL, but you do run the risk of it going via surface mail instead.

The post office should identify your letter as airmail based on the postage paid, but in practice this often doesn't work. I know this from painful personal experience!!!!

To give you an example, if a letter is clearly marked AIRMAIL and sent to the USA from the UK it would get there in 2-5 days - however, if it was not marked (and the post office were half-asleep!) it could go via surface mail (road/ship/road) and take up to 8 weeks!

I know the surface mail delivery times from the US are about the same.

Don't even get me started on how long it takes to get from the UK to Australia via surface

So whilst I totally agree with KellyMBel that you shouldn't have to write AIRMAIL (or sticker it) I personally wouldn't take the chance. After all it doesn't take a second to make sure!

Just my penny worth . . . . .

Ian

[nowandagain]

You definitely should (must!!) write AIR MAIL on any letter you send if you don't have stickers. It's just to be on the safe side in case it goes via surface mail.

Any mail will get to its destination eventually, but you'd rather have the security of it arriving within a few days instead of a few weeks.

Good luck!

nowandagain [rockon]

P.S. I think surface mail from Australia to the US is almost 2 months. You'd rather have mail sent from Australia to the US travel via Air Mail which takes from 4-6 days

[redheadedl3londe]

just wondering, how much more does airmail cost?

[nowandagain]

Hi redheadedl3londe

just wondering, how much more does airmail cost?

I'm not sure which country you live in, but please check this link:
http://www.fanmail.biz/mboard/viewtopic.php?t=14167

It all depends on the size of your envelope and weight of your letter. If your country isn't listed here, check your country's post office webpage for details of costs to post via air mail.

Happy collecting

nowandagain [rockon]

[HiddenJokesta]

yea I guess it all depends on you. From MY experience, airmail and surface mail work fine. It's just the wait time lol. No matter what though, the mail IS gonna get there

[nowandagain]

Yes, that's true HiddenJokesta. Eventually the mail does get to the relevant person either way.

Here's a rhetorical question: If you were to receive mail from overseas, would you rather it travel via air mail or surface mail?

[TheCollector]

.......and to be pretentious you can write "par avion" also

oo la la

Apologies to our French members, but I just had to . . . .