Items can be stored by postal workers for 30 days.
Moreover, during this period, postmen must accept and process the parcel, as well as properly notify the addressee. If the deadline has expired and the addressee has not received the parcel sent to him, then it is re-sent to the sender's address at his expense. As soon as the package arrives at the designated post office, postal workers deliver a notification of the package's arrival to the mailbox of the person whose address is indicated on the package. When the recipient receives it, he needs to take his passport and pick up his parcel. But if no one comes for the parcel within five days, then the postman personally goes to the address of the recipient’s place of residence and hands the notice to him. It is worth noting that this happens quite rarely. In practice, postmen put the notice in the mailbox a second time.
At the same time, you need to know that the parcel can be stored at the post office completely free of charge. But this is only possible within five days from the date of sending the initial notice. If during this period of time no one picked up the parcel and did not come for it after receiving the second notification, then you will have to pay for storing the parcel at the post office. But there is one important point here: if the notice was found in the mailbox, but the recipient’s signature is missing, then he has the right not to pay the penalty that has accrued over all this time.
As mentioned above, a parcel (or parcel) can be stored at the post office for no more than 30 days from the date of arrival. And, of course, it is not always possible to pick it up on time.
For example, an unexpected business trip arose, and you simply did not know that the package would arrive at that particular time. But most often cases arise when the recipient simply does not have the money to pay for it. In this case, too, there is a way out. You just need to follow a few simple instructions.
Types of correspondence
Postal correspondence can take both objective and informative form.
It is delivered to the recipient using the postal service. The main difference from a largely similar phenomenon - courier delivery - is the movement from one post office to another. The main advantage is the low cost when compared with other delivery methods.
Regarding the types of postal items provided:
Name | What may be contained | Subspecies | Maximum permissible weight |
Letter | Information in writing | Simple, custom and valuable | 100 grams |
Parcel | Printed publications, photographs, etc. | Simple, custom and valuable | 2 kilograms |
Multienvelope | Souvenirs, small commercial products | 150 grams | |
Package | Any items the sending of which is permitted by law | Oversized and oversized - if the side of the parcel is more than 60 centimeters | If up to 10 kilograms, then the parcel is called ordinary, if more - heavy |
You can transfer using three available options:
- simple dispatch;
- accelerated;
- international.
To deliver valuable items, you will need to clarify their cost before sending - the higher this indicator, the more you will need to spend on moving the object.
What is a parcel?
How many days is a package kept at the post office? First you need to define what is meant by this term. There are quite a few types of postal items, and each has its own rules for working with them.
A parcel is a postal item with strictly standardized dimensions and weight. This definition includes all packages weighing over 2 kg. In this case, parcels up to 3 kg will be considered small. And from 10 kg - heavy.
The delivery time for such a shipment will depend on many factors: distance, operator, status (international or national), time of year and even weather conditions. All this must be taken into account when sending.
However, in the case of a negative combination of all factors, things arrive at the wrong time and there is no one to pick them up. And then the question arises of how long the parcel is stored at the post office.
Shelf life
All correspondence arrives at the post office to which the addressee belongs.
How many days does the parcel lie, if it is not picked up, then there are very specific terms for the items to be at the post office, which is thirty days from the date of arrival, processing and notification of the recipient. If no one comes for the item within the specified time, then it is delivered to the sender at his expense.
For the first time, a notification of the arrival of the parcel is placed in the mailbox of the addressee, who only needs to arrive at the department with a passport. If he did not see or ignored the message, then after five days the postman is sent to the recipient’s address with a corresponding notice.
But the second stage is extremely rarely implemented by service employees, so in most cases the document is simply put in the mailbox.
With Aliexpress
In 2020, it is popular to order various things from China, be it Avon cosmetics, small souvenirs, magazines, etc. Despite the widespread use of the Aliexpress Internet service, the quality of Russian postal services still leaves much to be desired.
It is not uncommon for parcels to take a long time to arrive, to arrive at the wrong department, or not to arrive at all. Also quite relevant are situations when the shipment has already arrived and is listed in the service, but the employees delayed the notification or completely ignored the need to notify the recipient.
As is obvious, in such cases, after the expiration of the storage period at the PS warehouse, the parcel is sent back to China.
Therefore, it is recommended to independently monitor the status of the shipment’s movement so that when it arrives at its destination, you can immediately report to the department for collection.
It is worth noting that according to the accepted “keep for thirty days” standard, the service applies to parcels with poste restante status and goes to the point of being sent back if the buyer does not arrive on time.
But in most situations, parcels from Aliexpress are considered unclaimed, which implies special conditions under which the postal agent stores the items.
At the first stages there are no differences - the recipient is notified twice about the availability of the order at the branch. If the parcel was never confiscated, then it is stored for six months, after which it is simply destroyed.
Important to remember!
In accordance with Aliexpress rules, when ordering, the buyer immediately pays the cost of the item, but the money is credited to the seller’s account only after receiving the shipment. If problems arise with the parcel, you can return the funds by contacting support. If the recipient does not take the parcel of his own free will, he will lose both the invested amounts and the purchased item.
Registered and valuable letter
Standard correspondence is delivered in the usual way - the postman throws it into the recipient's mailbox and that's it.
Slightly different conditions apply for registered mail. Typically, this type is used if the content contains important information that relates to the interaction between a citizen and government services.
Therefore, when it is sent, a return receipt is attached, which the postman must hand over to the recipient. The latter signs on the form that he was notified of the arrival of the postal order.
If within five days no one comes for the letter, but the addressee’s signature is present, then a penalty begins to accrue - the item is stored at the post office for another thirty days. It is permissible for the recipient to extend the deadline up to two months if he submits a corresponding request to the postal service.
Judicial
The judicial parcel has greater significance among ordinary shipments.
Typically, such letters contain:
- subpoenas to testify;
- resolutions of authorized persons;
- decisions on enforcement proceedings.
A special stamp is affixed to the envelopes, and each correspondence must be accompanied by a return receipt, since it must be delivered to the addressee in person.
Moreover, the law allows the delivery of a court letter not only to the recipient, but also to any adult family member.
This condition is justified by the fact that such shipments are usually considered urgent, so all information must be conveyed to the addressee as quickly as possible. The storage period is significantly lower than other parcels and is only seven calendar days.
The explanation is very simple - in most cases, after a week, the letter’s requirements become irrelevant. After the allotted time has passed, the letter is sent back to the court, where it is filed with the case.
Important!
Even if a citizen did not receive the court correspondence in hand, as a result of which it was sent back, according to the law the letter is recognized as received. The authority puts the appropriate mark and does not specify whether the message was read by the addressee or not.
As a result, it is not uncommon for a person to miss the opportunity to correct the situation and be subjected to undue punishment.
Oddly enough, email “killers” are completely dependent on it.
New communication and collaboration services that have flooded the market claim to have developed technologies that are significantly superior to older ones. For example, Slack has been praised for its ability to significantly reduce email volume. Tools like Slack work great for small businesses and startups. However, despite the fact that Slack sends push notifications about project activity while the user is offline, notifications and personal messages still arrive in email. Cloud storage and backup services do the same thing when someone shares a new file.
For free
Parcels are stored at the postal service office for the period allowed by law free of charge - the cost of shipping automatically includes the cost of this service.
However, in some situations, the postal operator may charge an amount for finding the item. Calculation is carried out according to established postal rates.
When is payment taken?
A fee for storing postal items is charged to the recipient if the latter, due to certain circumstances, decides to extend the period of time the parcel is in the office.
Email can be used for more than just sending and receiving letters
Email is evolving and becoming an effective tool for performing a wide variety of tasks. It is now not only a means of communication, but also a reliable marketing tool that allows you to share special offers and other information with potential and regular customers, suppliers and sellers. In addition, email can also be used for simple everyday tasks, such as personal notes.
Going beyond traditional uses, email has become an alternative option for storing important documents and backing up data as it carries unlimited storage capacity. Employees often need to be able to access the information they need from any device, anywhere. If you don't have a flash drive handy, then this is not a problem. You can simply send the necessary information by email to yourself and access it from another device.
What to do if the deadline has expired
The storage period expires when all available limits for free and paid parcel storage in the department have been reached.
What the recipient should do in this case largely depends on the type of shipment.
- In the case of regular correspondence, it is enough to contact the postal service and try to find and receive the parcel.
- If the shipment is registered or valuable, then after the allotted time has passed, it will simply be redirected to the sender. In such a situation, you should not count on purchasing the parcel.
It makes sense to contact the post office with a request to clarify the current location of the shipment. In practice, it is not uncommon that even after all specified deadlines have been completed, the parcel is still in the current department.
How long does a parcel stay at the post office?
Previously, according to the law, parcels were held for a month. But since June 2018, the rules have changed - the retention period has been significantly reduced.
Now it is only 15 days from the moment the parcel arrives at the post office at the recipient’s place of residence.
Letters, including international ones, and translations are stored for 30 days .
But court correspondence is supposed to be stored for no longer than 7 days.
The retention period begins to count from the next day after the parcel arrives, the post office is open.
It is possible to extend the storage period to 2 months, starting from the day of arrival at the post office. For this, a paid service is ordered. The recipient (or an authorized representative) writes a paper application with passport information, submits it to the post office where the item arrived, and pays for the service at a certain rate.
Clause No. 34 of the “Rules for the provision of postal services” states that changing the storage period is possible only when this service is noted in the agreement concluded between the postal institution and the sending party.
That is, the recipient has the right to write a statement only if there is no note “Shelf life cannot be extended” on the packaging of the item sent and in the system list of the post office.
Postal employees who accepted the item send a notification to the recipient. The recipient comes to the post office with an identification document and picks up the parcel.
When the retention period has expired, the registered parcel goes in the opposite direction to the sender's address. But if the sender does not come for the returned parcel, then it is held for up to 6 months, then it is recognized as unclaimed and subject to destruction.
Is it possible to extend
If for certain reasons the addressee is unable to receive the parcel on time, he has the right to request an extension of the period for the parcel to remain at the department.
Maximum – up to two months. In such a situation, a written order will be required (it can be sent from both the sender and the recipient). A statement from an address can only be accepted if the sender has not prohibited this.
This service is considered paid and is calculated taking into account the established tariffs. The cost is largely determined by the region of residence.
For example, for residents of the Vladimir region you will need to pay more than 300 rubles , for the Nizhny Novgorod region - less than 60 rubles.
This distribution is determined by the equipment, prevalence and occupancy of post offices in a particular region of the country.
What you need to quickly receive a post restante package
In order to receive a post restante letter or a parcel, you will need a passport and a track number. Before accepting the shipment, the recipient:
- assesses the integrity of the packaging. If a customs inspection was carried out, a certificate must be attached, and the box will be sealed with tape;
- has the right to demand that the package be opened if there are doubts about the contents;
- signs the accompanying receipt form and pays postage.
In case of temporary absence of a passport, the recipient has the right to confirm his identity using a military ID or driver’s license. Instead of the addressee, the shipment may be received by another authorized person. The law requires a power of attorney. A sample of it is available at any post office. The document must be notarized.
Delivery of correspondence via Russian Post is carried out at established rates. Rates vary depending on the type of mailing. Letters/mails are divided into simple, registered, valuable with or without an inventory of the contents. The location of the post office and the distance that the package will “travel” matter. Information about tariffs can only be obtained from a specific branch.
Poste restante correspondence can be sent to any post office convenient for the recipient, not necessarily at the place of registration. This could be a post office near your home or the main post office.
What to do with unclaimed correspondence
An unclaimed item cannot be stored in the department for a long time - this point is specified by the organization’s regulations.
In this case, their further fate depends on the type of parcel:
- regular letters remain in mailboxes;
- valuable, registered ones are stored for a specified period, after which they are returned to the sender;
- simple parcels are stored for six months, after which they are destroyed.
It is also worth clarifying about cash on delivery shipments - usually the postal service tries to notify the recipient, since this determines whether its services will be paid for.
The work of the postal service is often criticized by citizens, because its activities are often characterized by serious mistakes - even with a new organization, many people give up, believing that it will also violate all established rules.
This picture is due to the general state of the postal system, so to correct it it is necessary to adopt appropriate laws.
Commission for money transfer: Russian Post tariffs
What fee will be charged for a money transfer? Russian Post has established the following tariffs for:
- up to 1000 rubles – 40 rubles + 5% of the transferred amount;
- 1000-5000 rubles – 50 rubles + 4%;
- 5000-20000 rubles – 150 rubles + 2%;
- more than 20,000 rubles – 250 rubles + 1.5%.
Large corporate clients are provided with special rates for mass mailings or receiving transfers to their address.
When using, you will pay 99 rubles when transferring up to 3,000 rubles. If the transferred amount is from 3,000 to 500,000 rubles, you will be charged 1.2%, but not more than 1,500 rubles.