India POST's foreign post office / Tracking foreign parcel with India POST

I am writing this blog to make you aware how things works at India Post's foreign post office based on my own experience:

While it may not be as normal to receive letters and cards from abroad because of so much of technology advancements, we ought to use the postal service to send and receive parcel's across the boarders, and national post is one of the most economical way for the same for majority of us.

I requested my friend to send me a small parcel(CJ182189524US) thru USPS from USA. Because of the agreement between India Post and USPS, the parcel delivered to India by USPS are further delivered to its ultimate destination by India Post.

My parcel has arrived in India at Indira Gandhi International Airport on Nov 20, 2020 as I could track it from the detailed tracking history given by USPS, however, no further update is available with USPS after it reaches India, and one has to rely on India Post for any update thereafter.

At this point, here is how things works or shall I say doesn't work at India post as came to my knowledge from talking to various authorities.

Even though the parcel is received at India, the same doesn't get updated on the India Post tracking system for months at times, and so as the case with me.

There is no way for you to know where your parcel is because neither the India Post toll free number nor the tracking system has any information about it!

If you are very desperate and dial all the available number of various post offices at Delhi you may be able to get the International Post Inquiry number 011-23236743, but even there also, don't expect to get any information other than what is visible to you over the tracking system. You will be informed to wait in the name of your bag carrying your parcel being unopened because of heavy work load! If you follow up persistently in the event of no update weeks later, you will be asked to log a complaint as an only option. But when you attempt to do that, you will be shocked to hear the representative accessing the same tracking details telling you that the package is not received in India so the complaint can not be made!!!

It is only because even when the parcels are received at India, they are not updated on the tracking website for weeks deliberately to avoid any inquiry from the receiver as I believe, and by not updating the information on the tracking page, they don't have to deal with the complaint also! How convenient, ain't it?

Yes, there are email addresses of the foreign post office, dfpoparcels@gmail.com, foreighpostdelhi@indiapost.gov.in etc. but rest assured that you will not get any acknowledgement, let along reply, because there is only 1 and I mean only 1 IPO who is, as informed to me, taking a burden of entire country in addressing the foreign parcel inquiry at these email addresses!

You must be thinking finally you will be able to track and receive your parcel! Not so soon friend, "Delhi abhi door hai!!!". As stated, you will never get the number of this IPO unless you are calling each and every number came to your notice, and lucky to find a kind hearted person to help! I got it by dialing 011-23235501 which is published wrongly as the number of the superintendent of the Foreign Post Office Delhi.

Once you reach the IPO, you will be informed of the tremendous work load requesting time as that person also will not have the information available! 

After giving couple of days of time and repeated follow-up with the IPO, there is a fair possibility that you are told that your parcel is not received! Don't be surprised, even if the sender system tracked the parcel up to the point where it was claimed to have been arrived at India a month ago, with granular level of tracking details available, the reply that you may receive from the IPO at India Post could be that the bag in which multiple parcel including that of yours was received didn't actually have your parcel in it!

With grate disappointment, your next question would certainly be, what now?! According to IPO at India Post, these does happen at times, and to address the same, they would raise a "Verification Note" to the sender agency, in this case USPS. You would not be interested in knowing the process but the delivery time it would further take for your parcel to reach you. Hear me now. According to IPO, even though the bag was received long ago, India Post is well aware that your parcel is not arrived in the bag, they didn't bother to update it on tracking page, neither they bother to update it to USPS, only because they have 1 months time to raise a Verification note post opening of the bag!!!

Don't get so disappointed! After all, your efforts have paid off and you managed to reach the right person to get the information about the current state of your parcel within the one month time of opening of the bag!!!

I said don't get disappointed because I didn't want you to get disappointed twice after what I am going to say now!

According to the IPO, if the parcel is not received in the designated bag, it will be received later in the separate bag! I am wondering if it is not received in the bag that has come a month ago, and they have not received it in any other bag since than, what are the chances of you receiving it just like that without doing anything to informing the sender(USPS)! Nevertheless, you are lucky enough to have the Verification Note raised to the sender(USPS) as a result of your effort, so your obvious question again would be how long more?!

Here is the ultimate disappointment. According to IPO, sender(USPS) never replies to the Verification Note! May be because you may be facing this first time, but they may have realized it for years now that it makes no sense to have raised a Verification Note almost a month after receiving the delivery, because after such a long time, the parcel could have well been misplaced(can't claim stolen yet)locally, and absolutely difficult to prove it not received!

I don't mean to be biased here as it can well be possible that the item is not sent by USPS in the bag, however, unless proven otherwise, from all what I've faced so far, I am of the opinion that it is bigger fault at the India Post's side first, for not updating the tracking details, not opening the bag for long time, not informing it to USPS immediately by means of Verification Note, and finally live with the fact that USPS don't care to reply any of the Verification Note till date!

I conclude it with a note for the concerned authority at India Post to PLEASE DO SOMETHING if not for me, at least for INDIA POST, at the cost of my money as a taxpayer.

And, if you can please do the needful to track and deliver my parcel, I would be thankful to you.

Thanks & Regards,

Vishal