Postal Service Switch Derails Delivery in Europe

PARIS -- For Karen Kaja, an American living in Paris, Christmas came very late this year.

Friends in the United States wrapped some books and candles, tied them with a bow, and sent them through the U.S. Postal Service in December for a presumed beeline delivery to Kaja's front door.

Instead, the parcel took the equivalent of the Incredible Journey, first to Frankfurt, then to a warehouse outside Paris. Curiously, Kaja was told the package next went back to the States before finally ending up back in France.

Kaja got her Christmas parcel -- in June. But she had to pay about $19.60 -- more than a third the price of the gift itself -- to Extand, a French delivery service. By the time she had taken delivery, she had called Extand numerous times to ask why she had to open her wallet for a package already paid for at a U.S. post office. The phone calls alone cost her about $40 as she was placed on hold on Extand's pay-per-minute line. A delivery date was finally set in early March, then broken when no one came. Five more delivery dates were ignored over the next three weeks. Then Kaja was told on March 25 that her package had been sent back to the States. No explanation was given.

Her friends, not surprisingly, were baffled and embarrassed.

"To me it felt like extortion," Kaja said. "I was held captive for a package that was paid for and insured in the United States. I couldn't have it until I paid for it -- and even then, I had to wait forever."

Kaja is one of a number of Americans abroad who have been snared in a parcel delivery nightmare in Europe since October, when the U.S. Postal Service quietly ditched direct delivery to 23 countries in Europe and signed up Consignia, the partially privatized British postal service, as its single contact for the region.

The switch was intended to reduce operating costs and times associated with multiple delivery points in Europe. But U.S. postal officials acknowledge that the plan, hastened into operation after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks tangled domestic and international package transport, has come at a high cost to consumers, both in fees of up to $20 imposed by Consignia to process paperwork through customs, and in uncertainty over whether parcels will reach their destinations at all.

Numerous interviews with expatriates bear out complaints of high fees and interminable journeys of much-awaited packages. Frustrated, many now urge colleagues and friends to switch to FedEx or United Parcel Service for overseas delivery.

One French customs officer has fielded dozens of complaints from consumers who reported paying "astronomic" sums for packages that were then not delivered for up to a month or more after they arrived in France.

Genadhan Dodd, a spokesman for the European Commission's internal markets division in charge of EU postal matters, did not return calls seeking comment.

U.S. postal officials say they have stepped up monitoring of deliveries across Europe to correct any deficiencies.

They also say they have given Consignia and its affiliates a series of deadlines to improve services such as on-time delivery performance. Many countries have improved in recent months, but problems linger in Spain, Portugal, Belgium and Sweden, with the worst service recorded in France.

The agency in France that oversees anti-fraud, competitiveness and consumer protection issues has opened a dossier with French customs and the French post office to examine Extand's practices, including the additional fee. Extand, along with Royal Mail and German Parcel, is among the 23 affiliates of General Logistics Systems, the arm of Consignia that runs the parcel network in Europe.

Mike Regan, the U.S. Postal Service's director for international and postal affairs, said that if Consignia has not achieved expected performance levels by September, "it may be a matter that some specific countries may be removed from the network, and we'll seek alternate solutions," including reinstituting direct relations with national postal services.

Bob Michaelson, the U.S. Postal Service manager for international marketing and sales, acknowledged that "customers are concerned and complaining" about the delivery problems and fees. But Michaelson, who is in charge of the Consignia dossier, contended that the complaints "have been resolved to our customers' satisfaction on both sides of the Atlantic."

Many consumers disagree. In Kaja's case, the parcel, mailed in early December from a U.S. post office, came tantalizingly near its destination. It eventually wended its way over to French soil -- in February -- after entering the European Union via Frankfurt. That is where the U.S. Postal Service now sends all packages mailed by individuals and businesses, no matter what EU country they are destined for, and where Consignia takes delivery responsibility.

From Frankfurt, the packages are driven by truck to a Consignia hub in Neuenstein, Germany, to determine whether they are subject to duties. If so, they are then forwarded to national customs centers.

All European countries assign customs duties and taxes to certain parcels. But a new burden is placed on consumers in Europe receiving packages worth more than $50 because they must now pay fees for customs processing that are often higher than any imposed by the national post offices that used to handle packages sent from the United States. General Logistics Systems charges through its affiliates a handling fee averaging $15 per parcel, and which may be as high as $20, for "escorting" paperwork for the package through customs. A value-added tax is assessed on the fee.

Consumers in the United States and Europe seem to be largely unaware of the changeover. Senders believe that the price paid at a U.S. post office covers the entire cost of delivery, and recipients have had no warning that customs processing fees must now be paid in addition to duties to obtain their parcel.

Michaelson defends Consignia's fee to escort package declarations through customs. "Every post in the industrialized world does that," he said. "It's either buried in the shipping cost or postage."

But in response to complaints, Michaelson indicated that the U.S. Postal Service might pressure Consignia into reducing the fee by 2003.

C.G. Mende, a spokesman for General Logistics Systems, said Consignia was required by EU rules to present every parcel from outside the European Union to customs. "What we are charging is a fee on the process to clear the parcel through customs, not for the delivery involved," he said. "We can justify the charges from the work behind it, but they are certainly not outrageous."

Yet, when combined with the customs duty, the bill for obtaining a package sent by friends or family can be jaw-dropping, according to recipients.

Lisa Kostur, a dancer studying in Paris, never received a $200 necklace that her mother mailed as a birthday gift in February.

At the U.S. post office in Melrose, Mass., where Sue Kostur paid $28 for what she thought was full-service delivery, no one alerted her that substantial fees would be charged at the other end. As a student who is frequently on the move, Lisa Kostur said, she had neither the money to pay the entire $60 invoice nor the time to fight Extand's customs escort fee. After 10 days, Extand shipped the gift back to Massachusetts.

"I felt very frustrated," said Lisa Kostur.