Number of the week: How long must you wait for a letter?

May 27 2016

special to RBTH

On May 22, 2016 the addressee received a letter that was sent on March 12, 2014. The Russian Post took two years, two months and three days to deliver a letter from Sogorky township to Vologda, the administrative center of the region. The distance between the point of departure and the letter recipient is 87 miles and the specified period of delivery is five calendar days.The agency noted that such a delay of delivery is a unique case.However, it is not a record. In Tomsk in 2016 a woman received a letter from her brother with a USSR Post stamp on it. It was sent around 1976 and delivered nearly 40 years later.Perhaps the “delay” could have happened due to the shutdown of the local post office in 1988, but considering the length of time involved that’s probably not the reason. According to postal employees a close examination of the envelope is necessary to get to the heart of the matter.“We can’t reaffirm even the fact that the letter was delivered after such a long time,” a representative of the Russian Post was quoted as saying. “Only after we receive the envelope from the recipient where there must be a stamp with a delivery date, would we be able to start the verification process and discover whose fault it was that the letter wasn’t delivered on time and where it has been all this time.”Read more: Moscow creates vast new bank from Post Office>>>

Photoshot / Vostock photo

Russian Post plays hard to get

The agency noted that such a delay of delivery is a unique case.

However, it is not a record. In Tomsk in 2016 a woman received a letter from her brother with a USSR Post stamp on it. It was sent around 1976 and delivered nearly 40 years later.

Perhaps the “delay” could have happened due to the shutdown of the local post office in 1988, but considering the length of time involved that’s probably not the reason. According to postal employees a close examination of the envelope is necessary to get to the heart of the matter.

“We can’t reaffirm even the fact that the letter was delivered after such a long time,” a representative of the Russian Post was quoted as saying. “Only after we receive the envelope from the recipient where there must be a stamp with a delivery date, would we be able to start the verification process and discover whose fault it was that the letter wasn’t delivered on time and where it has been all this time.”