Silk Road forums
Discussion => Newbie discussion => Topic started by: Burning Babylon on June 15, 2013, 02:41 pm
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There are currently 249 Mailing Regions in the world according to the standard ISO 3166-1, more information on that aspect can be seen here: http://dkn255hz262ypmii.onion/index.php?topic=171551.msg1239820#msg1239820 I will however as for all my other threads base my findings on the 156 Active Regions seen in this post: http://dkn255hz262ypmii.onion/index.php?topic=171551.msg1387393#msg1387393
This thread will be a Link Repository for members describing various Mail Systems around the World, I'll see to it that it's updated. Each description post will be linked for the region(s) it's being described for. It will fully be up to the members how detailed the posts are but I'll describe how I would personally want it and then I'll post a description of the Mail System in my home country Sweden according to these attributes:
* Domestic Operators: A list of as many Domestic Operators as possible, along with some kind of description for the active one(s).
* Prices: How much stamps costs for what weights and any alternate systems for paying postage.
* Mailboxes: How the mailboxes look like, what kind of dimensions they accept and possible rules on what can be put into them.
* Seizures: At least one example article or video which shows seizure of any kind.
* Insider Perspective: Any information which shows how it works from within that is not easily obtainable without having worked there.
* Outsider Perspective: Any information that might seem odd or very different from an Outsider Perspective that is worth mentioning.
Just a small note the reason I'm not putting up any section about customs in general is they are very secretive on how they work and that would fall under the "Insider Perspective" section. For the list of Mail Systems around the World:
Active Regions: Mail Systems around the World ( http://dkn255hz262ypmii.onion/index.php?topic=171551.msg1387393#msg1387393 )
Sweden: http://dkn255hz262ypmii.onion/index.php?topic=172854.msg1240495#msg1240495
Inactive Regions: Mail Systems around the World ( http://dkn255hz262ypmii.onion/index.php?topic=171551.msg1387393#msg1387393 )
Albania
Algeria
Angola
Argentina
Armenia
Australia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Belarus
Belgium
Benin
Bolivia, Plurinational State of
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Botswana
Brazil
Bulgaria
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cambodia
Cameroon
Canada
Central African Republic
Chad
Chile
China
Colombia
Congo
Congo, the Democratic Republic of the
Costa Rica
Côte d'Ivoire
Croatia
Cuba
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
Egypt
El Salvador
Eritrea
Estonia
Ethiopia
Fiji
Finland
France
Gabon
Gambia
Georgia
Germany
Ghana
Greece
Guatemala
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Haiti
Honduras
Hong Kong
Hungary
Iceland
India
Indonesia
Iran, Islamic Republic of
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Korea, Republic of
Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan
Lao People's Democratic Republic
Latvia
Lebanon
Lesotho
Liberia
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of
Madagascar
Malawi
Malaysia
Mali
Malta
Mauritania
Mauritius
Mexico
Moldova, Republic of
Mongolia
Morocco
Mozambique
Myanmar
Namibia
Nepal
Netherlands
New Zealand
Nicaragua
Niger
Nigeria
Norway
Oman
Pakistan
Panama
Papua New Guinea
Paraguay
Peru
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Puerto Rico
Qatar
Romania
Russian Federation
Rwanda
Saudi Arabia
Senegal
Serbia
Sierra Leone
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovenia
South Africa
South Sudan
Spain
Sri Lanka
Sudan
Swaziland
Switzerland
Taiwan, Province of China
Tajikistan
Tanzania, United Republic of
Thailand
Timor-Leste
Togo
Trinidad and Tobago
Tunisia
Turkey
Turkmenistan
Uganda
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom
United States
Uruguay
Uzbekistan
Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of
Vietnam
Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe
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* Domestic Operators
There are currently 32 registered Domestic Operators in Sweden, the list of all of them can be found at the state agency PTS; http://www.pts.se/upload/Ovrigt/Post/lista-postoperatorer.pdf
Posten AB from that list, or Posten as they are more commonly called is the main active one. For more information see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posten_AB - what doesn't appear in the english article which can be seen in the swedish one is the swedish mail system was a monopoly up until 1993, after the deregulation things have mostly stayed the same except for the majority of delivery points getting moved from large postal centers to various grocery stores and likewise.
* Prices
Each normal stamp in Sweden has the price of 6 SEK. For a list on how many are needed versus the weight domestically, see http://www.posten.se/sv/Kundservice/Porto%20och%20pris/Sidor/Portotabell-for-brev-inrikes.aspx - it's in Swedish but it can be read if you know "Max vikt i gram" means maximum weight, "Pris" means price and "Antal valörlösa frimärken" means how many stamps are needed. For sending to Europe the prices are generally twice as much in comparison, as can be seen on http://www.posten.se/sv/Kundservice/Porto och pris/Sidor/Portotabell-for-brev-utrikes-Europa.aspx and finally for sending something internationally refer to http://services3.posten.se/ptm/bin/ptmpdf?objectid=0000.12693 and the column "Utanför Europa, pris". To give some short examples to those who won't open the links, 100 grams domestically costs 12 SEK, 100 grams within EU costs 24 SEK, 100 grams internationally costs 28 SEK.
* Mailboxes
Mailboxes in Sweden are handled by Posten, and images of them can be found by searching on "Posten Postlådor" (it's the yellow and blue ones). Maximum height of the package is 3.0 centimeters or it won't fit, weight can be a maximum of 2.0 kilograms. If a package reaches certain dimensions or weighs too much it will be delivered to a delivery point near a person instead of straight to the post box.
* Seizures
http://arbetarbladet.se/nyheter/gavle/1.2501033-drogerna-kommer-med-posten (Swedish so I would recommend http://translate.google.com) The article talks a bit how drugs are more common in the mail and that postal employees are not allowed to open mail under any circumstances, but they suspected something when they got the exact same type of packages all the time. They reported it to the police, who reported it to a prosecutor got a warrant to open the mail and found the drug spice in it - then there's the usual moral BS which is probably not unique to Sweden but likely a bit worse than others.
http://www.svd.se/nyheter/inrikes/knark-pa-posten-okar_839181.svd (Same as above translation wise) Talks a bit about how the customs works here but also reveals customs work on postal employees reporting stuff, and that they have seized normal envelopes on tips alone. It also mentions they have no trouble letting a customer accept a package to then make a raid on that address after it's been delivered (there are no controlled deliveries in Sweden with Posten, either it gets delivered to the post box or you pick it up at a delivery node nearby).
* Insider Perspective
Posten has their own YouTube-channel with a few videos which show how they work, all in Swedish: https://www.youtube.com/user/PostenLogistikAB/videos
* Outsider Perspective
The Swedish alphabet is 29-letters instead of the traditional 26, the three following added letters are as follows in lower-case/upper-case respectively: å / Å, ä / Ä and ö / Ö.
Sweden has some of the most restrictive drug laws in Europe, and if decriminalization or legalisation occurs in Europe at some point Sweden will almost guaranteedly be the last country to adopt it.
Hopefully this post has given some insight for those not living in Sweden. :)
For those posting after me, keep in mind you don't necessarily have to follow the way I wrote my post.