Post Office Issues

FedEx, UPS, DHL

You'll never see snail mail from Vietnam Postal Service 99% of the time. You're lucky they were sent back and not just outright stolen.

I've had mine shipped in by courier, but somebody looked at the numbers apparently...had a fraudulent transaction if I recall correctly. Nothing a good bank can't reverse, though.

Try having them sent by family in a care package hidden in many otherwise boring personal contents.

I have had them sent many times by FedEx and never had a problem. But I have a residence here. It sounds like perhaps the OP does not. They are traceable and have a tracking number with FedEx. Sorry to hear of your misfortune.

Have a house in Vietnam and get mail sent from the UK. It never arrives so I accept that fact and only use a courier service even for regular letters. Never fails

I had a letter with just some latop key replacements stolen

what ***. other asian countries wud be so deeply ashamed by the loss of face that every foreigner in the world can see ***, but here they just dont care.

Oh come on now. I understand your generalization. But I have met many very honest Vietnamese here. I would hate to put a % number on the good and the bad. But there certainly are some dishonest ones also. I have never had any problems with the EMS folks and I receive things about twice a month. I have had wonderful hour staff and they have been so wonderful. Dropped money on the ground and they alert me. Give them 100,000 when it should have been 10,000. But I can tell you I have met a few bad eggs. But to say ALL Vietnamese are thieves might be an overreach.

But there is an element of bad folks. Sometimes quite sad. I wish I could count the number of times I have seen a small child being frisked by the security personal in grocery stores etc. Then they pull out from under their clothing famine hygiene products, or a bag of MSG, to some similar thing that all you boys just have a tremendous need to steal. Indeed, in many ways it is a lawless society. But this is the nature of being poor. But there are many good people and good things about Vietnam. But it can get frustrating. I have friends that came here from the Philippines and they love the fact their is so little theft and it is so safe here. So I guess it is relative. Keep your chins up.

If you want anything of value sent from overseas either get it hand-carried or sent by courier service.

Takes away any concerns and avoids the time needed to investigate any missing items.

Many countries, not just Vietnam, have items going missing from the postal services.

If it's worth anything to you,or could be difficult to replace, then send it by courier where the consignment can be traced and recorded. It's as simple as that.

Agree with Zepo, My replacement came by Fedex. My bank's regular policy. Tell your bank it must be Fedex/DHL with tracking. If they complain, tell them a white lie, like, the consulate told you Fedex is the only safe way.
And next time you come here, bring a bunch of cash too. Cash is king. You are allowed up to $5k declaration free.

Sorry to hear about the stolen wallet.  I have two possible solutions for you regarding an address where mail can be sent. One, if you have a friend who is Vietnamese, have he or she get on a first name basis with the local post office so that when mail for you comes to the post office they will telephone you. This may not work in HCM City, but it works in the country as there are not a lot of foreigners or Viet Kieu. Secondly, have your mail sent to a school or hotel where you are known or you know someone that can receive and hold the mail for you. When my credit card expired, I had my new credit card send this way and there was no problem.

I had a replacement card sent from my Singapore bank by DHL to my residential address which arrived quickly, within five days including a weekend. The bank also sent by DHL at the same time, but in a separate envelope, the new PIN number for said card. Happily no issues. Normal mail from this bank in SG arrives by VN postal service no problem.

1. If there is a post office near you then you can rent a post office box (the FYI option). They will give you the precise address for the box and phone you when your mail arrives.

I have done this. You will need a Vietnamese friend to help you. In my case my friend was my wife.

2. Use FedEx (the no-brainer option). You can easily access their website and get all the info you need and all the on-line services that they offer such as estimates of time and cost and tracking.

FedEx in VN works the same as FedEx in your (English speaking) home country.