Sending and receiving packages in Romania

We receive packages from the EU to our door via courier or the postman as might be expected however sending EU packages is a different matter. Our local post office can't take them , we have to drive to Campulung to the main customs post office. As we visit regularly it's not a problem.

Sending & receiving packages outside the EU is a nightmare. These are sent to us and collected by us at the customs office in Pitesti which is 50km away & at least 1.5 hours. My daughter's parcels from Vancouver are summarily slashed open with a knife for inspection when I go to collect them.

I don't send or receive parcels from outside the EU anymore. It's easier to use the Internet than the postal service. I have no problem at all with couriers delivering to our home but sending personally by courier is prohibitively expensive.

Another strange thing is that some post never arrives at it's destination. I sent 3 birthday cards to the UK a month ago paying priority postage. None has arrived.

In the UK we can send parcels from any post office & receive them at the house from anywhere in the World. There seems to be very little trust here & the system is ridiculously bureaucratic.

I have had a few problems with missing letters and parcels, both from the UK and sent from here too. Loads of times inbound cards sent from the UK have failed to arrive to us.

We once sent a package to the UK and it failed to arrive, but that was a one off, however I paid for the cheapest delivery that time, since then I use just recorded for packages. Although I prefer to just take packages in my luggage when going back to the UK, my family have no problem with February Xmas gifts.

Interms of inbound parcels, if it was sent recorded it tends to arrive safely, if not it can be a bit pot luck, so we tell everyone not to bother anymore, again collecting them in person is better.

I am not a fan of the post office here in Bucharest to be honest, the service is not great, but that's more to do with the attitude of the staff, the same can be said of slot of staff at supermarkets too.

If you have contacts near a city with a large Romanian population there is most likely a local agent of a private Romanian shipper nearby. For sure Chicago, Detroit, Atlanta, and others.
Shipments usually are dispatched once a month and travel by ship, taking 8 weeks or so.
The cost is usually less than $1.50/lb, 40 pound minimum. Virtually no restrictions on what can be sent. There is no charge in Romania and packages are delivered to the door by private courier.
I've seen people send extention ladders, automobile tires, furniture, bicycles... Why? Don't ask me, but people send all kinds of stuff.