Russian Post Office/ Почта России

This behemoth of an organisation is as necessary as it is frustrating... and as bewildering to a foreign user. It's one of the most bi-polar of instituions: one day they'll help you wrap a parcel, giving you the paper for free; another day (that's most other days) they are obtuse and the proverbial mule.So, here are some tips.

For sending...

• Take your parcel, sellotape/scotch, scissors, pen
• Be prepared to wait
• Keep calm and stay smiling and friendly; if you let this drop, you're screwed. Don't try to appeal to common sense or a sense of duty (or threaten to complain -they're all in it together).
• When arriving, ask "kto posledny otpravit posilku" (Who's last to send a parcel?) [They're Russian, not English, so have no understanding of how to form an orderly queue]
• Don't seal a parcel in advance - they can sometimes be really arsey and make you weigh everything to complete the customs form with the weight of each (type of) item. [that's what the tape and scissors are for]

For collecting

• Take your notification slip and passport
• Be prepared to wait
• Keep calm and stay smiling and friendly; if you let this drop, you're screwed. Don't try to appeal to common sense or a sense of duty (or threaten to complain -they're all in it together).
• When arriving, ask "kto posledny za posilkami" (Who's last to collect parcels?) [They're Russian, not English, so have no understanding of how to form an orderly queue]

General advice

• Unless you've already displayed an amazing level of Russian language skills, it is sometimes better to play slightly dumb with the language; not blustering in an ignorant "Hello, do you speak English?", but keep it simple
• Look on it as a tale to tell the grandkids. My (true) story is that I once picked up a parcel in under five minutes from a Russian post office; several years later and still no one believes me.

Tales of the Russian Post Office
#1
#2