Saw this over on Lead Adventure and thought some folks here may not be aware…
https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=139709.0
… you may want to ensure your purchases have alternate delivery carriers.
UK Royal Mail not delivering overseas due to cyberattack
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Hudson Adams ModeratorIf there were any issue we would let people know. Also a reminder we're an American company and operate three global warehouses - UK, US, and Australia.
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@Hudson Adams I did check to see what international carrier Sarissa (which I understand is the WGA UK warehouse/distributor) uses before I posted. I noticed they listed Royal Mail as well as others. Sarissa has no mention on their website about the disruption in Royal Mail international service. So I felt it relevant to mention it here.
To be open and honest, I really wish WGA would select an EU based distributor for European customers at some point in the future. I have said the same thing to Reaper. The UK is no longer ideal for EU customers... and I say that as an American living in the EU.
EDIT: Royal Mail bulletin.
Service update: 19th of January 2023
Following the recent cyber incident, we are trialling operational workarounds and have started moving limited volumes of export parcels. While we trial these operational workarounds, we continue to ask customers not to submit any new export parcels into the network. Our initial focus will be to clear mail that has already been processed and is waiting to be despatched.
We are pleased to announce that we have resumed the export of International Standard and International Economy letters which do not require a customs declaration (i.e. these letters do not contain goods); International Business Standard (untracked) and International Business Economy personal correspondence letters (which do not require a customs declaration) to all international destinations. From 1900 on 18 January, customers will be able to start sending International Standard and International Economy letters which do not require a customs declaration (i.e. these letters do not contain goods); International Business Standard (untracked) and International Business Economy personal correspondence letters (which do not require a customs declaration) into the Royal Mail network through all channels including Royal Mail post boxes and Post Office branches.
Royal Mail continues to work with external experts, the security authorities and regulators to mitigate the impact of this cyber incident, with a focus on restoring export services. Our import operations continue to perform a full service, with some minor delays. Parcelforce Worldwide export services are still operating to all international destinations though customers should expect minor delays. Royal Mail’s UK services are still operational.
Our teams are continuing to work around the clock to resolve this disruption and we will update you as soon as we have more information. An investigation into the incident is ongoing and we are working with external experts. We have reported the incident to our regulators and the relevant security authorities.
Link page https://personal.help.royalmail.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5317/~/international-incident-bulletin
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Hudson Adams Moderator
We use IOSS from the UK and it works like a charm. There's really no reason to set up yet another warehouse when our EU customers can just get their deliveries with the customs duties already taken care of.
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Okay, so while this will have been a huge inconvenience, it looks like it only stopped things for a few days and likely only means a few weeks' slower deliveries. Given that Royal Mail is usually several weeks better at delivery than US carriers to Australia, I can't see it having too much effect here. And as Hudson pointed out, WGA have a warehouse in Australia anyway.
Don't Panic.
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@Mark Dewis Do you have new information on UK Royal Mail resuming international parcel delivery? I ask because from what I can see service was announced interrupted on the 11th and still has not resumed. I am not panicking. I am trying to illuminate a very real, ongoing situation.
I think it would be helpful for businesses to be clear on how they are working around this issue if they have previously stated they use UK Royal Mail. In absence of that I think it is important for customers to be aware and ask for an alternate delivery service to be used.
As an aside the interruption also follows labor action that as far as I know has been unresolved. How that may affect service in the future remains to be seen.
Fair point, IOSS is a step forward @Hudson Adams. However, despite the many connections I still have in the UK from the decade I lived there, I still feel EU customers would be better served by an EU based warehouse. But the decision is of course not mine to make.
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I just did a news search. The BBC reports that items which do not require a customs declaration (mostly letters) can be posted from Thursday (i.e. now). Parcels are still on hold.
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So folks will still need to find shipping solutions to work around this for an undisclosed amount of time.
This really is a big deal. Not panic time, but serious consideration time.
Consider how often folks may take postal delivery for granted and how it can be disrupted. And consider the privatization of what has in the past be national postal services with the resources that implies being allocated to protect them compared to private businesses.
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It is also good to keep in mind that if Royal Mail is currently not receiving any new parcels due to this issue, other courier services might experience delays due to the shift of parcels from Royal Mail to the other couriers to compensate the lack of availability, so things shipped through other methods might still observe some delays (not as significant as anything currently blocked by Royal Mail but still).
@Grumpy Gnome The UK-EU situation is something I discussed before with @Hudson Adams even before the transition period ended but I don't expect it to change and I have moved to using retailers inside EU, with that being part of the reason I got 45 boxes from Wargames Atlantic kits in 2020 and only 1 box in 2022 (low stocks in retailers or even none, delays in getting things stocked and a few other issues). It is what it is and I will continue to purchase the kits that I want to add to my collection but obviously within the possibilities that I have.
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@Hudson Adams It does appear to me that this cyber attack is actually directly affecting WGA after all if you consider the partnership with Only Games for physical prints of WGA STLs.
https://only-games.co/en-de/pages/shipping-production-information
Shipping & Production Information
ALL THE INTERNATIONAL SHIPMENTS (WORLDWISE EXCEPT UK) ARE CURRENTLY DELAYED DUE TO ROYAL MAIL EXPORT SUSPENSION
PLEASE MONITOR THE STATUS HERE.THANK YOU FOR THE PATIENCE AND UNDERSTANDING____________________________________PLEASE BE ADVICED PRODUCTION AND DISPATCH TIME ARE CURRENTLY LONGER THAN NORMAL AND MAY TAKE UP TO 10 WORKING DAYS
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The UK Royal Mail International parcel delivery suspension appears to still be in effect.
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Spotted this from Ancestral Hamster over on Dakka Dakka…
From Reuters 26 Jan 2023
https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/royal-mail-resumes-more-services-after-cyber-incident-2023-01-26/
International service has restarted but is limited, so it is not a full recovery.
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I got this message from a vendor on eBay.
"
I am afraid that due to a cyber attack last week Royal Mail are still not currently accepting international parcels for delivery. I am following updates from Royal Mail, they are currently clearing the backlog of packages that they had already accepted, but are not accepting new packages yet. They are hoping to have the full service up and running shortly.
I have all of my international parcels packed and ready to go, so as soon as Royal Mail say they can accept them I will get them posted.
Once again, I can only apologise for this delay and thank you for your patience.
If this delay imposed by Royal Mail is not acceptable to you and you would like a full refund I will understand and arrange that for you.
Kind Regards,"
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@William Redford It is taking a surpringly long time to resolve this and I am surprised it is not bigger news.
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Latest update that I am aware of….
https://www.royalmail.com/international-incident-bulletin
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For those that are interested
https://www.royalmail.com/international-incident-bulletin
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Looks like business was announced by Royal Mail as nearly but not quite fully restored as of 17 Feb.
https://www.royalmail.com/international-incident-bulletin
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