Back in the 19th century, it took approximately 5 weeks for a letter to arrive to St. Petersburg, Russia from California. 150 years later, it takes two months (if it ever arrives at all.)

That's the official time-frame for parcels and packages sent to Russia via regular mail. Does it sound a little extreme? It does to Ebay and other online retailers, which refuse to ship products to Russia because of their rule to refund the buyer for the product, if that product was not received within a month.

In an interview to Kommersant newspaper, the Russian State Post's spokesperson admitted "some problems with the deliveries". Some problems? Some? We'd say. The spokesperson also said that the Russian customs is partially responsible for these (horrible, despicable, absurd, gargantuan - ed) delays, but failed to give details.

The shipping issue surfaced amid Ebay's plans to launch the Russian-language service. Well, now people in Russia will be able to read in their own language of things that they can't buy and enjoy. Thanks, Ebay.

For RUSSIA!'s shipping needs, we have been using our friendly Aeroflot flight attendants for a while now, and not likely to go back to the post system soon.

Image: Your typical mailbox in Moscow [via Ezioman - Flikr]

Parcels are stuck [Kommersant (in Russian)]