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Mail Service The post office system in Russia is responsible for "communications" which includes postal service, telegraph, intercity and international telephone calls, accepting subscriptions to newspapers and magazines. Postal pick-up boxes are blue and white. Mail is delivered daily to your post box in your building. Outbound airmail to the UK and USA takes up to three weeks to arrive and is reliable. Incoming mail is less reliable and can take three weeks or more. Express mail is part of the International EMS express mail service and works rather well. EMS takes about 1 week, private express parcel (DHL or other) takes about 2-3 days. Except the Main Post Office of St. Petersburg that deals with all kinds of communication, there are about 700 local post offices that mostly handle mailing of domestic and international letters and render telephone services. Historical facts: The main post office, opened in 1714, was the first in Russia. In 1833, the first city postal system in Russia, with forty-eight postal "substations," was established. The first "post boxes" appeared in 1848. Stamps were introduced in 1858. Name | Open | Adress | Services | "Glavpochtamt" Main Post Office of St. Petersburg | Mo-Sa 9-19:45, Su 10-17:45 | 9 Pochtamtskaya St. | All kinds of profile service | Business Courier Express postal service by "Glavpochtamt" | Mo-Fr 9-20 | 4 Konnogvardeyskiy Blvd. | Express delivery, call for pick-up by couriers abroad | Express Mail of Russia | Daily 9-20 | 3 Bolshaya Morskaya St. | Express parcel service in 206 countries, in Russia and CIS | Post International | Mo-Fr 10-19, Sa 12-17 | 20 Nevskiy Pr. | Mail boxes, express-mail,worldwide mail courier service, mail forwarding | West Post International | Mo-Fr 9:30-20, Sa 12-18 | 86 Nevskiy Pr. | Mail and courier services | DHL International | Mo-Fr 9-18 | 57 Nevskiy Pr. | Express courier in and to 220 countries | Express-Service-Euroletter | Mo-Sa 9-20, Su 10-18 | 9 Pochtamtskaya St. | Express mail delivery from Saint Petersburg abroad trough Sweden | Federal Express | Mo-Fr 9-17:30, Sa 9-14 | 2 Mayakovskogo St. | International and local courier services | TNT Express Worldwide | Mo-Fr 9-18 | 12 Shturmanskaya St. | Express parcels and documents, express freight service 200 countries door to door in 2-3 days through Helsinki, customs clearance in St. Petersburg | United Parcel Service | Mo-Fr 9-18 | 51 Shpalernaya St. | |
Telephone Communication The telephone situation has greatly improved in St. Petersburg because of the St. Petersburg Telephone Company's work with Western telephone companies to improve service and the increased competition for telephones and telephone services. In addition to the official St. Petersburg Telephone Company, there are a number of foreign and local private telephone companies. Prices tend to vary among them. Count on $400-$500 for installation charges and $2-$8 for long-distance calls to Europe or America. Given the price discrimination against calls to North America, these private services are not that expensive. Cellular communication. There are four cellular service providers in St. Petersburg working in following standards: MegaFon; MTS (GSM-900/1800 standard); Beeline; Skylink. All those companies support roaming. International calls. Calling with St. Petersburg Intercity and International Telephone Company (St. Pbg MMT): to make a direct international call from your home or office phone dial "8", wait for the long tone, and then dial 10, followed by the country code, city code and the number. Other ways of calling the rest of the world: (a) use a pay phone to place direct international calls; (b) for inexpensive long distance phone calls over the Internet, use Internet Telephony services; (c) use a Callback service, long distance calls originating from the US are much cheaper than long distance calls originating from other countries; (d) subscribe to your own international access service. Intercity calls. You can dial cities in Russia directly from St. Petersburg using either your home or office phone or from special telephone booths/offices or any of the private pay phones. To make an intercity call, dial “8”, wait for a long tone, then dial city code and number. Internet providers All types of Internet connections: Web Plus, Baltic Communication Ltd., ComSet, Infoservice Ltd., Quantum Communications, Lanck Telecom, Peterstar and many others.
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