dlake02

Hi

I'm just wondering how (if) other people have had to deal with this.

This year, we decided to stay in the US for Christmas, but send some parcels of pressies back to family. Not much - we're not big Christmas people, but a few chocs, books, etc.

Parcel number 1 cost around $56 and took 5 days to arrive. That was fine, but frankly, the cost of the postage far outweighed the value of the goods - yes, we ARE that cheap.

Parcel number 2. Cost $75 to post. Didn't arrive - unhelpful jobsworth at USPS said "not our problem - talk to the local post people." Turns out it was stuck in UK Customs for 4 days. In-laws had to pay 35 quid to get it released. Total postage time on a service billed as "3-5 days" by USPS was 15 days. Cost a small f-ing fortune....

When I looked at other shipping methods (DHL, UPS, FedEx) they all came in at EXACTLY the same cost - $134 !!!!!!

Is this experience normal ???? How does everyone else cope sending stuff back-and-forth ? We've found that sometimes even letters from the UK can take 4-5 WEEKS to arrive - even letters within the US sometimes take 3 or 4 days (even within the same area).

Are there cheaper/more reliable options for next time ?

civilservant

UK to US by RM typically takes 10ish days in my experience, the reverse only 5-7 - never had any problems with customs taxes (despite having sent £1000s worth of model planes and an ipad through customs)

Charges have always seemed pretty reasonable.

DavidLemon

I always buy online and have the recipients postal address as the delivery address. For my UK family i shop online with uk sites, and for the US family obviously i shop on US websites. Saves a small fortune on shipping. They can always wrap it themselves lol

Nutek

We do this as well.

When we do send stuff ourselves, we use the USPS Flat Rate boxes. Normally takes around a week to ten days or so and we have had no problems at all.

N1cky

Did you mark on the customs form how many gifts were included and their individual values?

dlake02

If the gift was something of value, I'd understand this; but what we wanted to do was send something typically "American" - a book from B&N, candles from a local shop, cookies, etc. Nothing more than 3 or 4 dollars value, really. And we like to wrap it and write the label ourselves - I always find it really off when someone sends a parcel obviously wrapped by a company with a note in fake handwriting - like they can't be ars*d to spend time wrapping it....

And we went carefully through the business of declaring to Uncle Sam the exact weight, value and country of manufacture of every part only to be stiffed for 37 quid on "import" to the UK.

Value is irrelevant - someone could send me a nicely personally wrapped and addressed lump of coal, and I'd be happier with that then the most expensive Apple product wrapped by some corporate monkey from tax-evading Amazon....

dlake02

Yep - took bl**dy hours to do. Counts for nothing..... Total declared value of the parcel was $78. Shipping $73. Import to the UK - UKP 25 ish plus UKP 8 "handling" charge plus VAT at 20%. UKP 37.57 for my in-laws to receive their own pressie....

Nutek

As I stated, when we want to send "personal" items, we do, via USPS. With no issues.
As far as I can recall, the customs form had the word "candy" scribbled on it on the last box we sent.
Yes, it cost more than the contents probably did (60 bucks), but thats ok. Sometimes its just fun to do.

dlake02

OK - then we have to live with it... It just seems ridiculous to have to jump through all this paperwork to send a package with presents in. And then to have to pay duty twice - once when we bought the stuff and then when it is "imported." I thought that there'd be some kind of tax treaty to deal with that - it certainly doesn't happen between countries in Europe.

Nutek

I think there is an element of luck involved. Not with the postage, but with the customs. We have yet to have anything inspected, much less held or charged for ( this over a number of years) but obviously it does happen.

If you do send stuff, the Flat Rate boxes are ok. Anything that will fit, provided its under 20lbs in weight, for a fixed price. Depending on what is being sent, it might save you a few bucks. All the forms can be printed off the website if you don't want to do them by hand.

lansbury

With sending stuff USPS you're right it does seem down to luck. We had one parcel singled out for duty in 6 years. If you use a courier such as UPS or Fed Ex just about everything seems to go through customs.

N1cky

Mine went through fine, and the value was much higher than yours. Maybe it is down to luck, I did specifically write on the form 6 x gifts for different people, as advised on the customs form, so maybe it was that.

AmerLisa

I send boxes all the time to my daughter and grandchildren via USPS. I've never had them go longer than 10 days to arrive. Yes, they can be expensive, but I take a box and cram it full of stuff (always careful to take off tags and wrapping, they are gifts!) On the other hand, my daughter sent us a goodie bag coming up to 2 weeks now, and it's still not here. I'm sure it's stuck in customs, but that's this time of year for you.

Cheaper options might be Amazon, Marks and Spencer, going directly through these places...

Bob

UK to US, my mother uses surface mail, cheap, but takes a while.

Sending shit to the UK/EU, bubble wrap envelope and send it the cheapest method, generally no problem with it and it's much better than the flat rate boxes, which are crap, unless you're sending loads of shit.

If the stuff is under a couple pounds, send it in padded envelopes.

Also if under a couple pounds, it's the green customs form, other wise it's the bigger one that's more hassle to fill in. Just mark stuff as gift, vague label such as sweets and write no discernible value.

GeoffM

Sent a couple of xmassy dresses to my nieces, cost under $20 each, today found out customs charged £18 duty. Not happy. Declared it as two gifts as well, and $16 to send USPS.