FOR ANYONE WHO DOES INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING

[Ansil]

FUN things to know.. in the us, the postoffice has a cool little deal going on, a priority envelope for 9$usd that has no weight resirictions on it and can go anywhere in the world for this price.  anywhere.. i asked the guy several diferent places and they all come up the same..  speaking of which smoguzbenjamin.. your stuff went out today. so it whould be there in aprox 4-6 days.

also in the us it is 3.85 to do the same deal for all 50 states..  plenty of room for a stompbox and good foam peanuts

[travissk]

Yep, in theory it's a pretty good deal; actually when it came out I was pretty young and if I remember right it was 2 pounds, 2 days, 2 dollars...

I tried to ship out a textbook in one of those "unlimited weight envelopes," and they told me it was too heavy. I asked if they were serious, because it clearly says "flat rate regardless of weight" in big bold letters on the envelope :-D

Then this week, our USPS branch decided to stop carrying anything but the flimsy paper priority mail envelopes... anything else you have to buy from their non-free section. We asked if this was because they're a branch at a university and most of the students have no access to other boxes and packing materials, and the clerk laughed and said we were probably right (the staff is nice, at least). I paid about $23 to ship two books, expecting to spend $8.

I'm rambling, but it's a pretty good deal if you can pack right and if they still have the offer. I wonder if they're phasing this out at other places or just here. Should be great for fast delivery of parts.

[sfr]

they don't advertise it, but if yr in no hurry at all, there is a fourth-class "book rate" that is only applicaple to "bound printed matter over x number of pages" (sorry, don't remember the amount) as well as videos or audio recordings and other types of media, I believe.  Sometimes it gets there almost as fast as first class, sometimes it can take two weeks, but it's cheap as hell.   For overseas delivery, there's also this wierd low-cost, low-class form of postage where you package yr box up and they give you this crazy old burlap bag that looks like it was used in the pony express and you put the box in there and fill out the tag and it must go overseas on a boat or something, because sometimes it takes forever to get there (although, again, sometimes it's quite fast) but it's dirt cheap.  I can't find the zine I have with the info, but if you poke around the post-office website or some of their printed materials at the store, you'll find out about a lot of wierd postal rates they don't really print signs about and stuff, and if yr willing to make some sacrifices, you can save some money.  

I often get my boxes for mailing from the recycling dumpsters behind businesses - just tape 'em back up again and they're good as ever.

[Ansil]

yep  i use media mail all the time.. as long as there is media in there it is considered media mail so i slip in some aol disks wheni send stuf out.

[smoguzbenjamin]

Thanks Ansil Was the shipping $9,- US?

[smallbearelec]

It is a standard P.O. Service, and it works very well to those countries where it goes. The small mailer is $5.00, the large mailer $9.00. A #0 bubble bag can be stuffed with parts, folded into the mailer and sent for not much. You have to check the PO web site to see if GPM is available to the country to which you want to send. It is traceable, also, though not insurable.

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

sfr, I know about the "book rate" because I used to be a book dealer & travelled t USA to buy stock. In my experience, it can take up to 13 (THIRTEEN!) weeks for a sack of books from USA to Australia :x
Even so, I'm a great fan of USPS & urge all you folk in USA to fight to keep it, doubtless one of Bush's mates wants to take it over!

[drew]

The USPS lets me rent a PO box for a pittance, and lets me ship large volumes of small items for very cheap... try sending anything thru ups/fedex for two bucks!


drew
www.toothpastefordinner.com