Why is USPS shipping to the UK so expensive?

Ive had several customers get sticker shock when I give them the USPS Parcel Post Surface rates for heavy items! I can ship to the Continent for 25-40% cheaper. It aint fair for the French to get off cheaper!
How do you bloody islanders get around this?

 

We don't get round it and we have to pay tax on the postage and 17-1/2% tax on the total of all of it plus postage handling. It helps when having stuff sent over if it is sent as a gift, or the value is shown lower than it really is,but at the end of the day if we want it we have to pay for it,it's just the guberment sticking there grubby mits in our pockets again.
john

 

I get better rates when I ship with US post office to Europe. Worth a look maybe...

 

You may do ok using the post office.


I've sent stuff to New Zealand, Australia and France among other places.

That largest piece was 4 small hubcaps in one box - baby moons - to France.
$28. a couple years back.

UPS - checking on the Internet had the price as prohibitive although in the US UPS isn't too bad.

 

The price of shipping to the UK is nuts! I have shipped to China, Austrailia, NZ, Germany and a few other places. Only with UK deals has the shipping been prohibitive. When shipping from there, The cost has been reasonable. Maybe there are taxes involved to promote domestic business. Maybe there are taxes involved to promote domestic political careers.

 

I ship abrasives to England and packaging back.
It's cheaper going out than coming back in I can assure you.
I've found for anything over 60 -70 lbs it's best to use a forwarder.
Under that USPS.
If nothing else you save on brokerage.
I checked out UPS and FEDEX and they are out of this world.
yet a forwarder will give it to them,
and charge you 1/2 the price.
It try to keep my packages light and use USPS for international stuff.
It's always worth having insurance on it to.
USPS international tracking sucks.

 

Shipping to,and from,the UK can be expensive.

I always make sure I know the shipping cost before
bidding on anything in the UK on Ebay.

$40 to ship a $10 book is not reasonable.

 

you want to try UPS or FEDEX!!! man they couldnt track a pink elephant outside the US. mate had a complete tri carb set up sent from the US to Australia, it ended up in AUSTRIA, close, but not bacon.

he got to watch it on his tracking website, even let them know, but had to wait ages for it to be redirected. Woeful!! then they charge us at this end to have the item inspected by customs!!! $80 last time I used FEDEX and its free through USPS!!!

oh well. people miss out, if anyone says that they will only use UPS I say no and looks for some one else selling the same item.

 

Figure this one out. UPS brokerage to the US from Canada. Yes if the item is over $200. UPS brokerage to Canada from the US. Yes if over $20. Someone want to explain that one. Sometimes the brokerage is worth more than the part. I have everything shipped here US Postal service. Post office charges $5 brokerage from the US if over $20. Pat.

 

First rule never ever ever use ups always use usps and second always never put value on box.Gift is a great one or commercial sample is good also...................Marq

 

It's a long time since I got anything via UPS. USPS is way better and cheaper. We can now get $1k worth without paying anything ('cept freight of course), which isn't bad.

Last thing I got from the US was a set of 4 Caddy caps, not heavy but a biggish box. Post was $35.

 

You guys cry too much.........wanna borrow my hankie?

I ALWAYS ship US Postal. I ALWAYS mark as a gift and ALWAYS under estimate the value.

Also there is a new deal called GEM. Use it. It get's packages there in 3-4 bidness days and is insured automatically.

Shipping to England is cheaper then shipping to Australia. I know, I bend over and grab my ankles everytime I ship to Australia. Shipping to Austria was much easier to swallow then either or.

Brandy

 

I sent a pair of SBC heads home in 2 packages, each weighed 45lbs, surface mail (5-6 weeks) only cost $80 each package...what my friend saved on import duty etc was well worth the cost....UPS wanted $350!!

 

I'm just in the process of buying some full wheel covers from the US to New Zealand, and it's costing me $57US for USPS. Unfortunately, not all firms can be bothered shagging around with surface mail.... es la vida!

 

doesnt always matter if you mark the item as gift as they then charge VAT/TAX on the insured value... ive always found USPS to be very reasonable its UPS who shaft you. dont always get charged 17.5% on USPS pracels but they do charge a handling fee of about $20 no matter what.

what pisses me off is the price given by USPS or UPS is the price from the senders door to my door SO why do we get charged a handling fee at this end? surely that should be covered in the price paid to USPS/UPS????

fortunately we have a friendly hamber in the states who helps forwarding "gifts" on to us in the UK, dont we dave

 

Hey folks

Come to Norway and have a look at fees and taxes.

I got 2 t-shirts fro FREE from a guy in Calif some time back.
Send them as a gift and all but failed on putting up the actual value on the slip, 2x20.- USD.
Costed 25% VAT on the sum of value and shipping cost.
Tax handling fee of 11%
SUCKS

To have anything taken in to Norway with out paying these crazy fees we have to have it marked as a gift, with a value under approx $30. Otherwise

ÆOICHløiuahcrnliucvnlsøoiebhwoøimij
agrvopenisøiorysbnpyo

...........the vultures are over it.
Not only is it expensive to pay taxes but the handling time they use is a small eternity. Can get up to 2 weeks after arriving in the country before I receive.


But hey....I got used to it. Still buying on eBay and having fun.

Nothing beats the feeling of finding this little slip in the mailbox saying there is a box waiting at the counter.

Another cool hot rod part or some nice mags etc have arrived.

I have shipped to both teh US and UK and nothing extra for teh UK from here.
All is pretty expensive anyhow.
Shipping from Norway to the US is approx the double of the other way around.

Let's imigrate to Mars, and start all over.

Paul

 

I checked U.S.Post Office Calculator for a package weighing 10 pounds, one ounce.
The rates to France and Norway are identical, but to Great Britin and Northern Ireland it was more.
Airmail Parcel Post 4 - 10 Days $50.00 Economy (Surface) Parcel Post 4 - 6 Weeks $34.45
France or Norway; Airmail Parcel Post 4 - 10 Days $40.15 Economy Parcel Post 4 - 6 Weeks $24.70

As far as Tracking and Deliver Conformation here in the U.S.A. don't pay the extra money, its a scam. I have proof. Just last week my neighbor from 10 house up the street brought a package to my door, a thingie I bought on eBay. It was insured and had Delivery Conformation. I asked him where he got it, he said it was on his porch when he got home from work. I took it to the post office and asked what about the Delivery Confirmation? , nobody had signed for it. They had a smart ass reply, something about 'what's the problem, you got it didn't you? I think I'm going to that neighbor and ask him if he's got his paychek from the USPS yet for making the delivery for them!

 

I know, I bend over and grab my ankles everytime I ship to Australia.
i would just love to see that even if you aint shipping lol...................Marq

 

Hahahaha I'm sure you would.

xxx

 

Huh?

Who? Me?

 

Your carrier was doing you a favor in giving it to your neighbor so it didn't 'grow legs'. The Delivery Confirmation is a way of tracking the item to your carrier. The carrier scans it delivered then delivers it. Unless the shipper pays extra for a Signature Confirmation, no signature is required. The carrier could have just left it at your door, but he was doing you a favor. There was no scam here, just a misunderstanding on the difference between Delivery Confirmation and Signature Confirmation.

BTW, as was stated earlier, the reason it costs more to deliver to the UK is taxes; the same reason gas costs 4 times as much there.

 

I don't mind the actual cost to ship from the US to here because of the exchange rate in our favour, but it does hurt having to pay duty on old used car parts........ marked as gift as previously said gets round it.

But from here to the US is real bad......i had a quote last week to send a mini-mag via snail mail to Bakersfield & it would have cost $140.00!! what the feck are they thinking needless to say it didn't go that route. Another was $6 of chocolate cost $16 to mail......but it keeps Dave happy so i don't mind.

Kev.

 

Indeed it does....Thanks Kev

 

I know what your saying.

It literally takes days for a package to be shipped half-way across the world yet it takes 2 weeks for it to travel 2 miles from the postal depot to my house usually because they have decided to charge me for 'handling'!

 

4 ever 4

you in on the Mars idea???

Paul

 

i wonder if they ship the gasoline to europe with ups?

 

i have learned that leason to....

 

The answer is Plate Techtonics. The Earth's land masses ride like plates upon a molton, plastic layer of magma. The edges of these plates are very Techtonicly active. Earthquakes and volcanoes here are the most visible signs of the creation of new land masses. Deep in the oceans where these plates usually meet are found mid ocean rifts or upwellings of molton materials forced upwards by the tremendous heat and pressure that exists at the earths core. As the liquid rock rises it also pushes the adjoining continental plates apart.

At the Mid-Atlantic rift the distance between the North American plate and the European plate is in fact increasing. Slowly but surely each year the distance lengthens.
It shouldn't take a Geologist to tell you that freight charges increase with distance.
Remember, it's the inexorable flow of magma from the earths molton core that causes UPS to increase it's rates and it's Plate Techtonics that explains this fascinating part of "Our Dynamic Planet"

I think that cleared things up rather nicely.

 

one inch here and there must add upp to enorous sums everyyear

on the positive side maybe shipping to japan gets cheaper?