Page 1 of Alternative Courier to the Royal Mail

Misses went to the Post Office with said parcel containing 2 packets of tea and jar of marmite for brother-in-law who lives in USA (despite living there now for 2 years still misses somethings in Engalnd)

As parcel weighs over 2kg PO want £37 to sent it, which misses did not want to pay

The PO`s advice was to split the package but still reckoned it would cost at least £11 per package

Can anybody suggest an alternative courier I could use.

Many thanks

I looked for alternative couriers when I sent a Christmas parcel to the in-laws in Japan, the Royal Mail was the cheapest by a considerable margin. Unless there are couriers that do good deals specifically for the States then RM is probably the way to go.

Nick



Download it here

I agree with nick - if you look into it you will discover that royal mail are as cheap as it will get. Someone like Fedex would be an alternative, but you are looking at £47 for a package of that weight.



...look into my eyes

Are you aloud to send food to the states with out a licence? I thought they were really hot on this.

All the best,

The 42%er.


It`s not easy being different. It`s not easy being cool....but somehow I manage....

It is very unlikely you will find anyone cheaper than the post office. You have to remember courier companies main work is for business customers who want next day or as close as next day as possible, that means for overseas parcels your own aircraft fleet, which in practice means a tie-in with one of the American world wide next day companies. Fees are based on weight and size.

You need to keep each package below 2 kg so that you can use the Royal Mails `small packet` service.

It is the cheapest going really - Parcelforce is similar pricing and reasonable if it weighs more than 2 kg - i.e a 2.5 kg package sent by parcelforce international standard to the USA is about £30.

Not sure about sending foodstuff tho - the yanks don`t like it!



why take life so seriously..its not like you are going to make it out alive

what you should do is make 2 packages, take both back to the post office and send them surface small packets (do not write a letter and put it inside the packate you will not be able to send it small packet post if they open it and check).
here is a list of the weights n charges, packets on the right.

www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/content1?catId=400037&mediaId=400393

Here is a warning about sending food to the USA ,and believe me they may destroy your package if you dont fill out the CN22 Custom`s Declaration as described here (we get loads of complaints about this).

www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/content1?catId=400033&mediaId=9300075

There is a little thing that royal mail does its called SURFACE AIRLIFT.
what they do is purchase cargo weight on airplanes and if they have a short fall of airmail for a flight instead of letting the airline have that space back they fill the space with surface mail. you never know you could be lucky.

This item was edited on Wednesday, 9th March 2005, 16:11

I didn`t suggest surface as it can take so long to get there that the food will be off!

why take life so seriously..its not like you are going to make it out alive

Should be ok with Marmite and tea though, they both keep for years unopened. Get one with a good sell-by date and it should be ok for 8 weeks in a ship :D

Planetpatrol... It takes about 6 weeks to arrive surface mail to the States and a jar of marmite shouldn`t `go off` in that time... they`re sat on a supermarket shelf for far longer than that! Just as you can`t take perishable food when you visit, you can`t post them either.

Kebabhead... I regularly post and also fill up my suitcases with stuff to give to my sister in Connecticut although I found the `British Delights` or `The British Shoppe` websites and she lives not too far away from the stores in Connecticut & Maine.
It`s obviously cheaper for her if I get it and post it (because I seem to pay for it all!! :/ ).
I also record episodes of Eastenders and post them to her too. (Anyone record the omnibus where Den got murdered??? PLEASE??)

Jill