ekscrunchy

I might like to mail some of my purchases home from CapeTown. There is a private shipping service near my hotel but prices will likely be very high.. I would like to hear from local residents or anyone who has shipped internationally from here... Several people I spoke to indicated that using the regular post office would be risky...is that the case? Do they provide any packing materials? Looking for advice regarding my options!! (So far have purchased textiles and one bottle of wine..) But I plan to do further shopping today!! Many thanks..CapeTown is a wonderful place to visit!

melissaom

We live in Europe, but have shipped 12 cases of wine home (twice)with a company called the vineyward connection - everyone in the winelands knows them. They do an excellent job and if you intend on buying lots of wine, they are the people to ask for.

We also bought a bunch of furniture (a dining room set for 8, a cabinet, coffee table and sofa table, ok, we have the Africa "thing" going on in our house...) and shipped it directly through the store we bought it from with no problems - it took about 4 months as it is all handmade, but everything arrived in perfect condition.

For individual pieces, you can certainly use the post office but I would get your parcels insured. I find it is much better to have the store you are buying from to send it for you as then you have a single point of contact if something goes wrong, like breakage. If you send it through the post office, you have little recourse and lots of phone bills.

Have you considered buying another piece of luggage and just paying the extra luggage fee instead? We have also done this and it works out great for bulky but light things like masks, ostrich eggs, etc. The cost is probably a wash with shipping the stuff home, and you get to keep the luggage!

Have a blast!

annhig

hi, ek,

so glad to hear you're having a good time.

How is the weather in Cape Town? - the cricket reporters were suggesting that it wasn't too good.

hope your trip continues to be fun,

regards, ann

RBCal

I shipped furniture and other souvenirs by container ship. It cost ~$500 USD for a 3x3x4 foot container. The store I bought the furniture at arranged everything (Funky Monkey in Seapoint).

ekscrunchy

Thanks to you all! The weather here is superb! Today began foggy but cleared up before noon..we are wearing cotton shirts and no jackets during the day. We've had lots of sun! It rained only for a few minutes early in the morning on our first full day here!

I have bought textiles in markets..that kind of thing so I have not been able to ship from a shop..I don't even have much but since I am so limited with space and weight for the lights planes, I thought I would just ship these things home... My friends bought books and a few more bulky items...

There is a shop named Packing Plus, or something similar, that I will check tomorrow and let you all know for future reference!

Until then....all the best from sunny CapeTown!

canadian_robin

We lived in Cape Town for a year and shipped all sorts of things back to Canada - from the neighbourhood post office (just off the UCT campus). Never had a problem - staff was always very helpful, cost was reasonable (much cheaper than couriers that we checked out) and everything arrived in good time and intact. They did have shipping supplies - boxes, poster rolls etc - we boxed all of our own stuff....and yes, Cape Town is wonderful! We had a fabulous year!

jasher

Hello,

I shipped a box of delicate ceramic items through the SA post office home to the UK and it all arrived in good condition, roughly when they said it would (I chose a slower service because I knew I wouldn't be home for several weeks).

I packed the box myself using plenty of old newspapers and a cardboard box that I nicked from the supermarket in Franschhoek.

Of your items, the bottle of wine is probably the biggest risk, as if it breaks it may ruin everything else in the box (I had an unfortunate experience with a bottle of limocello when coming back from Italy -- that bag still has a faint whiff of lemon about it). I'd advise putting it in a waterproof container (this can just be a few layers of plastic bags) and wrapping the entire thing with tape. I've done this with other bottles and not had any problems.

Cheers,
Julian

Kavey

We shipped a £300 Nelson Mandela print back using the Post Office and it arrived safe and sound.

We originally checked the prices at a courier firm (I forget which) but they were rather high. So we checked out the prices at the post office. I think, if I'm recalling correctly, that because the desk staff at the PO was friendly, I asked their honest opinion on the courier company we'd checked and whether it was worth the extra. I figured they wouldn't care either way as their pay isn't dependent on luring customers. Or, it's other way around and the person I asked was at the courier company, but I think not. Anyway, learned that this particular courier company, with the service we had been considering, actually bring the parcels straight down to the PO for delivery!!!! So you pay double for exactly same service and security!

We bought parcel tape from somewhere or other and asked for empty carboard boxes at a supermarket and Pete made up a very very thick, stiff, solid three layers of corrugated cardboard package and then wrapped the entire surface with the parcel tape to waterproof it.

It arrived in London 100% fine!

Kavey

And as I recall, we did pay extra for insurance. It didn't cost much and made me feel more easy about it.

ekscrunchy

Fantastic information! Since reading this an hour ago, I have scored a wine box from our hotel and will try to scrounge up some packing tape and take to the post office!!! MAny thanks!!