Fed up with overseas postage rates
 

It cost $14 to mail a calendar to England! I thought I'd try to get around that by mailing a couple of tea towels. Same price for two; nearly $30 for four!

I don't want to play this game any more. Does anyone have any good gift ideas that don't cost an arm and a leg to mail overseas? I know, I could have mailed packages surface mail if I'd got organized a month ago.

Wow! I just sent some DVDs to England and it cost under $5 - they got there in about 8 business days. I don't understand why there was such a big difference - did I sneak in under some cut-off point for Christmas packages?

October 27th was the cutoff for parcels to Europe. Maybe I will risk surface mail and hope they get there in time.

Do our DVD's play on European machines?

These DVDs were all playing on computers so I think that it different.

I HATE it when the cost of postage is close to, or as much as, the gift itself. We even find that to be a problem within Canada at Christmas.

Maybe there will be less sending of things this year with the downturn and also internet shopping, so you might be OK with surface mail. I'd do it! Those costs are ridiculous.

Actually, that's another idea. Why not order your gifts over the internet and only pay the postage for within the UK?

I was hoping to get something from our area that they can't get in England. Anyway, Plan B now is to try a thinner, smaller calendar in an envelope and see what that costs.

What about ordering from UK websites from, say, M&S?

Thank goodness my family decided last year to stop exchanging gifts.

i much prefer sending gifts rather then gift cards or money. however, after shipping boxes to australia and the USA and having the postage be MORE then the gifts are worth, sending money is looking good. IT'S RIDICULOUS.

We normally exchange calendars with pictures of where we all live. Plan B worked better. Postage was about $6.40. Maybe next year I'll work on a Plan C.

Surface mail will only take 2 weeks maximum. I use it all the time and things are usually delivered in just over a week. I know Canada Post says it may take a lot longer, but they are just covering their ass, in case there is a problem.
I have a much bigger problem with rates in Canada. Ontario to BC will cost nearly as much as Air to the UK.

Yes, I am with Guaranteed-used 'surface' with no problem...and after all who would not forgive a late Christmas gift?

There is a good chance that tea towels and calendars are once again available - now that WWI appears to have ended. Just send a card.

No, I don't mean any old calendar or tea towel, anatoleschadenfreude, but ones with local scenes or designs. Before you say that one can get calendars with scenes from all over the world, I have never seen the ones they send to me here, and it's not likely that their stores carry the calendars I send them.

One year I did send some calendars by surface mail to Denmark in early December and they didn't arrive until the end of Jan. or early Feb.

Today I sent a baby gift to England via surface - so we'll see how long it takes. Air was $28, surface was $13 and the gift was worth around $30.

Just thought I would put my 2 cents worth in.
I mailed a calendar to England from Australia today and it cost $12.
I also mailed a present to a friend in Canada and the cost was $36!
This was airmail.
Donna

The 1¢ increase in regular postage each year sounds minimal but the post office conveniently downplays in the increase in everything else and the decrease in weights at those rates and/or decrease in "acceptable" delivery times.

The large parcel I mailed from BC to Ontario yesterday cost $22, with insurance, but would have cost nearly $50 at the 3-day delivery rate.