mailing from Italy
Jun 8th, 2003 | 06:34 PM
#1
Guest
Posts: n/a
mailing from Italy
We are travelling all over Italy and one of the problems is, how to manage things we buy. Not that we are planning on buying much but still..it will be a bother to carry things around.
Has anyone tried to mail their shopping back home to US using something like mailboxes etc., parcels, etc. Have those boxes arrived safely. Any tips will be greatly appreciated.
Has anyone tried to mail their shopping back home to US using something like mailboxes etc., parcels, etc. Have those boxes arrived safely. Any tips will be greatly appreciated.
Jun 8th, 2003 | 07:22 PM
#2
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 101
Likes: 0
Italytrip- My 2 girlfriends & I just returned a month ago and we *each sent 4 shipments back using Mailboxes Etc (from Foligno, Siena, Florence & Venice). They've got offices Everywhere! As far as contents arriving safely, EVERY SINGLE ITEM was packed well (we had lots of ceramics, wine, olive oils, Venetian glass). As I recall, they only charged about $10-$15 for packing each box. It was pricy, though, in the end and we learned that Customs *randomly choses boxes (depending on item type, value) for tax collection. Out of the 12 boxes shipped, there were a total of 4 where we received a tax bill ($60) sent through the shipping company (FedEx, UPS). When the bills started coming in, we thought: geez, now we're gonna have to pay so much more. But we haven't received any more. (still knocking on wood)
-Lulu-
-Lulu-
Jun 9th, 2003 | 04:38 AM
#3
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 74,699
Likes: 0
Hi
This info from the US Customs site might be helpful
Once per day, you can mail yourself $200 worth of goods duty-free; mark the package "For Personal Use." You can also mail to other people up to $100 worth of goods per person, per day; label each package "Unsolicited Gift." Any package must state on the exterior a description of the contents and their values. You can't mail alcohol, perfume (it contains alcohol), or tobacco products.
This info from the US Customs site might be helpful
Once per day, you can mail yourself $200 worth of goods duty-free; mark the package "For Personal Use." You can also mail to other people up to $100 worth of goods per person, per day; label each package "Unsolicited Gift." Any package must state on the exterior a description of the contents and their values. You can't mail alcohol, perfume (it contains alcohol), or tobacco products.
Jun 9th, 2003 | 05:54 AM
#4
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 2,568
Likes: 0
I had a bad experience with MailBoxesEtc in Sorrento and a very positive one with the Italian postal system.
At MBE I paid for packing about 8 pieces of pottery and FedEx International priority service, which typically takes 3 or 4 days from Western Europe to eastern North America. The MBE agent told me I would have the package in a week at most.
The same day, I purchased some items in Sorrento and had the shopkeeper send the parcel via the postal system. He said I should expect it to take 3 or 4 weeks.
Both parcels arrive at my home two weeks from the date of those transactions -- the $150+ MBE shipment and the $25 postal shipment. The FedEx tracking label showed that it took MBE 10 days to deliver the parcel from Sorrento MBE to the FedEx terminal at the Milan airport and 72 hours (over a weekend!) from Milan to my door.
MBE in the US washed its hands of the problem, passing it off to their European regional operations people who have ignored me (I faxed my second letter to them two weeks ago). I asked for a refund of the difference between the amount I paid for express service and the cost of sending the same parcel via the postal systems.
It seems corporate MBE is perfectly happy for us to rely on their good name and select their foreign locations for service, but is unwilling to follow American customer-service practices when problems arise. They (and their UPS affiliates) have lost a customer for life.
At MBE I paid for packing about 8 pieces of pottery and FedEx International priority service, which typically takes 3 or 4 days from Western Europe to eastern North America. The MBE agent told me I would have the package in a week at most.
The same day, I purchased some items in Sorrento and had the shopkeeper send the parcel via the postal system. He said I should expect it to take 3 or 4 weeks.
Both parcels arrive at my home two weeks from the date of those transactions -- the $150+ MBE shipment and the $25 postal shipment. The FedEx tracking label showed that it took MBE 10 days to deliver the parcel from Sorrento MBE to the FedEx terminal at the Milan airport and 72 hours (over a weekend!) from Milan to my door.
MBE in the US washed its hands of the problem, passing it off to their European regional operations people who have ignored me (I faxed my second letter to them two weeks ago). I asked for a refund of the difference between the amount I paid for express service and the cost of sending the same parcel via the postal systems.
It seems corporate MBE is perfectly happy for us to rely on their good name and select their foreign locations for service, but is unwilling to follow American customer-service practices when problems arise. They (and their UPS affiliates) have lost a customer for life.
