According to an August 8 Washington Post article, the U.S. Postal Service no longer delivers packages directly to addresses in Europe. Instead, they send them to a contractor in Germany which sorts and sends them on, but only after charging additional fees and often with extremely long delays - weeks or months. Here is the Post article (available for free for 14 days - by my calculation, through 8/21):<BR>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...-2002Aug7.html

Yup...it's true...that tax rebate we got is going to pay for postage when we (American Expats) finally get our packages. For a Christmas package delivered in February $45 postage paid by the sender and then, we were told that we owed 56 CHF....that is about another $35. Outrageous! International Herald Tribune carried this article about 1 month ago. The charges are for duties and a service charge. The only good thing is that all charges are waived if it is a present. Mark it clearly!<BR>cheers!<BR>Jan

So switch to DHL!

Hi<BR><BR>If its important, use a courier service.<BR><BR>Price structure starts at less than 24 hrs delivery.<BR><BR>Peter

Another vote against the USPS/Consignia/Extand connection in France. Our package took 3 months, and evrytime we called Extand we had to pay for the call. Highway robbery.<BR>I am happy to see these situations reach the press and hope someone in DC listens.<BR>

DHL & FEDEX recent experience = nightmare!

I opened up an account with Fed-Ex. I have my own Fed-Ex account number, and it's linked to bill directly to one of my credit cards. If, for some reason, Fed-Ex doesn't deliver when they are supposed to (this happened when I shipped something to my sister in California), they give a lot of attention to you as "an account" if you call to complain. (My sister got her package in a week instead of 3 days & I never paid a cent for the charges, because Fed-Ex made an error.) Also, you get a discount (maybe 10%, but not bad) with your account, and I've never had any problem shipping anything to anyone overseas.<BR><BR>Happy Shipping<BR><BR>BC

I called the USPS this week to report a missing package sent to Sweden on June 30 (if only I'd known all this before I mailed!).<BR><BR>Anyway, they told me I could file a claim form 542 with my post office. I'll do that on Saturday, although I don't know if I will get any money back. I'm hoping to at least have my postage costs ($50+) reimbursed.

Following several fiascos using worldwide service through the Post Office, I have tried United Parcel Service and been very pleased.<BR><BR>They have been delivering packages to rural sections of Slovakia for me in record time ---I certainly will not go back to USPS again for my overseas mailing requirements.<BR><BR>

Thanks for this info. I too mailed a package June - to my son who is studying in the Netherlands - and he hasn't received it yet. Now I know why. Next time I will use UPS or FedEx.

What a drag! I was wondering if anyone had managed to send a package to Europe with an acceptable delivery time since this USPS change had come about? I'm not sure if I want to gamble on the outcome or not.<BR>Are these examples worst-case scenarios or the norm?