Shipping items home from Germany
 

We are going on a cycle trip later this week, Berlin to Dresden. At the completion, we will be done with all our cycle gear. I would love to just ship a box home and have the suitcase space. Does anyone have experience with this? I checked the UPS website and the cost for just 6 kg (about 14 pounds) was 200 euros! Any help appreciated and thank you in advance.

I should add that I am shipping back to the USA.

I haven't shipped from Germany but have from many countries in Europe & Asia. The least expensive has always been from the local post offices. In Europe I've bought boxes & tape right at the P.O. and shipped them surface mail, takes longer but if time isn't important, very reasonable. Some places, like the UK, have what they call small parcel rate, considerably cheaper than regular rate, even regular surface mail. There, it's a 2 kg limit with limits also on size. It can pay to break your package up into 2 smaller parcels, if it applies in Germany. So check at the P.O. before you use a commercial shipper.

BTW, I've never NOT gotten my packages, some mailed from places, in Asia for instance, where I wondered.

DHL, a reliable company, seems to do it a lot cheaper: http://www.dhl.de/en/paket/pakete-ve...den/paket.html

We sent a box back from Germany (via the post) a couple of years ago to California and I seem to remember it was 50 - 60 euro. It takes a while but it sounds much cheaper than UPS. I'd guestimate our box was roughly 6 inches deep, 12 x 16 inches... whatever the closest cm equivalent to that would be. The post office will sell you the box.

I ship things home all the time when I travel. I use mail boxes etc which I believe is UPS. The thing that will get you is the weight of the items. I usually send home about 10-15 pounds which is maybe 150 euro. I don't recall it being 200 euro or more. I did however last year, ship to myself, a package weighing about 35 pounds and that really hit my pocket but I didn't have much choice. The box size I use is 18x18x16 inches and takes about a week to make it home.

If it takes only a week, it's likely by air. By surface it may take a month but at a fraction of the cost. And, again, try the post office first. There's no down side if cost matters.

In most cases, DHL is the cheapest way to send international from Germany. MUCH cheaper than UPS which is a total rip-off unless you are a commercial customer expecting next or 3-day delivery.
Every post office will handle DHL packages, you can buy empty parcels there as well. Also many convenience stores, kiosks, gas stations etc. function as a DHL drop-off points.
With DHL weight is what counts. Size of package is irrelevant when you stay within the limits which you will see when you follow tonofleiden's link.

Thanks for all that info. The DHL link (tonofleiden's)confirms a shipping weight under 10kg is 50 euros, much cheaper than UPS! Very helpfulto know about all the drop off points as well. Do I need a special DHL box, or can I use any mailing box? This has been very informative. Thank you!

You can use any sturdy box that is well closed (tape does the trick). But you won't be carrying a load of boxes on your bike. If you need a box the easiest way is visiting the nearest post office, buying a parcel set (folding box complete with address sticker, some tape etc.), putting the stuff in and off it goes.
If you feel that the small stripes of tape are not enough to seal the parcel properly (to me they aren't), every post office has a roll of tape at hand, so ask them politely if they could put some extra tape round it.