Sending Parcels to The US

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  [Deactivated] on 08/12/2020 - 22:54

  Regular airmail at that weight is around $12, something anit right

  • 

    savemore on 08/12/2020 - 23:12

    I suspect it might be the size of the parcel (packed in a normal padded postpak).

    • 

      apsilon on 09/12/2020 - 05:46

      packed in a normal padded postpak

      If you're referring to the padded paper envelopes I wouldn't recommend it. Very good chance it won't survive international travel given the condition I've received boxes in.

      AustPost has always been incredibly expensive, it's just most people don't see how cheap similar services are OS. You may find a courier cheaper but don't expect any of them to be cheap.

      • 

        carwashhair on 09/12/2020 - 08:22

        Can only speak from experience, but I've sent hundreds of CDs both OS and locally in padded envelopes, and only had one complaint over the CD jewel case getting crushed. Which isn't to say others may not have told me if they sustained minor damage, but if you want to take those odds I'd say the chance is good that it will survive OS travel… maybe they treat the little packages differently?

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  TheBird on 08/12/2020 - 23:02

  Since when did Australia Post become this expensive?

  International freight has been expensive for quite some time now.

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  Freezies on 08/12/2020 - 23:13

  +1

  Yeah, Australia Post is terrible. Even a card cost me almost $10 to post overseas last week . It's become cheaper to send things via courier.

  Even something like DHL would be cheaper than Australia Post for you to send those CD's and they come to pick it up from you too.

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  holdenmg on 08/12/2020 - 23:24

  Every article posted finances a Cartier purchase. lol

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  AustriaBargain on 09/12/2020 - 05:07

  I'd use a courier anyway. Some will even pick up your parcel from your house, you just need to print the thing and stick it on. If you have an inkjet printer you can buy adhesive paper.

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  carwashhair on 09/12/2020 - 08:15

  +1

  Try Sendle. Depending on location they should be able to pick up from you.

  If you can get your item weight down under 250grams (try putting the discs and artwork of two titles into one jewel case, a bit hard if one of those is a cd single though), you can get it sent to the US for $12.95 tracked. Otherwise 266g will be $23.45 for you.

  In comparison, you can try sending as a letter via standard economy air thru Australia Post. This means you need to get your parcel less than 20mm thick (try taping two jewel cases to each other, flat, rather than stacked. You should still be able to use a padded envelope). Rates are $13.50 for under 250grams, $20 for up to 500 grams. It's cheap, it's slow and it's untracked

  I've been selling CD's locally and overseas for over a decade and post offices generally don't want to advertise letter mail as an option. I'd been using Auspost most of the time but once covid hit they withdrew international standard economy letter mail. Forced me to go with Sendle (at a higher price, but still cheaper than Auspost parcels) and I am loath to go back to Auspost now, especially since the postage increase didn't hurt my sales at all.

  • 

    savemore on 09/12/2020 - 09:14

    Thanks for the detailed response. I was actually heading towards Sendle. I had thought about sending it as a letter, by removing the CD cases and then sending the CD's in a cover and booklets flattened between cardboard. Person I'm sending them to prefers them in CD cases and sealed, so going to try and create a custom box to wrap around the CD's that have been wrapped in bubble wrap. It's gonna be close. It's a shame that Aust Post took away the different pricing options for weight intervals and based all on a single weight of 2kg or less, but that's Corporate Government businesses for you.

  • 

    Innately Incognito on 09/12/2020 - 13:43

    I've no idea how much you send internationally but you could potentially look into volume rates for AusPost.

    Our New Zealand rates (with lowish volume) are much better than what I can see available on Sendle. Main issue you might run into is that AusPost will give you international rates per country rather than as a whole. So if your international orders are spread very evenly around the globe it mightn't trigger rates on any single location.

    Worth a shot though imo. Won't have much impact at the 250g level but once you creep up towards 1kg the difference for us at least is very substantial.

    • 

      savemore on 09/12/2020 - 18:22

      Don't send too much internationally each year (maybe 1 or 2 parcels per year).

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  the Unforgiven on 09/12/2020 - 15:57

  upload your CD to the cloud & just send your friend in the US the link to download the CD
  & he/she can then burn it at their end any number of times

  • 

    savemore on 09/12/2020 - 18:22

    You are forgiven.

    • 

      the Unforgiven on 09/12/2020 - 22:11

      +1

      Thank you. I wonder if I will still be after this?
      I use Icedrive and I signed up to their lite lifetime plan, pay only once for life.
      I just looked at the bottom of that page, there is a simple free account with them
      https://icedrive.net/plans
      I joined either early this year or last year and it is way better than the previous one I was at