Sending packages abroad

Has anyone on here had much experience sending things to foreign countries. I want to send a laptop to South America and have no idea which firm to se nd it with.

The only way I can decide on which delivery system to send it through would be to go for the most expensive but this just means the GPO and I can't be lieve they are any good. I don't know that they are rubbish of course. I do n't know they are the most expensive either but I rather believe they might be.

And that with them any f*ck-ups will be mostly at my expense.

Reply to
Weatherlawyer
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Your biggest issues in South America, India and its neighbours and Africa, is that it will get stolen long before it gets to the person you are sending it to. When I used to run a business, many people used to use actual trustworthy people to do the job, though one does hope that at least some private companies can do it, certainly royal mails partners abroad are very hit and miss.

Brian

Reply to
Brian Gaff

One of the ones with an international precense in the destination country. A laptop needs proper tracking and signing for. The Royal Mail/Parcel Force don't offer full tracking, ie the last track will be outbound at a UK airport. It'll still be signed for, in theory, but the package will have been handed to the incumbant destination country delivery service.

So I'd be looking at UPS or similar that offer a full end to end service.

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

Agreed totally. FedEx also used to be good for this type of thing. Avoid the Post Office for reasons already stated. Be prepared for problems with shipping the battery, as well, although it's more likely easier if it's in place in the laptop than separate. And make sure that the declared insurance value is good, in case it does go AWOL.

Good lUck!

Reply to
Davey

Thanks all I will look up Fed-ex and UPS.

Fed-ex is a dumb site. I clicked on Veneuela thinking it wanted to know where I was sending it to thereafter everything was in Spanish and it wouldn't revert to English. My fault but I am soooo not happy with them f*ck-wits.

The UPS site was virtually unusable. These are USAnian companies are they not?

I would have thought they were used to dealing with idiots. I am surprised they are being run by idiots.

Can someone like myself, as innocent as the drivelling shit, take a look at the site and get me an estimate for a laptop of an assumed weight of 3 Kgm, by cheapest route, plus full insurance; muchos thankio in advancely?

$313+ seems a little more than I am paying for the laptop. Does anyone know of a company a lot less silly?

Reply to
Weatherlawyer

Try a broker such as Rapid Parcel. I've used them inside the EU. They will give you a comparison of several carriers' products, and they're usually cheaper than you can arrange as a one-off.

Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

where I was sending it to thereafter everything was in Spanish and it woul dn't revert to English. My fault but I am soooo not happy with them f*ck-wi ts.

k at the site and get me an estimate for a laptop of an assumed weight of 3 Kgm, by cheapest route, plus full insurance; muchos thankio in advancely?

I guestimated the weight as 3 Kgm, length as 45 cm, width 30 cm and height as 10 cm and they quoted me £45. Which is in a ball park if not the right ball park.

So I upped it to 10 Kgm 50 x 40 x 300 cm and it came in at £85. Then I corrected the height to 30 and it went up to £97, so I won't be se nding two. Anyone know of a SlowParcel Delivery company? I ain't in 45 quid's worth of hurry.

Reply to
Weatherlawyer

Just to check - you want to send a laptop fully insured to South America and £45 looks far too expensive?

Have you checked how much it would cost to send it across the UK fully insured?

Not that I have, but perhaps you could state what price you want to pay?

Also, what are the accurate dimensions and weight of the laptop? What is your view of its value? Which particular part of South America, country and city?

Personally I would view £45 as a reasonable price to get assured delivery, considering the number of steps it would have to go through, including customs clearance, and the risky area you are sending it to.

Cheers

Dave R

Reply to
David

snip

I agree.

Reply to
Davey

I was on the phone this morning to a party in Argentina who has been the non-recipient of the last three packets that I've shipped out there. (Sigh)"It's dreadful: we are getting more like Venezuela every day."

All I can suggest is: plan on the expectation that your laptop won't arrive, even if you use DHL, FedEx or another internationally recognised carrier. If it is a used laptop, expect that any data will be compromised. Plan on the expectation that, in the unlikely event that it does arrive, there will be unscheduled extra charges of the order of 50%-100% of the value that the authorities over there slap on the delivery.

The only really sure way of delivering something like that to a country like that is to take it yourself. Failing that, get someone you trust to take it in their carry-on baggage even if you have to compensate them for going overweight with their hold luggage.

It's quite a while since I was in Venezuela though I visit Argentina up to several times a year but you might ask for advice from ex-pats out there on their forums. Try

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It's more geared up to US citizens and somewhat moribund at the moment but there may be locals monitoring it. You could also try
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but I haven't seen any posts from Venezuela on there for some time.

Do let us know how you get on - especially if your shipment arrives successfully.

Nick

Reply to
Nick Odell

Contradiction there "paying for" implies that you are the recipient of the laptop not the sender. Confused...

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

snip

It's not only South America that adds charges: back in 2001, I was working for an American company, and we had a job in Portugal. One of my colleagues wanted all the comforts of home, and shipped a box containing, amongst other stuff, one of those Bose Wave Radio things. The Portuguese wanted to charge him an import tax on the value that they thought the box contents was worth. He didn't pay, and was gone before they followed up.

Reply to
Davey

You should get a job with a parcel company. I get the impression they desir e people with your facility for thinking and attention to duty by the exper iences given.

If I had a parcel delivery company that couldn't look after its charges the n I should be out of business -especially if I had a website that showed me to be as corporately lax as it is possible to be online.

And yet not only are the masters of the game still in business, they are st ill masters of the game. How the hell can that be?

What it boils down to is that a boat that can hold thousands of tons or an aircraft that holds scores -maybe hundreds of tons, has to charge 15 quid p er kilo or £15,000 per tonne to not deliver the goods.

But you'd be all right. You would be able to come up with a carbon saving s cheme that would save the planet as well as earn the company a fortune by c oming up with market leading ideas such as not bothering to even load the p lane, keep it parked up out of sight all year. Stuff like that.

I'm sure they would love you for that.

Reply to
Weatherlawyer

I want to send a laptop to South America and have no idea which firm to send it with.

would be to go for the most expensive but this just means the GPO and I

can't believe they are any good. I don't know that they are rubbish of course. I

don't know they are the most expensive either but I rather believe they might be.

Why send a laptop to somewhere like that? They already have shops selling laptops. Just send the money.

Bill

Reply to
Bill Wright

Even with that things can and do go wrong. Stuff gets pinched off delivery vehicles if it looks remotely valuable. I have had stuff go missing from the UK to Belgium in part because a UK spellchecker at the shipping agent modified "Eike" (Dutch for Oak) to "Bike".

Depending on the destination country and the value of the PC being sent that could well be a bargain!

You also have to watch out for any unexpected taxes the recipients may need to pay (including bribes) to get the thing out of customs.

Reply to
Martin Brown

He probably wants to set it up first.

Brian

Reply to
Brian Gaff

Do it by remote access.

Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

When we were returning to the UK after years in the US, we had some final boxes of personal stuff to send after the container had left, using the Post Office. We sent a poster tube first, to see how the system worked, and then two boxes of assorted stuff, each weighing about

50 lbs. When we got here, the two boxes were delivered without problem, (except for the hernia of the delivery fella) but the poster tube attracted some dubious import charge, which nobody could explain, but we had to pay to be allowed to retrieve it. Weird. And the 50 lb. limit was absolute, beyond that, then they would have had to go FedEx, with massive amounts of extra paperwork.
Reply to
Davey

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