I have a snare coming from the USA (I'm in Sydney) and I think that USPS has recently introduced a threshold of sorts on cartons (of roughly snare drum size) What I mean by that is that a double boxed snare will jump into the pricing stratosphere compared to single boxed. So it must be roughly 18 x 10?
Shipping has really gone up in price from the USA to OS. Used to mean that Fedex was too much $$; now the services are more comparable.
Has anyone here sent a snare overseas recently? Opinions?
Can't see a lot of difference at present (using the current USPS calculator),,
maybe the new pricing is not yet introduced??
Cheers
New pricing started in January.....
With shipping costs rising, you're almost better off buying a plane ticket and delivering it yourself. At least you'd know it was delivered on time and you get a small vacation out of it.
I have a buyer from Australia that bought a WFL kit from me in December, He has been making monthly payments to me, He now has the kit paid off, but the ship cost is going to make him sick. This transaction has turned out to become a real friendship between the both of us, It just saddens me that the ship rate has increased so mush recently. We were going to use the USPS But their Insurance is useless once it leaves the good ole USA, It is only good while the package is here on our soil. So it looks to be either UPS or Fedex.
I recently brought one in from the UK. It was definitely expensive, but the snare matched my kit and the base price was such that it didn't diswade me. For that distance and in a box that properly protected the drum (18x18x10 maybe), it was $150 (about 85 sterling). I paid nothing additional in customs fees. Could be because it was originally an American built product, but there is also a bit of a threshold around $400 or so when you come back by plane, so maybe something similar applied.
Sorry guys. I should have proofed that one. It didn't dissuade me.
Hey, where the spell checker?Help2
Parcel Force, out of the U.K. are thieves.
The world wide deal on shipping is DHL/Deutschepost. Deutschepost purchased DHL a number of years ago and therefore is running their own planes. The airfreight containers are never full, so Deutschepost fills them up with seamail. Of hundreds of shipments, I have brought in from Germany, about 95% have come airfreight, although I paid the base rate.
A violin, even 2 or 3 ships for $23.00 ,a snare drum for $45.00. The timeframe is 7-10 days to my door. Watertown ,N.Y. is about 70 miles from me , just across the border and I can usually, bring a snaredrum in from Germany ,cheaper and faster than from Watertown.
The U.S.P.S. has gotten worse and worse but they still trump Fedex, U.P.S. etc. The problem is, Fedex and U.P.S. include import brokerage , as part of their service. You pay for it upfront, with air, you pay for it upon delivery , with surface shipping. You also pay every other fee, tax, duty ,tax on duty etc. that the respective govt. feels justified to throw at you. With postal delivery, there is random parcel checking and the systems are often overextended, so there is no brokerage and the other fees often get overlooked. Here in Canada, where I receive 2 or 3 packages every week from overseas, I would say ,about 1/6 are actually looked at by customs. If they were Fedex or U.P.S.---100% would be looked at.
Unfortunately this SUCKS!!!!!! I dislike using that term to describe how I feel sometimes, but it's appropriate in this case. I primarily am I buyer of drums and music, mainly on Ebay or from this forum. Shipping costs have almost doubled in cost which is sickening. A twelve inch vinyl normally costs $7-9 to ship, consistently. Since the new year........$14-16........unreal & unfair....I wish I received that kind of pay increase in that amount of time.....Sumo Dude
