Gerard Posted September 9, 2009 Share Posted September 9, 2009 Here in the UK..... my local post office ( which is very good at accepting / pricing packages for the USA ) Mon-Fri 8:30am to 5:30pm ( Wed close 12:30pm or 1pm ) Sat 8:30am to 12:30pm or 1pm closed Sun main post office < as above > but open till 5:30pm ( or 6pm ? ) all days ( might also open a bit later somedays, 9:30am on a Tuesday ? ) ( not sure about when it closes on a Saturday ) I normally walk up to to the local post office, and only go to the main one if need to change $ that day. Regards, Gerard Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Vliegenier Posted September 9, 2009 Share Posted September 9, 2009 Opening hours seem to be more or less comparable to those here in Belgium . If I read well it all seems to be some kind of "discriminzation out of laziness" . I bought intrnational, I shipped international . Either way I have to free up time on Thursday evening ( only day per week the PO is open til 18.00hrs instead of the usual 16.00hrs ) or Saturday morning to either collect or ship a package . And yes : some kits are just not available here . We're a small country and our market is even smaller . Stef Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Patrick_Nevin Posted September 9, 2009 Share Posted September 9, 2009 I'd like to ask those overseas members that are following this thread as to what time their PO closes for comparison purposes.I have one PO that closes at 5pm, another at 5:30pm, or I can go to the one near the house on Saturday between 8-11am. About the same here. Though I've always worked around some (rubbish?) statistic that says USAians commute on average a heck of a lot more than the rest of us. Given that I rarely see 5 o'clock of a weekday, I feel expecting 7-day delivery from overseas just isn't fair! And yes, horses for courses and I'll respect people who don't want to ship. Just respect people who do, more Are kits really so plentiful in the US and rare elsewhere in the world that the international community feels they are missing out if they can't get Americans to send something their way? Or is it just the feeling that they are being slighted somehow? . Nah - it's the subjects. Put a 48th Me410 or He111 on UK eBay, and watch the feeding frenzy commence :) Patrick Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Julien (UK) Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 (edited) As a UK modeller I know what the shipping is, and if the price is right I am happy to wait and pay. If you dont let us buy your kits you could loose sales, However they are your kits, and if for whatever reason you dont want to sell overseas then its your choice and I wont lambast you for doing it. I know from US friends how much of a pain it can be, one trip to get a quote (for which you have to pack the kit up), and then maybe the buyer says no; or then if they say yes another trip. One thing I would ask, if you are US only or US/Canada only then can you please state it in the subject line, or at the top of a post. It is really frustrating to read a whole post (and there are some long ones) and then find right at the botton "North America, US etc ONLY" As for the PO in England generally 9Am to 5.30 PM Mon-Friday 1/2 day Saturday. Cheers Julien Edited September 10, 2009 by Julien (UK) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ron Smith Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 The big problem with international shipping from the US is inconsistency at the USPS. All too often pages for countries are 404 on their website, never does the website postage quote even come close to reality at the counter (yes that is the website's quoted counter rate I'm speaking of, not the online rate which you can't really do anyway), constantly changing customs forms requirements and ever increasing rates based not only on weight and cube but also shape. There is no surface shipping option (only truly useful for a large solid package like books), many time the weight pushes you over the First Class airmail limit by an ounce or two and you must then ship by the more expensive Priority Mail rate, size and shape also affect that and the website does not tell you that. Then add on the annoyance for every package they try to upsell you and the constant attempts to market stamps and postal collectibles. That said I will ship kits and aftermarket almost anywhere but the rate I quote will be based on either the last similar item I shipped to your country or you have to wait for me to a get a quote at the counter, assuming the git behind the counter actually understands it is a quote I want (don't bet on that concept getting through everytime). Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Andy Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 Ron, dosen't USPS have a system where you can do everything online from home and print out the shipping label? We have that here in Canada so I do everything from home then just drop the package off on the counter at the local post office and away it goes. Technology has made shipping to anywhere possible from my home. I've been doing it for a few years now and have never had a problem. cheers Andy The big problem with international shipping from the US is inconsistency at the USPS. All too often pages for countries are 404 on their website, never does the website postage quote even come close to reality at the counter (yes that is the website's quoted counter rate I'm speaking of, not the online rate which you can't really do anyway), constantly changing customs forms requirements and ever increasing rates based not only on weight and cube but also shape. There is no surface shipping option (only truly useful for a large solid package like books), many time the weight pushes you over the First Class airmail limit by an ounce or two and you must then ship by the more expensive Priority Mail rate, size and shape also affect that and the website does not tell you that. Then add on the annoyance for every package they try to upsell you and the constant attempts to market stamps and postal collectibles.That said I will ship kits and aftermarket almost anywhere but the rate I quote will be based on either the last similar item I shipped to your country or you have to wait for me to a get a quote at the counter, assuming the git behind the counter actually understands it is a quote I want (don't bet on that concept getting through everytime). Quote Link to post Share on other sites
TXCajun Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 What about shipping UPS instead of USPS? We've got a few all-in-one pack-n-ship stores here in town and they are open after hours. Never had a problem. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
JasonB Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 I don't think there's a UPS store of any type for about 40 mile from where I live. They closed the one that was about 15 miles away a couple of years ago. Besides, for smaller packages, UPS can be more expensive than the USPS,and if you take it to one of their UPS stores and let them handle it, theres an additional fee. It seems any quote I ever got from the UPS site was useless to me because of the extra fees they charge at the store, and I was always losing a little more money because of it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ron Smith Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 Ron, dosen't USPS have a system where you can do everything online from home and print out the shipping label? We have that here in Canada so I do everything from home then just drop the package off on the counter at the local post office and away it goes. Technology has made shipping to anywhere possible from my home. I've been doing it for a few years now and have never had a problem. cheers Andy Not for international shipping Andy, probably because the Department of Homeland Hysteria. And you may have noticed I mentioned their website never correctly quotes international shipping. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ron Smith Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 What about shipping UPS instead of USPS? We've got a few all-in-one pack-n-ship stores here in town and they are open after hours. Never had a problem. Don't ship UPS to Canada, their customs broker bends the Canadians over and doesn't even use grease. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
GVoakes Posted September 10, 2009 Share Posted September 10, 2009 Don't ship UPS to Canada, their customs broker bends the Canadians over and doesn't even use grease. Ditto what Ron said. UPS charges Canadians a "customs handling fee" - generally $30 for information that the post office may (if they decide to have Customs look at it at all) tacks on $5. Given that UPS shipping and USPS Priority Mail shipping are about the same price, there is no benefit to using UPS. We can "self broker" - avoid the UPS charge if we run to customs and pay the duty/import ourselves. In my case, to do so requires me to go to three different individuals in two locations about a mile apart, and get it all done before 3:30 on a weekday (which is when UPS closes their Customs brokerage paper pickup office, although UPS parcel pick up remains open until 6). The last time I had to do this, I ran my paperwork over to Canada Customs for a set of books worth US$35 - the Customs Agent looked at it, shook his head, stamped the paperwork and apologized for making me run all over the place for something this "trivial." Give me USPS/Canada Post any day, even if it means I have to deal with the Special Ed kids hired by my local postal outlet... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Julien (UK) Posted September 11, 2009 Share Posted September 11, 2009 Yes, dont use any of the parcel comopanies to the UK. They all charge a customs brokerage fee which outweighs anything you will pay at the post office. OK if you are a company using these services, not an individual. Julien Quote Link to post Share on other sites
kenlilly106 Posted September 12, 2009 Share Posted September 12, 2009 And you may have noticed I mentioned their website never correctly quotes international shipping. Even the PO makes mistakes, Scott @ Afterburner decals had an international package returned for 'insufficient postage,' the kicker was that he took it to the PO and they weighed and priced it. Ron, dosen't USPS have a system where you can do everything online from home and print out the shipping label? We have that here in Canada so I do everything from home then just drop the package off on the counter at the local post office and away it goes. Technology has made shipping to anywhere possible from my home. I've been doing it for a few years now and have never had a problem. As far as I know the USPS requires international packages to be handled by a clerk at the counter, you can do the online postage and customs forms at home but you still have to make a trip to the PO to send it off. For domestic shipping you can do the online postage and do the drop off thing at the PO or they'll pick the shipment up if you make arrangements, I know some heavy eBay users that do this with the free Priority Mail boxes. Also the USPS requires anything over 13oz and using stamps as postage to go across the counter as well, this is due to the Unabomber and anthrax attacks. Ken Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Derek Moss Posted September 12, 2009 Share Posted September 12, 2009 After reading through this whole thread there is one main thing I can't understand - how is it that arguably the most consumer concious country in the WORLD puts up with such blatant crookery? One price on line and another in the P/O? Varying prices for the same thing? I live in Israel which is probably one of the most confused countries beaurocratically yet: parcels go in two classes, small - length+width+height less than 900mm or large if over that. Within each group cost is by weight and the tables are available on line. These are FIXED and the P/O clerk has no freedom to "improvise". What I read at least seems to explain why I have paid different amounts for similar weight and size items - sometimes twice or three times as much! Another thing, if postage quotes vary so much, how come items on eBay have a postage calculator? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LoganTLR Posted September 14, 2009 Share Posted September 14, 2009 Im always willing to ship overseas, however many times after I have been to the post office to get the price the buyer backs down because of the high cost, its happened more than once:) Hi That is my complaint too. A few times I have driven to the PO to get two quotes (air & surface), send the quotes only to be told (in one case) "it's too high, I refuse to pay that, you're cheating me" ... I then offer to repackage i.e. next to no packing material, drive back to the PO, get two more quotes only to be told no. I don't mind doing it, and I usually caveat with the fact that shipping may be expensive. Then there is the actual cost of shipping ..grrr still being charged a fuel surcharge to cover the extra cost when gas was 1.40 a liter even though it is down to .87 ... Tnow ... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LoganTLR Posted September 14, 2009 Share Posted September 14, 2009 Don't ship UPS to Canada, their customs broker bends the Canadians over and doesn't even use grease. Hi Oh ya!!!!!! You pay the Revenue Canada surcharge PLUS GST PLUS UPSs fee ........ T Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rpm1947 Posted September 14, 2009 Share Posted September 14, 2009 shipping Assistant by USPS is a great app it will figure overseas shipping cost for you ,what I do is pack ,weigh the kit like it's going out ,to get a shipping price saves all of the hassel of going to the post office. weight and size are the key to getting the right price for shipping Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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