Who do you use to send parcels to the USA

davetherave2 · 24 Mar 2014 at 23:08

So have been looking at sending a parcel to a friend in the us.
It's 5kg. In a 30x30x30cm box and less than £100 in value. It's a food/gift parcel to give him a bit of taste of home. So have found parcel2go and ipost parcel as cheap delivery firms compared to the usual Royal Mail, ups etc. so just wondering who people use if they send parcels abroad and if these are firms that I can trust. I would rather go with a name I recognise rather than some fly by night firm.

Lopéz · 24 Mar 2014 at 23:12

Getting food into the USA can be problematic regardless of the courier you use.

Terminal_Boy · 24 Mar 2014 at 23:17

Save your money.

http://www.jollygrub.com

http://www.britishfoodshop.com

davetherave2 · 24 Mar 2014 at 23:24

I have sent food to the us before via work, but it seems that they have stopped getting a massive discount for international deliveries.

I already have the box ready and it is not just food there are a couple of gifts that I want to send as well.

The items I am sending are not on the restricted list so it should be fine, it's mainly things like chocolate bars, tea bags and couple of other bits and pieces that went through previously with no problems.

bitslice · 24 Mar 2014 at 23:29

I couldn't get it below £20, and as the item was only worth £30 I didn't see the point in bothering.

I get a lightbulb from China for 50p incl P&P,
so where is the slow boat from the UK to America?

davetherave2 · 25 Mar 2014 at 00:41

I've found a number of services at around £30 - £40 as the cheapest option for 5.5kg (just did a quick reweigh of my parcel. I've even considered splitting my package up into smaller ones to see if it works out cheaper but it doesn't seem to

Aod · 25 Mar 2014 at 05:00

bitslice said:
I couldn't get it below £20, and as the item was only worth £30 I didn't see the point in bothering.

I get a lightbulb from China for 50p incl P&P,
so where is the slow boat from the UK to America?

International shipping is always expensive for individual customers, big businesses get substantial discounts on shipping services.

Even domestically this is the case - the company I used to work for had a parcelforce contract, we could send anything up to the maximum parcel weight/size anywhere in Britain for £5.50, whereas at the post office you might pay £45 for a consignment of the same size/weight.