Well, this was an interesting afternoon. We put together a couple of packages destined for family back home. It was just a couple of boxes of candy and whatnot. Just a little “Hi there!” from Austria. Today was the big day where we actually shipped them. We went down to the local Mail Boxes Etc. to have them sent out (that was where we got the boxes). We were a little shocked by what we learned. Before we get to that, let me just say that these are average sized boxes, maybe 10in by 10in by 12in, weighing about 5 pounds. There’s a lot of packing material in there – it’s not all candy!
Anyway, we first got a price for UPS, since they have super fast (like Thursday) delivery. 200 Euros. Ouch. Yeah, that wasn’t an option. Next we tried DHL. Same deal. Then we asked about the Austria postal system, Post.at. They were much cheaper at 80 Euro. There was a catch though. Post.at doesn’t guarantee delivery. They’ll try to get it there, but it might take a week, two weeks, a month, 6 months, whatever. If they decide they can’t get it there, they’ll send it back to you… but you’re still out that 80 Euro.
Now, this just sound ridiculous to us. Back when I mailed the Xbox over, I did a bunch of looking. UPS from the States here was something like $300 for the 20lb package. USPS was $50 with guaranteed delivery. We can’t help but think that Post.at is just a stupid organization. We thought maybe it was a thing where USPS wouldn’t accept the package in the States, but that doesn’t really make any sense! We’re fairly convinced that Post.at sucks. We’re also less than hopeful that the packages will ever arrive, let alone by Christmas, which was the great hope. At least this explains why our postcards never made it over there…
That is crazy. I wonder if package prices fluctuate over holiday seasons (heaviest shipping days).