Tear-Proof Polyolefin Envelopes
http://www.papermart.com/Product%20P...?GroupID=21188

Tear proof envelopes should solve that problem.

I doubt that anything that gets shipped to Norway will ever get lost. I lived in Norway for seven years. Their postal system is far superior to the USPS.
Ship to Iran though, and you are taking chances

Its who not where, often.

Originally Posted by dirtybird

I doubt that anything that gets shipped to Norway will ever get lost. I lived in Norway for seven years. Their postal system is far superior to the USPS.
Ship to Iran though, and you are taking chances

Althou we (locally) find our postal-services costly, I tend to agree with you

I shipped an antique engine to a gentleman in Norway last year. After it went through customs it disappeared. It was declared lost. I refunded the money to the buyer and started to file an insurance claim. The engine showed up about 3 months later. My buyer did refund my refund. Fun in shipping.
Ken

Originally Posted by Ken Lilja

I shipped an antique engine to a gentleman in Norway last year. After it went through customs it disappeared. It was declared lost. I refunded the money to the buyer and started to file an insurance claim. The engine showed up about 3 months later. My buyer did refund my refund. Fun in shipping.
Ken

The mail service is great but the custom services is a different story.
Yes the service is expensive. It was about 3 times the USPS.
At the time I was there, Oslo had five mail deliveries a day. I could send a letter from my apt to my office in the morning, go to my office at noon and collect the letter, then send it back to my apt and have it there when I went home.
Here,if I send a letter to town, I will be lucky if it gets there in three days.
No wonder everyone uses the internet anymore.

Originally Posted by dirtybird

The mail service is great but the custom services is a different story.

Also true......

NEVER mail something in an envelope! We mail everything in boxes because they are sturdy and virtually immune to sort machine issues, and they are not lost as easily due to their size.

True the box is more sturdy, but 10 times as expensive.

HAH! I got a replacement ESC from Horizon, all by itself, in a 12x12x12 box. My buddy just got a bag of Robart hinges all by themselves in a 12x12x12 box. He emailed a picture can called them and demanded a refund of his shipping costs - they refunded $8.

I have ordered from microfasteners in New Jersey and gotten it 2 days later in California. USPS deserves more credit than we give it. Sometimes they deserve all the blame we give them too!

For international packages, envelope vs box is about 50% more worst case.

Originally Posted by JimDrew

For international packages, envelope vs box is about 50% more worst case.

Sorry, thats not correct. Postage for an ordinary envelope is what? About a dollar or two?
My box with a few Nanos last week cost $22.00 US, S & H.

Originally Posted by dirtybird

The mail service is great but the custom services is a different story.

That's the main reason for the need of low shipping costs for smaller items. Buying more to spread the cost on multiple items is no good solution. When items value exceeds ~$34, there is an additional 25% (of value and shipping) tax to be paid, + a $20 customs fee. Making smaller orders is the only legal way to avoid this extra cost.

Just to chip in,
I made a complaint to XPS regarding the cost of posting, unfortunately
my complaint raised little sympathy, I pointed out that the charges levied by XPS were out of line with other US manufacturers with whom I had dealings. as an example last year I paid carriage on a very heavy parcel containing stainless steel hooks, cost of carriage to the UK was $13.25 the parcel was fully insured and dispatched via USPC priority international mail, a small parcel can be sent from the UK to the US by letter post and insured against loss or damage up to £100.00 for a little over £5.00, I would be surprised if I was told that a similar service was not available in the United States lets hope that XPS management take notice of the complaints and take steps to reduce postage costs

I have taken notice. However, I am also the person who changed this policy to what it has been over the last 5 years because of losing so many packages and having to refund or re-ship the package. It was/is cheaper to lose orders than to accept the revenue lost.

However, the solution is to add a 'risk' type of shipping where if the package does not show up, there would be no recourse.