Mailing Shoes to the U.S from England

Will be hiking the Cotswolds in later August. Where would one rent hiking poles? Can that be done in Chipping Campden?

This is the Royal Mail service which most people would use

https://send.royalmail.com/send/youritem?country=GBR&weight=&weightUnit=G

I would check what the tariff situation is- even if it's something you already owned, I'm not sure if they'd still try to charge you. Whenever I'm going somewhere with those type of shoes, I wear them when I'm in transit. I might consider that- it might be a bit annoying but it will save you the expense of shipping them.

Everyone is different, but I (small female, 61 yo, hiker in the US Rocky Mountains, which is where I live) walked on the same route you gave (but on my own, not a tour) last year, but the other direction, ending in Cheltenham. I meant to take hiking poles, but when the cheap pair that I bought in Spain broke in my first mile of hiking (in Spain), I didn't buy another set. When I was walking in England, I did not feel that I needed hiking poles. (Another option, which I've considered for other things but have never done it, could be to purchase pole online and have them delivered to the hotel at your starting point.)

I don't know where your tour will take you, but I will say that I loved, loved, loved the walking and my itinerary - so have a wonderful time!

On that trip, where I was traveling in Spain and elsewhere for three weeks prior, I carried my hiking boots with me. I did check my (small) checked bag, however.

I'm planning another walking trip in England, and am also debating sending my boots back, so post if you do that.

@ Rambling’ On, thanks for the link to the Royal Mail Service. I wasn’t sure if I had been looking at the right thing.

@Cat VH, yes our plan would be to wear the hiking shoes on the airplane and when in transit. Just wondering what it would cost for the added convenience of jettisoning them when we’re finished hiking, haha. I had thought of the tariff thing too, but I don’t think they can tariff your own possessions (but who knows??!!). Last summer I had some olive oil shipped home from Spain, and we paid shipping to the merchant in Spain, shipped with Fed Ex. Then a couple weeks later we got a separate bill from Fed Ex, which was a surprise. Still not really sure what the bill was for, but the gist of it seemed to be that Fed Ex was acting as our agent at the border? Anyway, certainly don’t want to get an additional bill beyond the shipping of our own shoes!

@Carol, not sure of any rental places, beyond the Cotswold Walks people that we booked the adventure through. But there is a Mountain Warehouse in Cheltenham. We are planning to use the Click and Collect option on the website and pick them up at the store. But that is for purchase not rental.

Barbara, in the spring of 2025, we purchased an oil painting in Siena. The art arrived in perfect condition. A few weeks later, we received a bill from the shipping company for the tariff. Still waiting for that to be refunded......

I don't know how easy it will be. But, be sure to label the package correctly on the the customs declaration to avoid duty..

Scroll down to Personal Belongings.

Check and see if there's a US Military installation near where you're going to be. They will have a USPS branch, and you can easily mail back to the States using that.. No tariff or duties apply when shipping your own property. And it will be considerably less expensive than any other method.

Exercise extreme caution, and be willing to never see the shoes again. Could just have been my own personal parade of misfortune, but I will likely never mail items home again. My story:
1. Decided to mail home two heavy souvenir books, my headphones, and a couple of heavy clothes we wouldn't need again. Went to Royal Post. Had to buy a mailing box. Had to list every item, where acquired, and value. Decided (poor idea) to save money by skipping insurance. Cost by weight was approx L90.
2. Had to mail the box to my neighbor since it would arrive in the US before we did. Neighbor didn't hear the doorbell and missed not one, but two door stickers saying to pick up the box at the post office.
3. Box didn't come and we had no tracking mechanism. Many emails to the post office in Canterbury and visits to USPS without success.
4. Finally found a USPS person who agreed to do a hand search only to learn it had been sitting, unclaimed, for a month, and was returned to sender two days prior.
5. More emails to Canterbury hotel and PO, without success. Lesson learned.

Wow, KC, that’s a crazy story, and a cautionary tale! Certainly a good reason to spring for the insurance!

Jeanm, thanks for the CBP link. I wouldn’t have known to write that on the box. I’m not interested in paying tariffs, that’s for sure!

Lexma, thanks for sharing your experience without hiking poles in England. We are relatively fit, in our 40s-50s and have used hiking poles from time to time on trails. Thinking of getting them mostly out of caution. I’ve heard there could be a lot of mud in the Cotswolds. We’ve not done this type of countryside walking before and want to be prepared.

I think the next step is to weigh the shoes and use the Royal Mail site to find an approximate cost.

And KGC, no idea if there are any U.S. military installations near our locations, but that’s a great thought and I’ll look it up. If not on this trip, might come in handy on a future trip. Thanks for the suggestion.

@KGC, are non-military personnel able to access the post offices on military installations?

@Barbara G - Is there anywhere you will be circling back to (e.g., are you flying in and out of Heathrow?).

If you ship your boots and/or clothes home, they wouldn’t be subject to duty as long as you mark the package to indicate that (e.g., “U.S. goods returned” or something similar … check latest guidance). However, hiking poles purchased in the UK would be subject to duty so I would not ship them.

For hiking poles- I will just share my experience, as someone who does a lot of long-distance walking in the UK (tho I have not yet done the Cotswold Way). The only time I find poles particularly useful is when you're going somewhere with a lot of big hills (e.g. Pembrokeshire Coast Path, parts of Hadrian's Wall, walking up Ben Nevis, etc.). I'm not sure how hilly your planned walk is- I would check if it's relatively flat and if it is don't bother with the poles. I don't personally find poles super useful for mud but definitely for hills. Of course if you prefer to use them don't let me dissuade you- this is meant to reassure in case you decide it's too much hassle.

Cat VH, thanks for the additional comments on hiking poles, it’s very helpful.
I am not completely sure they’ll be needed, and I’m a little on the fence about it. For some reason I felt better paying to rent them from the tour company (but they’re not available) than I do purchasing them in the UK for just a few days and then discarding them. The tour company says many people find poles useful for the ‘rolling climbs and descents’ between Winchcombe and Broadway. I’m just not sure how dramatic the climbs will be (my husband is looking for some YouTube videos to give us a visual idea). Living in Pennsylvania, we are used to hills (rolling and steep), but it will be more miles of walking then everyday life, obviously.

I have sent a few boxes of things from the UK back to the US. Except for the time I was shipping a new suitcase, I've used Royal Mail tracking. On the customs declaration you state sending boots home no longer needed on vacation. You will have to put a monetary value. As long as it's under $800 you're fine. There is no tariff on personal items purchased in the US.

If you have the receipt for the boots, keep it with you.

It will not be cheap as sending items from the UK to the US is expensive. I would suggest getting tracking as part of your shipment. You first track it on the Royal Mail website and once it's handed over to USPS you track it on their site.

Not the UK, but last year we were on an 11 week trip and while in Paris we decided to send some things home that we were no longer going to need. We specified on the form that the contents of the package were used personal items that we had brought with us from our U.S. residence. We didn’t have to pay for anything other than the postage. It wasn’t cheap, but it was worth it to us to lighten our load a bit.

Regarding being charged tariffs on mailing you shoes home, we had to pay tariffs of $21 on my wife's eye glasses that she left in our hotel in India. Our tour company, Gate 1 Travel sent them home to use using DHL. They made a mistake and packaged the glasses in a used box from a local Indian product.
Since the glasses were made in the USA, under US law, we owed no tariff fees, but because it was in the box with the foreign product on it, we had to pay. Gate 1 is a good tour company, but they didn't shine on my wife getting her glasses.

Thanks Frank II and Andrea for your comments on mailing things home. It does seem like we can get the shoes home tariff-free, as long as we fill out the forms correctly and are willing to pay the price.

Geova, sounds like the best intentions of your hotel didn’t work out so well for you!

We are traveling in and out of London, and had already thought of storing the walking gear somewhere in London, but to do so for a long enough period of time seemed cost-prohibitive. Now that I have some specific info on the cost of Royal Mail, it will be a better comparison.

If you can get on a military installation you can use the USPS if they have a Post Office. They use regular stamps, the same as if you were in the States. They charge rates based on the same rate schedule for packages. If you use the fixed rate boxes you pay the same fixed rates. They are the USPS, not a DOD entity. They are manned by USPS employees.

I'm nearly certain random travelers cannot use military mail (USPS) to mail things backto the US. Military mail is to be used only by folks like military personnel (and I assume their dependants), civilian employees of the DOD and contractors.

If travelers were allowed to take advantage of APOs/FPOs, such a mobey-saving option would surely be mentioned by folks like Rick Steves.

Check and see if there's a US Military installation near where you're going to be. They will have a USPS branch, and you can easily mail back to the States using that.. No tariff or duties apply when shipping your own property.

This is a service only for military personnel stationed at that specific base. Random Americans can not go on base and use this service. It's part of the status of forces agreement negotiated between the host country and U.S. military.

Makes sense, Kim!
I would imagine using the on-base post offices would be restricted to members of the military, similar to the Commissary.

Not a good idea at this time unless you have checked with several British Post Offices that the UK is mailing packages to the US at this time. Sometimes even the clerks aren't up to date on current policies, so you might want to check and double-check. See Jane's post for the details. https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/france/la-poste-missing-package

UPS/DHL/FEDEX resumed sending packages from France. You could check if the UK outlets of these companies are accepting packages to the US.

Not a good idea at this time unless you have checked with several British Post Offices that the UK is mailing packages to the US at this time.

The UK is shipping packages to the US.

Unlike some countries, Royal Mail only had a temporary pause in shipping packages to the U.S. Service resumed in September 2025.

You can read about the new process here:

https://www.royalmail.com/usapersonalupdates