Shipping clothes home to the US

Instead of directing you to the many similar questions here I will help you since you sound a little deparate.

Go to the nearest post office. It will have boxes, tape, and packing if you need it. Buy what you need. Take the box and tape back to your hotel and pack your stuff in it. Tape it up securely. Go back to the post office and get in line behind the counter. The person there will give you a customs form and tell you how to fill it out. List your contents as "Used clothing being returned". The person at the counter will make sure everything is correct, will weigh your parcel and extract a large sum of money from you. The last box we sent from Germany cost about eighty-five euros. When you have to do it there is no other way. If you have tape left over you can give it to someone wandering around the post office looking for tape.

I sent a lot of clothes and other items home from France 3 years ago. You can purchase flat rate boxes at the post office there. You pay for them first (keep the receipt) , take home and pack and return to send. The boxes I sent seemed to arrive in the states within a week or so. Yes, it was expensive, but I had to do it and it worked very well.

I've been traveling for years with only one carry on rolling suitcase. On a recent to Hawaii and San Francisco, I made a resolution after my bags were getting too heavy: We are looking to lighten our loads by (1) only traveling with 6 pound rolling bags and (2) traveling with 1/2 the clothes we've been carrying in the past.
Future trips will be limited to one pair of long pants per week--kept looking fresh by sending to the laundry for heavy starching. And wearing golf shirts 3 days. I'll only be carrying one pair of shoes, and they'll be on my feet. And all underwear carried will be aged--something that be tossed as we go.
After all, we'll never be seen by the people we run into in our travels.
If we run short of some clothing, we may purchase some new clothing along the way--as required.

For the last several years I have sent back a box of whatever I don't want to schlep any more. I've used local post offices and Mailboxes Etc., which are in most large cities. It's expensive regardless of what I'm shipping, but worth it to shed the extra stuff. The advantage to using Mailboxes Etc. Is that they will pack it for you. And don't forget to insure it if there is something in the box you don't want to worry about losing.

My travel companions used Mailboxes, Etc. (which seem to be most everywhere) to ship some unwanted items back home to the US. It was expensive, I recall. I think a huge (and heavy box) cost them around $300.

I think I would either donate some of those clothes or just buy a larger suitcase. Both are cheaper alternatives than mailing. Then roll your clothing and be amazed by how much more room you have in your bag.

I shipped home a bunch of dirty laundry from Ireland one year (only time) as I bought a lot of sweaters and wouldn't risk losing those. I did not know what I was doing and the place we shipped from never told us to fill out a form, so my 2 packages of dirty clothes cost a ton. I remember one of them I had to pay $150 above the cost of shipping because of duty, or something... :(

Hi all,

I'm not trying to be a wise guy, but just trying to understand something. If you have the need to ship clothes home, how did you get them over there with you in the first place? The way it seems to me, the clothes you need to ship home would had to have been shipped over there in the first place. If I bring "x" number of clothes with me on a trip, why wouldn't I have the room to take them back with me?

Just trying to understand, as this thread just seemed curious to me.

All that being said, couldn't you just buy a large duffel style bag where ever you are and pay the extra $100 or so extra checked baggage fee to bring them home with you?

Paul