Shipping items back to the US

It's more expensive (far more expensive) to mail things than to pay for an extra suitcase on the plane. At least from France, I can't speak for the other countries.

It can be easily done but it could be expensive depending on what you send. Just how much stuff do you intend to buy?

I just cannot schlep anything extra with me.

We just don't buy extra stuff that we cannot put in our convetible carry-on bags. BUT if we do there is a procedure that is standard most anywhere. Try to keep the mound of stuff you want to send home to a minimum. Go to a post office and buy a box, packing tape, and bubble stuffing. Go back to your hotel and pack the items well. Tape up the box well. Go back to the post office and get to the window that accomodates shipping and mailing. You might find someone that is waiting to pay for tape and you can give that person what you have left over. At the counter you box will be checked for weight and you will fill out a mailing and customs form. You will hand over the required amount of money and that's all there is to it.

We have sent packages back from Scotland, Germany, and Ukraine and all arrived in good shape. The one from Ukraine had three plates in it and the whole procedure had some convolutions but everything worked. That was an inexpensive package to send but in western Europe the cost is much, much more. The one we sent from Germany cost about eighty Euros.

Most people travel on a budget.

The only good deal I've seen on shipping items home is from a military base. When I was overseas, the rate was the same as parcel post mailing from within the states. I'm not sure that's still the case. If you have a military connection to get on a U.S. European base, it's worth looking into.

In earlier years, following Monte's procedure, I have tended to spend maybe €40 every time that I mailed home a small-but-heavy box, perhaps with ceramics inside.

Laura-sounds familiar! We found four coffee cups in Annascaul, Ireland that we just had to have, and it was, indeed, about 40 euro to ship them home. We use them every day, some things are worth it, though I can't imagine doing that more than once or twice on a trip. Last time in Paris we did buy an inexpensive (29 euro) bag to check on the way home, but we were just shopping in Paris at flea markets. Buying stuff all along the way in four locations it would be tough to carry it all, I imagine.

Good luck!

I've shipped books back using the method that Monte described. It's not cheap, but those books have been my souvenirs--heck they even made the cut when I moved from a midwest house to an NYC apartment.

I've also done the, "try to only buy light stuff and buy most at the end of the trip" methodology and it can work too, but it's hard when you are in multiple countries. Light things to consider--jewelry, linens, some art...

Pam

Using a pre-paid box purchased from the French post office, the price is 45 euros for the medium box up to 5 kilos, and 55 euros for the larger box up to 7 kilos, when the US is the destination.

Using your own box, it's about 25 euros for a kilo, 2.2 pounds.

You can calculate the prices here:
http://www.laposte.fr/particulier/outils/calculateur-de-tarif

There is a slightly different way you might consider. Again, not knowing what you intend to buy or the size or the weight. But if it is heavy or breakable you might keep everything till the end of your trip and then pack those items in your carryon with old clothes as padding till you run our of space. Then take the left over dirty clothes and mail them home. Those clothes would be lighter to mail and min risk of damage.

We always pack a light weight duffel bag and I mean really light weight. It folds to nothing in our standard carry on bag. For the trip home we pack our purchased items in the carryon bag and stuff our dirty clothes, shoes, etc., into the duffel bag and check that bag.