Can anyone in Venice help?

Something is off. 110 E is way too much. They must be using some type of an express shipping service. It is a rolled up painting. Tell them to put it in a mailing tube and mail it to you. There will be some effort on their part - completing the custom form - should be no duty - etc. So offer to pay them a fee on top of the postage. In end it will cost you another 20 to 30 Euro to get it home.

They have only gotten a quote from DHL and it appears that it is for potentially express, secured shipping. I specifically requested they determine what it would cost for a slow, non-secured shipping option and they replied again that this was the only method available. If anyone has more experience on what shipping service/method/ect that I can tell them to use I would really appreciate it. I haven't been able to find much information myself.

It is called the Italian Postal Service. While some people here like to knock it, we purchased a large piece of artwork - about 5 foot square and the shop sent it via the Italian postal system. Took about three weeks and the cost was around 50 E. It was fairly heavy. I think the hotel is just turning it over to a service and you may not be able to do much about it. Unless someone locally is willing to mail it for you. Tough spot.

Just had another thought ----

Call the R Steves office and see if one of their tours is passing through Venice in the next couple of weeks. Maybe their guide could swing by. Steves is pretty high on customer service.

The best thing to do is to run a couple of shipping quotes on FedEx, UPS, DHL, from Venice to Cincinnati and see what the rates are like.

Sorry, we no longer even "swing by" to pick up items left by tour members; there are just too many things going on. I also recommend the Italian Postal Service.

Time is money, and it appears that the hotel is only willing to do what is simplest for it, which is take the painting to a full-service shipping company. I don't think that is an unreasonable position for them to take, because otherwise they'd have to first locate a sturdy mailing tube of the appropriate size.

Another possible complication is that there used to be issues in some European countries with mailing things weighing over 1/2 or 1 kg. (don't remember what the cut-off was). You had to take them to a special package office, not the regular neighborhood post office. I don't know whether that is still the case.

I priced a 2-lb. package going the other way (US to Italy), and it was $22.50 by non-priority airmail (I think it was called "First-Class")--less than I expected. Italian postal rates are not low, so the cost could be higher from Italy to the US.

For fun, I just ran a quote on FedEx, for a small package (in a shipping tube) from Venice to Cincinnati, and across the board, their prices were in excess of $200.

It's not an expensive painting so you might as well just forget about it. I wouldn't want to ask a stranger to go out of their way for this type of thing. I'm sure RS people also have better things to do for their MANY customers. Lesson learned...double check your hotel room. But even BETTER, go back and get it! :)

I have to agree with Wray - go back and get it!

The problem for the hotel is that mailing stuff via a post office in Venice is a total nightmare. The queue hangs out the door frequently, and it would take them about two hours to get the item in the mail. Fedex or DHL will collect from the hotel, at a cost.

I know it is tough, but that's Italy and Venice .....