Shipping purchases home

I have been told that the French Postal Service has a box you can buy for X. Anything that can be fitted in that box ships for the fee paid for the box. I might try it next time I am in Paris. I do not speak enough French to ask about it at the PO. Will try to google translate it next time and just give the info. to the PO worker. So far, I have not been lucky enough to find one that speaks English. Also, we buy to much to ship at times. We buy a suitcase or a rolling duffel bag, depending on how much we have, load it and bring it back with us. Weight limit is about 50 pounds per bag, I think. At least that is what we stop at. After 50, it is to heavy for us to carry anyway.

It is expensive. There is no cheap, dependable way to ship home. Go to any of the shipping web sites -- FedEx, Dahl, UPS -- and drop in some numbers and that will give you an ideal of what the cost. We were recently in Germany and bought about $200 worth of Christmas ornaments and had them shipped back. The box weighed less than 10 lb and cost about $35 to ship. However, the VAT tax of 17% was returned so that we broke even. If you are collecting a bunch of random purchases you probably cannot get the VAT returned. Depending on what you are buying it might be easier to carry an extra bag and check your luggage on return and carry your purchases on the plane.

Thanks for the reply! I'll probably pack a bag for the souveniers. What about wine? Can I ship that home?

You can ship wine to the US but the amount depends on what state you live in and how much you are willing to pay. Most people find that the cost of shipping can equal or exceed the cost of the wine.

You can find UPS's policy on shipping wine here: http://www.ups.com/content/us/en/resources/ship/packaging/guidelines/wine.html?srch_pos=1&srch_phr=wine I'd suggest getting a price list of French wines from your local wine shop before your trip. You may well find that you can get the French wines you want far cheaper right at home, as compared to shipping them home from France. Also, if you have specific wines in mind, your local wine shop may be able to import them for you at a better price than you can manage on your own. Wine is heavy; shipping it isn't cheap.

There used to be shops that would ship your purchases home if the total was over a certain amount. Is that still available and if so is it more expensive to do that than to ship a box yourself?

Using the French postal service won't work for wine because the US Postal Service doesn't accept and won't ship alcoholic beverages.

I ship stuff back to the US regularly through the French Postal system and have never had a problem. I definitely wouldn't ship anything breakable though. The box you want is called collisimo. The big box costs 40 euros, and there is a weight limit, but not all of the employees enforce it. I like to ship heavy things like books back and if they feel like enforcing the weight limit you only have to pay a couple of euros more. Try using a post office in a more touristy area if you don't speak French well. But basically all you need to say is "J'aimerais envoyer une boite aux Etats-Units." Then you just fill out the shipping label, stuff your stuff in, they weigh it, give you a receipt and you are on your way. Its much easier than going through UPS. I once spent an hour at a UPS store in Paris just filling out the paperwork.

I don't know what UPS charges in France, but in Germany, they cost twice as much as the Deutsche Post charges. Do see what you can bring home in your suitcase and then just mail the rest for the most economical solution. You can always leave old clothes, coats, etc. behind. Donate them to a mission or shelter to make more room in your suitcase.

I posted this on another Forum, but it is relevant to this discussion, I think. I ordered a travel book through Amazon, and received a prompt notice from a firm in the U.K. that it had been shipped. That was a few weeks ago. Today, I got this email message: "Dear Customer Increased security measures delay some mail to the USA Many thanks for your order which shipped from the UK. The United States department of Homeland security has increased security measures for items carried on passenger airlines. As a result, mail entering the US from around the world and including the UK which would normally be sent via passenger aircraft must now travel by other means including ships and cargo planes. Unfortunately we understand the new measures are causing some delays. I can confirm your order was shipped in a timely manner and we are very sorry if delivery takes, or has taken, longer than we thought due to circumstances beyond our control. We cannot supply tracking information but can assure you that it is in the hands of a reliable postal organization who are working to complete all deliveries with the minimum
of delay." It was a BOOK for goodness sake! If it was something perishable I was shipping home from my vacation it would be putrid by the time it got here by slow boat. If it had been a gift, the occasion would have long passed. I would suppose this might delay things you ship home as well. :-(

I am a huge fan of Bordeaux wine, and when I am there buy a few bottles from the chateaux which I pack in my checked luggage. However, other than the souvenir value, the inconvenience of lugging the bottle around does not make up for the infinitesimal (if any) difference in price. Most french wines are readily obtainable in USA (of course it helps if you are in a larger City