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Shipping from France - tarifs/book rate
Postal rates went up in France on 1st January. Has anyone else encountered problems using the "livre" rate - http://www.laposte.fr/courrierinternational/index.php?id=173&pdt_id=#avantages?
I was told this afternoon that it only applies to businesses shipping books and can't be used by private invidividuals.
Apparently two books packed together count as a package not a letter, which doubles the cost of shipping two mooches to the States. I guess I'll have to pack them individually and see whether that's cheaper.
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jacquie
11 years ago
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Further discussion with two post offices has concluded that I can no longer risk sending non-French books at book rate; postal authorities are now doing random checks.
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Hullo!
To send books from France, I use the "mini-max", as it allows for parcells up to 2 cm thick - small books largely enter that category. It only costs about 1,50 euros and so far everything I've sent reached its destination. Hope this helps!
Monika
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Also sending books from Europe Internationally I have found is a lot cheaper than us Yankees sending books to the E.U. (except for the U.K.). You can send mail to the U.K. from the U.S. using plain First Class International and it is dirt cheap, but since that is the only international shipping type that isn't express, the cost to ship anything anywhere in Europe is ridiculous. They need to add a international media mail rate.
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Not only did French postal rates increase on 1st January 2015 by over 7%, but the cheaper overseas rate for printed papers has now been discontinued. Furthermore any package over 3cm thick now has to be sent by tracked parcel post. It's far cheaper to buy a book secondhand on Amazon, including paying for shipping, than to send a book outside France. What is the future for BM if postal authorities price their services out of the range of any but those who can afford to buy new hardbacks at full price?
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The rates have recently gone up in Finland as well. The increase in postage rates wasn't that big, BUT the maximum dimensions of a letter were reduced. The maximum thickness is now 2 cm instead of 3 cm. Sending as an oversized "maxi" letter pretty much doubles the price.
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For the past few months I've been forced by the post office to use international parcel post rate "Colissimo international" for some larger BM packages. While shipping is extremely quick, the cost is far too much for me.
Yesterday a post office employee told me I could just send the package as a registered package. The cost was about 1/4 of the Colissimo rate, so I was very happy. I could have saved hundreds of Euros over the past few years had I known about this previously.
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