Talk to me about sending a parcel to the US please

[Hyggehygge]

I'm not completely stupid - honest - but I've never sent a parcel to my friend before, so I just bought a smallish postage box and then looked at the prices for shipping and - gulp - £35+.

So, I only want to spend about a maximum of £15 on postage. But I can't find any sites that tell me what dimension box I would need for that and what weight.

So lovely people. Is there anyone who regularly posts to the US? Who do you use, what size boxes and what weight? Can I send chocolate and tea (her main requests)?

Thank you so much for any advice.

Try parcel2go ... it'll ask you to enter weight and dimensions then produce a menu of choices, some of which may be better if your current one's come from the Post Office

Go on the Royal Mail website. They have a postage calculator that breaks it all down. A small box under 2kg was normally under £20.

m.royalmail.com/mt/www.royalmail.com/mobile-price-finder?intcampaignid%3DCLT_0613_LP_27=&un_jtt_redirect=un_jtt_iosV

Just checked and standard delivery for a parcel weighing 1kg is £13

Thanks so much for the link happystripper. What dimension of box is that for? I can’t find that anywhere

I do! DP lives there at the moment so I send over to the USA a lot. It is muuuuuuch cheaper to get an airmail bag type thing (Wilkos sell them)

JaretsGirlfren that's really interesting but I'm not sure I could fit everything I want to in an airmail bag. Do you mean one of those thin plastic ones, rather than a padded envelope?

If so, do you send it by Royal Mail or how?

Here’s a screenshot of the requirements for that price

I’ve used both the plastic kind and the padded envelopes, sometimes I have sent two bags as it is still cheaper than a box. And yes I send by Royal Mail

Fabulous. Thanks to you both!

Yup I also use padded envelopes and have in the past sent 2 envelopes - still cheaper than a box. I sent a few envelopes a year to the US - usually around £8-10 postage. Would have some very light clothes (t-shirts, gloves, scarf), a book and a small selection box.

The dimensions have to add up to no more than 90 cm, so if it was a square box each side would be no more than 30 x30 cm ( and they check so make sure you're not a wee bit over). I send stuff to America regularly HTH.

If she wants chocolate and tea I'd just send it via something like British Food Depot. My MIL sends us stuff that way every year.

MIL sends us packages sometimes and she never uses Royal Mail. I think she does parcel2go. Much cheaper

Or go on Amazon US and get the same choc and tea and send it within the US.

Royal Mail is fine as long as stick to the size restrictions, if you go over it changes to Parcel force which is expensive and couriers may then be cheaper.