General Forum

I'm wanting to do a trade with another TCDB member. I'm in the US and they are in Canada. The PWE I want to send is less than 2oz but very confused on how to ship it. It seems you can't send anything but letters to Canada in a regular envelope. I don't want to pay $10+ to ship 5 cards! I also see you need a customs form and declare a value. According to Paypal, anything over $0 value must be shipped the more expensive 'package' rate rather than 'mail' rate.

Any advice for me? I want to get this fellow his cards but don't want to pay more than I need to! Thanks!

Stan

I ship to Canada a lot, I ship in bubble mailers and my P.O. charges me a little over a dollar to ship, with no Customs form.. I haven't had a problem so far..

Mike

A process some of us here use is putting around 18 cards or so in a business size envelope and it ships for $2-3. Most people put them in a 9 pocket sheet with minimal cardboard. I'd try that and take it up to your post office and see what they say. I was only asked once to fill out that form and I think I put zero value since I was just trading them to someone with similar value coming back to me.

It's funny how different post offices and employees treat things. The padded envelope would be an issue at mine.

And is almost $3 for one here, starting at just 1 card

I would highly recommend using a postal kiosk if you have any in your area.

the postal clerks have inconsistent understanding/application of their rules

I have sent PWE to canada many times without issue

mark

Yeah I may try the kiosk route and see what happens. That way I don't put too much or not enough postage on the thing. Thanks for the info!

This is what I do and never had a problem. I use a 9 pocket top loader tape a piece of paper around it to write the ID# on it and slide it into a PWE.  International letter rates are $1.15 for letters under or equal to 1 ounce (28g) Just fold the top down first so the cards don't slide out. I don't bother with the cardboard it's not needed and making it nonmalleable driving the price up for hand sorting. I do the same for in the states and it's one stamp add the cardboard and it's 3 stamps. The top loader keeps the cards safe and just fellable enough between the pockets to make it through the roller for machine sorting.

Everything is an issue at my nearest post office.  For best prices and no lip, I have to go 2 miles further.   And they wonder why they have financial problems

I get different rates at different PO's constantly. It's so frustrating. Some ask for customs forms, others do not. A 4 oz. bubble mailer cost me almost $11 and I was shocked. They really need some uniformity and an easier way to ship over the border for regular mail and small packages.