- This topic has 4 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 11 years ago by
.
-
Posts
-
Apologies if this topic has been addressed elsewhere; I didn’t see any previous relevant posts though.
Background: my niece recently had her 7th birthday. Also my stepmother had her 70th birthday party at about the same time. I thought it would be nice to send home a box of local things. For my niece I bought a stuffed panda that’s about as big as my head (I have a pretty big head). For my sister and stepmom I bought a couple of fans and a framed picture of pandas in a bamboo forest, and for my brother-in-law a Sichuan opera mask beer-opener. Kitschy stuff, but I knew they would dig it back home.
So I boxed it all up, wrote the addresses in both Chinese (with help) and in English, and went with a colleague downstairs from my work to the little China Post office. First they demanded I open it. I’ve since learned that this is the normal procedure when shipping anything out of China, due to laws against smuggling antiques, not to mention drugs. But the postal clerk further refused to send the stuffed panda, claiming that I could have stashed drugs within its furry bosom. Then they wanted to tear up my carefully wrapped picture to see what was inside. Disgruntled, I felt like going postal. I grabbed my violated box and fled the post office. I was later informed that using China Post for this is a non-starter. Also, my mistake was going to a small post office, and not a large main one. But anyway I was done with China Post.
So back to square one. I re-taped up the box, and with the help of the good folks at Sim’s Cozy Hostel (who are quite used to helping helpless laowai), we called first DSL, then FedEx. Actually the desk clerk named Damon at Sim’s did all this. I just sat there helplessly and watched. The lady on the phone from FedEx quoted a rather high price of almost 700 kwai. I said sure, I just wanted to get the stuff out at this point. But then the delivery man showed up (several hours later!), and, despite my interpreter’s best intentions, after his cursory inspection, he tried to shake me down for an additional 600 kwai. 1300 kwai to send a rather light box home, 3rd class or whatever! So I went postal again, grabbed the box and left.
Any advice on how to get this job done? I speak no Chinese, really, and so am handicapped there, but I can get an interpreter to help. Is there a place I can physically go where I can avoid all this drama, and pay a set and established price to send my gifts home to my family? I don’t mind haggling a bit, but 1300 kwai sounds ridiculous. Has anyone had any experience doing this sort of thing? I’ve lived in a number of countries in Asia, Europe and North America, and everywhere else I was able to walk in, pay the fee, and walk out in a few minutes. Is there a place where that would be possible? I’ve been in Chengdu for about 7 months and this was probably the most frustrating thing I’ve tried to deal with.
http://www.ems.com.cn/serviceguide/zifeichaxun/e_zi_fei_biao_zhun.html
Hope this can help. I have never send things out of China, but i buy lot’s of stuff from out of China, from Ebay and Amazon, it’s easy, and i have find out a Chinese company who can received anything i buy from oversea, then resend it to me, and charge a little money. Which is help lot because some company don’t send package to China.
The link that linka posted is EMS, which is the same thing as China Post. That should give you a good idea of the price though. Shipping directly through FEDEX is likely the most expensive option.
I’ve shipped quite a few packages from China to the US and I’ve found the best option is finding a freight forwarding company. I can refer you to the one I’ve been using. To give you an idea, I paid 850 kuai for a big 10 kg box.
- The forum ‘General Discussion’ is closed to new topics and replies.