We went to the post office on Saturday with 11 large boxes to ship to America. I had been dreading this event (I haven't had the best experiences at the post office) and had asked everyone to pray about it. Let me tell you . . . the prayers were answered! The two young women were so kind and gracious and extremely helpful. They were grateful that I had filled in the forms has much as possible. They were grateful that we brought in two native speakers to help us out. We did everything they asked us to do without questioning them. We checked with them to make sure we were doing everything correctly. We worked with them to move the boxes (weighing from 13 - 28 kilograms) and to put them in the post office bags. In other words, we did everything possible to make their job easier. (It helped that I had researched what could and couldn't be shipped. I told them that I had gone online to check and they appreciated that. Another American came in with a large suitcase to pack and ship and most of his items were not allowed to be shipped as they were all glass and electronics . . . non-shippable items. One of the women looked at me and raised her eyebrows and I said, "He must not have checked with what was allowed." She emphatically said, "No, he did not!" She then proceeded to ignore him!)
At the end of the 2.5 hours, I gave the two young women some bracelets as a thank you gift. They didn't want to take them, but I smiled and left the bag on the counter, saying thank you all the while. I waved and walked out. About an hour later, I received a thank-you text from them as they got my number off the shipping labels.
For those who found this entry via a search engine on shipping from China to America, there are the shipping limitations:
NO electronics (cell phones, cameras, computers, MP3/MP4, batteries), no glass (including packaged tea sets), no medicines, no liquids, no cosmetics, no firearms, no swords/knives, no flammable items.
Costs: SURFACE MAIL (slowest boat): 85 yuan for the first kilogram; 20 yuan for each additional kilogram. The large boxes cost 12 yuan each and the shipping label cost 2.5 yuan. There was an 8 yuan fee for the shipping bag. Insurance and registration are extra. We expect our boxes to show up in 2-3 months. Many post offices will not allow you to pack your boxes at home, but if you explain ahead of time like we did, they will sell you the boxes and warn you not to seal them prior to arrival.
At the end of the 2.5 hours, I gave the two young women some bracelets as a thank you gift. They didn't want to take them, but I smiled and left the bag on the counter, saying thank you all the while. I waved and walked out. About an hour later, I received a thank-you text from them as they got my number off the shipping labels.
For those who found this entry via a search engine on shipping from China to America, there are the shipping limitations:
NO electronics (cell phones, cameras, computers, MP3/MP4, batteries), no glass (including packaged tea sets), no medicines, no liquids, no cosmetics, no firearms, no swords/knives, no flammable items.
Costs: SURFACE MAIL (slowest boat): 85 yuan for the first kilogram; 20 yuan for each additional kilogram. The large boxes cost 12 yuan each and the shipping label cost 2.5 yuan. There was an 8 yuan fee for the shipping bag. Insurance and registration are extra. We expect our boxes to show up in 2-3 months. Many post offices will not allow you to pack your boxes at home, but if you explain ahead of time like we did, they will sell you the boxes and warn you not to seal them prior to arrival.
Open boxes in our home. Contents had to be inspected at the post office, so this is how we brought them to the post office. I used my yarn as packing material . . . environmentally friendly!
We hired a truck from a crew of day workers across the street. There's no way we could have brought the boxes to the post office ourselves!
These guys are two of Art's students and they were extremely helpful in the entire process! They helped with the manual labor of carrying those boxes down seven flights of stairs and then unloading them off the truck. They helped with translation when needed and helped seal and label all the boxes.
The two ladies in the background were simply amazing!
Each box is placed into a cloth bag and crimped shut. This helps protect the box from damage. It will most likely be removed from the bag when it leaves the ship at the US port of entry. After that, the box will probably be extremely damaged by the US postal system! :)
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