STAMPBOARDS - Postage Stamp Chat Board and Stamp Forum

Quick quiz.

I asked my Post Office today what this tiny little 18 gram 1 bite 'Picnic' bar would cost to mail to "Rest Of World" i,e, - Europe, UK, or South America or Africa etc, via the Cheapest possible airmail method. Not Registered, not insured, not Express.

I took a photo next to a $20 bill to show size relevance, and another tiny bite size packet that cost 50c at supermarket.

Lets assume the outer packaging is minimal and weighs only a gram = 19 grams total weight for our mail item.

And it could be anything of this same size. A scarf, or a box of paper clips etc, or an matchbox etc

Remember these are the super tiny bars - 18 grams is just over half an ounce for our American cousins, who still use arcane Medieval weights and measures!

All members are free to guess and to vote - you may be buying something from here so a rough idea of mail cost is always good.

You know what YOUR PO will charge you for 19 grams, as a guide.

Take a guess and add a comment. Refrain from specific rate discussion though in the first instance, or the Sheriff will hunt you down!

Glen

I've never had a Yoghurt Sesame Snap. It looks tasty.

Cheers,
Erik

pookie9121 wrote:
I've never had a Yoghurt Sesame Snap. It looks tasty.

Cheers,
Erik

It will cost the same to mail as the Picnic bar.

It is yours free if you spring for the shipping cost. Which will be revealed later.

Global Administrator wrote:

pookie9121 wrote:
I've never had a Yoghurt Sesame Snap. It looks tasty.

Cheers,
Erik

It will cost the same to mail as the Picnic bar.

It is yours free if you spring for the shipping cost. Which will be revealed later.

I just might do that but I will need to see the shipping cost. I have a feeling it's going to be over what I guessed.

I'm assuming that you could send it in a padded envelope, or should be able to and guessing that if it is something that will not fit through a standard mail box, so that you will need to fill out a Customs Label (NOTE TO OTHERS: These do NOT add to Postage Costs), I can't see it costing more than $6.00 so I will go for $6.20.

Norm

Now I am wondering what it would cost in shipping if someone was crazy/stupid/wealthy enough to mail that huge 8 box lot that Glen sold a few days ago.

Cheers,
Erik

$12.50

Its too thick for a letter.

Did the post office apply their strange cubic volume calculation? Which basically says that the cost is calculated on volume rather than weight, so it doesn't matter if the Picnic is made of solid gold or helium, it'll cost the same.

Though I bet after the Picnic Bar had been through the postal system from here to Europe it would easily fit in a standard envelope and go through the 5mm width gauge


Scott

I went for $7.05.

Total guess, but if it's like UK, anything more than a certain thickness cannot be classed as a letter, so it would be a "small packet" or "parcel".

It's all to do with automated sorting, so if it won't go through the machinery, they have to pay a real person to handle it.

Looking at the poll so far, I am amazed at the un-resourcefulness of members!
It's not meant to be rocket science.

Although it would cost £1.28 to send an airmail letter to Australia we would almost certainly be charged for a small packet, at £3.30 up to 100g. Surface would be £2.20.

I'm assuming that it would be similar in the opposite direction.

Although it would cost £1.28 to send an airmail letter to Australia we would almost certainly be charged for a small packet

In the UK I think anything (obviously excluding illegal and banned items) can be sent as a Letter. Is the term letter not a historical terminology quirk? And Letter rate is actually the "anything" default rate. Certainly the Royal Mail website says that a letter has the same maximum dimensions as a small packet.

And small packets / printer papers are concession rates for some items.

Some post office staff may not be aware of this, but pretty sure the idea it has to contain or be an actual letter is just misunderstanding. I've never had a problem at my PO sending light, large items as letter rate when it works out cheaper.

So it would cost max of £1.28 to send anywhere from the UK. I can't see why it would be otherwise in Australia so I'll guess cheapish based on that.

Iain

Thickness is the enemy

Without giving anything away I can say that the answer will surprise a lot of people

If sent by sea mail instead of by air you would pay around 40% less, but be prepared to wait around 3 months for your chockie

Lakatoi 4 wrote:Thickness is the enemy

I agree, Canadapost is the same way. They have a plastic slot at the counter, if your envelope doesn't fit through, you cannot send it as lettermail. It becomes a small packet, parcel or one of the hugely expensive expresspost items.

starling wrote:Did the post office apply their strange cubic volume calculation? Which basically says that the cost is calculated on volume rather than weight, so it doesn't matter if the Picnic is made of solid gold or helium, it'll cost the same.

It will go for whichever is higher of the displacement weight (based on volume) or the actual weight. Anything less dense than water goes by volume, anything more dense by weight.

A kilogram of styrofoam packing will cost much more to mail than a kilogram of gold.

Would it taste any different if it was hammered flat and placed in a normal envelope.

You can send 27 of these for the same price as one because of our increasingly ridiculous weight brackets.

Then add a 28th one, and your postage more than doubles.

I'm guessing A$7.05 as I recalled a simple greeting card sent airmail to me last year was around A$2-ish. A round of rate increases, send to Europe rate, plus weight of chocolate, plus envelope, plus stamps, should be around that value.

iaincraven wrote:

Although it would cost £1.28 to send an airmail letter to Australia we would almost certainly be charged for a small packet

In the UK I think anything (obviously excluding illegal and banned items) can be sent as a Letter. Is the term letter not a historical terminology quirk? And Letter rate is actually the "anything" default rate. Certainly the Royal Mail website says that a letter has the same maximum dimensions as a small packet.

And small packets / printer papers are concession rates for some items.

Some post office staff may not be aware of this, but pretty sure the idea it has to contain or be an actual letter is just misunderstanding. I've never had a problem at my PO sending light, large items as letter rate when it works out cheaper.

So it would cost max of £1.28 to send anywhere from the UK. I can't see why it would be otherwise in Australia so I'll guess cheapish based on that.

Iain

That was the case until the last round tariff changes. Now the Letter and small packet rates OVER 100g are the same (though in three geographical bands). But under 100g there are two rates, one for letters in 10/20g bands and one (up to 100g) for small packets. Exactly what has been told to counter staff, and exactly how they apply it, is an unknown.

But be sure, the idea is that a letter is a letter and anything obviously a packet would be charged at £3.30 even if there is a letter in it. And if that distinction isn't applied yet, I reckon it will be soon. There's no point in looking at Royal Mail's online price finder as it states:

"If you’re sending gifts, goods or commercial samples,
this postage rate offers you a cheaper price.
Just write ‘SMALL PACKET’ in the top left corner "

That's wrong, as I have just told them via twitter. Will let you know the response!

You won't get another note in your change out of that $20 it will be all coin

I went with $17.20 because I had to make a guess

To thick to be a 'letter'. You could put it in a regular no.10 envelope, but that'll just be considered packing of a parcel.

So its an 18g bar, but it'll be a parcel, at what bracket, "up to 100g" or "up to 250g"? As Glen always says about shipping stockbooks local in Oz, 5 or 10 can cost the same as 1.

The post office works in strange ways.

Once outside the letter size sending which I would say this is. Postage goes through the roof even for so few grammes. Change from the $20 would be very little. I listed up the new rates in October when the Aussie Post office increased them without warning on another Post.

Cheers

Martyn

aethelwulf wrote:The post office works in strange ways.

If you're filling a container, or a cargo hold, it doesn't matter too much how much it weighs but how much space it takes up.

You want to send a piece of wedding cake instead of a picture of the wedding cake, it takes more room.

My wife bought a sombrero at a Car Boot Sale for A$25.00 to send to her niece's husband in Wales - a collector of "crazy" hats.



Weighs about 1.0 kilogram (2.20lbs)

When boxed for postage, the box would measure 56cm x 50cm x 30cm (22" x 20" x 12" high).

Have a look at the cost of postage!



Told them to pick it up on their next trip to Australia!

bazza4338 wrote:My wife bought a sombrero at a Car Boot Sale for A$25.00 to send to her niece's husband in Wales - a collector of "crazy" hats.



Weighs about 1.0 kilogram (2.20lbs)

When boxed for postage, the box would measure 56cm x 50cm x 30cm (22" x 20" x 12" high).

Have a look at the cost of postage!



Told them to pick it up on their next trip to Australia!

To be fair you have selected a weight of over 19kg for that illustration for a hat that weighs 1kg.

I chose $17.20. Don't shoot me!
By the way, that gun looks fake.

norvic wrote:

bazza4338 wrote:My wife bought a sombrero at a Car Boot Sale for A$25.00 to send to her niece's husband in Wales - a collector of "crazy" hats.



Weighs about 1.0 kilogram (2.20lbs)

When boxed for postage, the box would measure 56cm x 50cm x 30cm (22" x 20" x 12" high).

Have a look at the cost of postage!



Told them to pick it up on their next trip to Australia!

To be fair you have selected a weight of over 19kg for that illustration for a hat that weighs 1kg.

Sorry but I didn't enter the figure of 19 kilograms - the cubic measurement calculated by Australia Post online came up with the Equivalent Kilograms as 19kg.

I entered the package dimensions.

Australia Post multiplies the dimensions, converts them into a decimal of a cubic metre and multiplies that figure by something close to 250 kilograms per cubic metre to arrive at the 19 Equivalent Kilos and charges accordingly.

Airlines use , I think, 167 kilos per cubic metre; FedEx use cm x cm x cm divided by 6,000 to arrive at Equivalent Kilos; road transport uses 250kgs to 333kgs per cubic metre; shipping companies use 1,000kgs per cubic metre (it used to be 56lbs per cubic foot in 1966 when I started with P + O Shipping in Melbourne)

As muruk said, the less-dense items are transported by Volume, not by Weight.

One kilogram of feathers (Volume) versus one kilogram of lead (Weight)

Ah, yes the same principle as I mentioned, but I didn't understand from your first post that the dimensions had to be input.

Bazza, to send your 1kg. Sombrero from say Brisbane to say Cardiff via FedEx economy would cost around $114 and would arrive their quickly.

Why would anyone send a package via Aust. Post anymore with their horrendous rates

Lakatoi 4 wrote:Bazza, to send your 1kg. Sombrero from say Brisbane to say Cardiff via FedEx economy would cost around $114 and would arrive their quickly.

Why would anyone send a package via Aust. Post anymore with their horrendous rates

A little dearer than Australia Post:-

Flying Tiger wrote:
By the way, that gun looks fake.

Interesting ... another member typed the same thing ... once.

Bazza, firstly apologies for my iPad auto correcting your board name to something else. Technology is great when it works and useless when it doesn't. I have corrected that now in the posts above.

I used my iPad this morning on the Fedex site to get a quick quote for a 1kg. package from Brisbane to Cardiff. No dimensions were required, just the weight and locations to and from:



It comes up at $122 but it that must be based on something pretty thin, say a flat package of documents rather than a sombrero sized item. Pity they don't say what it's based on in the above page, it would only require 5 or 6 words. Mind you that is no doubt a fiendish ploy

aethelwulf wrote:So its an 18g bar, but it'll be a parcel, at what bracket, "up to 100g" or "up to 250g"?

We don't have the luxury of parcel increments that small.

Is this a trick question?

I believe there is an international embargo of sesame snaps.

so Ill go $7 and 10-20 years in prison

Flying Tiger wrote:I chose $17.20. Don't shoot me!
By the way, that gun looks fake.

It's not the gun, it is what it shoots

muruk wrote:

aethelwulf wrote:So its an 18g bar, but it'll be a parcel, at what bracket, "up to 100g" or "up to 250g"?

We don't have the luxury of parcel increments that small.

Wow, Aust Post is devilish. In Canada the rate increments for small packet were, IIRC, 250g, 500g, 1kg, 2kg.

When I mail parcels in HK, it becomes a bit of a farce sometimes...clerk weighs the parcel, I apply the stamps, then clerk re-weighs the parcel, and says I need an additional HKD$2 (0.35USD)...because the stamps have increased the weight of the parcel.

They don't seem to understand the farce of this and that it could become an endless loop, and that its their 'paper' that's added the weight. Mailing a parcel of Xmas pressies home a couple days ago, that came up; the clerk was nice and fought with the computer for a couple minutes trying to find an override.

It cost me $40 to send FIVE EMPTY three ring binders to South Australia from Brisbane this week, simply because of the box size. Weight was no more than 5kg I guess but because the box was a 'square' shape I had to 'cube' the cost (cost x 4).

It's getting to where it's not worth sending boxes of anything because of the ridiculous postage costs - No Christmas Card for Australia Post this year !!!

I voted $2,35 as I believe the package would be less than 20mm thick.
If it is thicker than 20mm when packed for shipping, then you're in for over $20.

However, I wonder if you would be allowed to ship food-like products through the mails.

Memphre

DJM wrote:It cost me $40 to send FIVE EMPTY three ring binders to South Australia from Brisbane this week, simply because of the box size. Weight was no more than 5kg I guess but because the box was a 'square' shape I had to 'cube' the cost (cost x 4).

It's getting to where it's not worth sending boxes of anything because of the ridiculous postage costs - No Christmas Card for Australia Post this year !!!

Smartsend online couriers is just $23 for that. I've started using them.


I learn't the hard way about size restrictions as well. AP will not post a golf club as they are "too long". The limit is no more than 105cm long and the club was 104. Yes someone stepped on it and snapped the shaft. Cost to repair is more than the price plus shipping originally paid.

So all the verifiable costs of sending non-flat packages begs the question, how are online sellers managing to beat the retailers in pricing when you factor the postal cost in

Now I realise that retailers have a lot of oncosts, shareholder profits, etc. to cope with but even so, how do the online sellers do it for anything other than smaller high cost items

Many don't use the Post to start with, also a decent weighted item in a smaller box will be priced better.

A tonne of feathers will cost so much more to ship than a tonne of bricks.

I wouldn't buy a pillow online! But a coffee machine I would.

It's the OS postal costs that surprise me - I can often get stuff sent, such as a video camera battery for $12 including the postage! Local price?.... $35 plus delivery for the same battery.

I don't know where Darren's figures came from but I calculate that to have cost $30.00 based on a 40*40*25cm parcel post item.

It will still leave the walk in shops for dead with their prices. Things like books, cd's, even small electronics, shoes, ties, etc all far cheaper on line even with expensive delivery.

I'm buying golf supplies from Victoria sent to me that have the postage included that is still half the cost of the same thing locally. 100 Top grade tee's delivered for $11 all up vs the same thing locally for $35.00 not posted. I could set up a market stall, pay the supplier their full price, double the charge retail take 100% profit and still be 40% cheaper. Hmmm....

Amazing isn't it! Postal charges seem to be so unreal and discourages people from posting things to relatives for birthdays, Christmas...whenever.

I sent a number of FDC's to a fellow member in France last week. Cost over $14.00.

I sent three parcels to our daughter who is currently in Afghanistan on a tour of duty. She's a Sgt. in the Australian Medical Corp. Cost?...as long as it's under 2kg...free! If it's over 2kg, you pay postage to Sydney only!

Parcels included 19 packets of Tim Tams...was originally 20 but hubby loves Tim Tams and he pinched one! Apparently, the Tim Tams are a great bargaining tool over there!~

hutch

If people bombed cities with Tim Tams, it would bring about world peace.

hutch wrote:Apparently, the Tim Tams are a great bargaining tool over there!

The shadow currency during times of war was traditionally cigarettes. But chocolate seems to have run close to that--something that is small and portable and many people like.

Your daughter has surely popped over to the Canadian base to get some of the Tim Horton's coffee?

Great service the gov't provides its armed forces, giving free/near free postage. And now you have a chance to get postally-used covers from Afghanistan.

When will we know the answer to the poll?? I for one am interested in knowing so that I can commiserate with all the people in Australia:)

Cheers,

Ariane

Hi,

From Canada to Europe surface parcel came out to 36.08 $ CAN

I guess about half that from Australia [at] 17.20$ A

hutch wrote:
I sent three parcels to our daughter who is currently in Afghanistan on a tour of duty. She's a Sgt. in the Australian Medical Corp. Cost?...as long as it's under 2kg...free!

Hutch .... I for one would love to take advantage of our concession rate to Military.

I'm happy to mail up a few packs of Tim Tams etc so she can share them around with her section on Xmas Day.

What a miserable freezing place to spend Xmas so that will cheer them up a little.

Start a new thread if you wish, and I am sure she'll get a pile of goodies from folks back home.

And Mum I am sure will remind here to save the wrappings for her .. real MILITARY War Front line mail is scarce.

OK, despite many hints from folks who could not keep quiet, STILL only a quarter of the votes went for the correct answer $17.20.

Anything thicker than 2 cm to Europe etc is $17.20 now - even if only a tiny Mars Bar we have here.

That is an OBSCENE 38% hike over the last rate .. itself upped in July 2.

Glen