Date: 15 Jul 85 09:01 EDT From: Harry Bovik (C410HB00) To: Harry.Bovik@CMU-CS-A.ARPA Subject: Shipping books abroad Message-Id: <15Jul85.090137.HB00@CMU-CS-A.ARPA> The following are two messages posted by Gunter on the General BBoard concerning the shipping of books to the UK. Gunter didn't forward the mail he received following his request for information so these messages contain all the public information available. ___________________________________________________________________________ General bulletin board: Tue 9 Jul 17:02 Carl Gunter International shipping (886) I would like to send a few hundred pounds of books and papers to Cambridge, England within the next few weeks. I expect that the cheapest way to do this is by ship. Unfortunately, most of the local international movers are a bit expensive. They typically wish to have someone come to my office and put the books, etc into boxes for me. This wouldn't bother me if it weren't so expensive ($285 is one quoted price for this service). I had envisioned boxing my stuff up and dropping it off somewhere! A problem with getting advice on this is that most of the people who have experience with such services are probably gone. However, I'd like to ask: does anyone know how to move books and files to England without incurring a large local packing fee? In fact, information about any shipping service (even one that includes such packing fees) would be appreciated. Wed 10 Jul 11:45 Carl Gunter Answers on Internat Shipping (898) The widespread view expressed by those who sent me an opinion about shipping books and papers abroad was that the best service is the US Post Office "M-bag". To use this service, go to your local post office (but not the office on campus) and get a postal bag with an "M-sticker". You may fill the bag with whatever you like and return it to the post office where the price is based on destination and weight. To give you an idea of the rates: for Cambridge, England, sending books costs $.55/pound and sending other materials costs $1.15/pound. That books rate clearly beats anything I found with other shippers. The other rate is a little better than most shippers and but surely should not include anything breakable. Thanks for the response. Oh, as a tip to Americans, moving expenses for people who are *not* graduating students are tax deductible---use IRS form 3903.