Slashdot Mirror
Ask Slashdot: Package Redirection Service For Shipping to Australia?
An anonymous reader writes "I've recently moved continents, and one of the things I've noticed is the lack of the latest technology, as well as high prices for books and other goods here in Australia. I'm looking at package redirection services from the US, and there's a bewildering array of offerings, at a wide range of prices. What should I look out for? I'm hoping to reduce overall shipping costs to, but obviously worried about costs to deliver mostly empty boxes (yes, I'm talking about you, Amazon), damage to electrical goods from rough handling, packages going missing (does everything have to be registered post or tracked?), import duties (I'm not buying anything that should attract import duty, but still...) and overall costs (I'm not going to be buying frequently, just occasionally). What have other slashdot readers used, and what would they recommend?"
amazon double prime.
http://www.ozbargain.com.au/wiki/list_of_mail_forwarders
There is also a number of discussions like this one:
http://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/74601
I use shipito personally. Back when I used to live in Australia, and now that i'm in New Zealand. Great service.
I picked shipito after doing my research online, you probably should do some research and read up on some reviews and make an informed decision yourself.
You can tell how powerful someone is by the magnitude of the crime they can commit and be able to get away with.
Around $100/year has them receiving your US online purchases at your personal US address (their Florida warehouse). They scan shipment invoices -- you view the invoices in a web interface and tell them which shipments to 'consolidate' and ship, They stuff everything together and ship Fedex or UPS. An 12"x8"x6" box costs about $50-$60 -- you save money when you've consolidated multiple shipments.
In Australia, any import under $1000 is duty free.
As long as you keep the total value of what you are importing under $1000, you don't get hit with GST. If you were to, say, buy a PC overseas that costs over $1000, prepare to get slugged when it comes in through the post. If you have someone send something over, make sure that they price it as $999 on the customs form. I sent myself a computer from overseas and in my honesty/stupidity, priced it over the magic $1000 value and ended up paying about $200 in duties. Actually while you are in Australia, prepare to get slugged everywhere for tech. A high Australian dollar, and the fact that we don't locally produce any tech (we just dig rocks out of the ground and sell them), means that overseas tech companies here charge whatever the small Australian market will bear, and usually they typically price it on the side of unreasonable. Do I really need to talk about how terrible the internet speeds are here? No need to mention that in some places, the best you can get is 2Mbps ADSL? No? OK.
READY.
PRINT ""+-0
Most people I know here with the same inclination use MyUS (http://www.myus.com/)
For group buying and ex-pat interaction, this (mostly Melbourne-centric) group is good to join: http://www.meetup.com/americans-in-melbourne/
Don't forget to check out the local hackerspaces for (among many other things) group buying and local knowledge. I highly recommend the Melbourne Hackerspace (CCHS - hackmelbourne.org)
Seems awfully silly making something in China, shipping it to the US, and then shipping it back to Australia.
Sent from my PDP-11
Double? Try 20% more nominal, and 19% less (PPP).
while(1) attack(People.Sandy);
If you haven't seen it already, may I introduce you to Whirlpool Forums? It's an excellent resource and I'm sure they'll have some good info on this topic.
I have lived in Aussie for the last 8 years and am grateful every time I leave the doctor's office without having to fill out one stinking form. This is a wonderful country. Support the Australia economy where you can. There are some good online bookstores like Booktopia. If you can't find any joy there, try the Bookdepository and Abesbooks in the UK (owned by Amazon?) They have low shipping costs. There is a large online electronics industry here. Maybe it won't be quite as cheap as buying from the US, but if you have a problem with the order, it won't take months of overseas troubleshooting to figure out. Australian ebay will give you access to the China markets.
Jesus H Christ, do you people have any fucking clue what socialism is? Are you calling Tony Abbott a socialist? OMFG you people need to go back to kindergarten and start again. Idiot.
Drill baby drill - on Mars
Better off just Australian forums, this isn't a new problem for us.
Of course /. is still a bad idea because most people here still assume no other countries exist.
Well actually they do. They just assume that any country with brown people doesn't have any running water, and that Europe is all run by communists.
Drill baby drill - on Mars
The average income in Australia is more than double in the US thats why prices are higher.
No, I'm afraid it isn't. Median Household income in the US is about 50k USD. That's across the whole US, podunk cow towns to NYC. The Australian "capital territories" are averaging 60k USD per household. Across all of Australia it's 43k USD.
Not even at parity, much less "more than double." I can't imagine how you became so misguided; carefully reconsider from where it is you've chosen to get your information.
The GP was correct; the cost of the Australian welfare state is built into the cost of consumer goods, among other things.
You voted for it. Pay it. People trying to squirm out from under the weight of the statist utopias they've built should provide guidance to others.
Maw! Fire up the karma burner!
Actually, the typical American does NOT know what "socialism" is -- only that it something bad, to be feared
I moved from the US to NZ 7 years ago, and also had the need for a mail forwarder. I chose an outfit named "USA2ME", and that worked out pretty well. They charged a monthly fee and forwarded all kinds of mail, envelopes and packages. When the volume of mail dropped to only about 1 envelope a month, I dropped the service as not economical. Now I use my step-daughter's address and she sends things on to me by regular post.
I also use the NZPost's YouShop service when doing online retail shopping in the US. Most places will not ship internationally, you know. YouShop provides a shipping address in Oregon from which they onship to NZ -- for a price.
After moving to NZ, I found the retail scene to be lacking in choice. Eventually, I got over it.
From your tone, it sounds as if you have some sort of problem with the idea of higher taxes being used to pay for services such as healthcare etc. Your poetic allusion to weighty statist utopias is lovely writing, but noticeably lacking any real criticism.
I live in Australia - the atmosphere here is not particularly oppressive, nor are the taxes too onerous to poorer people like me as the tax free threshold is $18,200. As a sufferer from a usually mild but ongoing medical condition, the free, world class, healthcare I receive eases any angsty feelings of constriction that might otherwise bother me.
Have you read the works of Gramsci? I'm not saying he's right, but I really think North Americans would benefit from a deeper understanding of the concept of Cultural Hegemony. It is one possible explanation as to why so many of you spend so much time and money transferring wealth from the poorest majority to a few wealthy people.
With a higher median household income than many other countries, I'd imagine that, apart from the murders, the US would be an amazing place to live. [Provided you were white, male, rich and healthy]
What you probably do not understand is that most of th eChinese made export quality goods made in China actually cost significantly more in China. Most people who live in China, and trave out frequently, purchase their Chinese made computers while on trips to the US. Look at the carry-ons that the Chinese have while flying to China.
Just compare apple prices with http://www.apple.com/cn/ In a recent article in China daily it was noted that Chinese made goods at Starbucks cost more in China than in London. The list goes on. It is cheaper to order North Face (real, not low grade fakes) from Amazon and pay the internatoinal shipping than to purchase them in China. Yes, there are very low quality goods that can be purchased for similar prices to much better quality goods found outside of China; however, for similar items, the price is higher in China.
I've used a number of shipping forwarders (even within the US, when I lived in Alaska, 2-day to Washington was free, but 14-day to Alaska was $50 in shipping, so I used a forwarder in WA that would save lots of money and get it to me faster). Now that I'm out of the US, I've never had a problem. Amazon will not ship most things internationally. Even items marked "ships internationally" in the product description are not shippable. I think they define "international" as "Canada and Mexico" or something. I have a number of US game systems, and can't use local games in them. Plus books are silly expensive. But Amazon won't ship, so I have to buy elsewhere or use a forwarder. I currently use a forwarder, and have never had a problem with anyone shipping to them. Who did you see that wouldn't let you ship to a forwarder? And how do you identify a forwarder? If they are banned from shipping internationally, why do they care if someone else re-sends it? They fulfilled their contract.
Learn to love Alaska
Our government has nothing at all to do with it apart from taking 10%. We didn't vote for price gouging, it's just because there are a small number of distributors so frequently there is a monopoly a product type. As an example, I'm wearing a pair of hiking boots that are made in Italy, cost $125US in Italy and the USA and they were advertised "on special" in Australia for $450 (at close to parity to the $450US then). I was prepared to wait a couple of weeks to save close to $300 once postage was included.
Another example is Apple, where not many years ago even a trip to Hawaii and back plus paying full customs duty was a cheaper way to get a powerbook than buying it in Australia.
The blame lies squarely with the distribution chain and the government has nothing to do with it apart from asking for their 10% for the final sale. What is it you you "guvvamint dis" guvvamint dat" "damn commie weasels" people? You've got a full sized brain - try using it.
I don't think you are comparing equivalent figures. The Australian figures are adjusted for household size .etc. Here is a good explanation: http://mattcowgill.wordpress.com/2013/05/13/what-is-the-typical-australians-income-in-2013/
If you look at tax burden in Australia cs America the figures are quite similar. So I don't think it is fair to blame the welfare state either.
In fact it seems to have more to do with companies realizing they can charge more in the Australian market. Except for books. That's just protectionist bs legislation.
I'm an American living in China. I use USGlobalMail. These guys are legitimate and do a good job. They're my personal recommendation, and I won't go into thousands of details you can get from their website directly. Check them out.
--Jim (me)
You are smokin something. $3K per year? A lousy studio in one of the cheaper cities to live in runs $600 per month, utilities included. If you're sharing rent with a bed-sharing partner, the first thing you'd be doing is moving elsewhere, if you can afford it. Food easily runs way more than $1500 / year, unless you like bread and peanut butter or bologna everyday. And for clothes, things that you wear to work will run you a lot more than $200 / year, especially if you have a $2K / year car + gas. Insurance is going to cost you $800 / year most likely, or more. Yes, you're going to have a car, because that $6K / year pad is going to most likely be 10+ miles from anywhere you need to be with no public transport. I knew one group of 5 that drove 70 miles each way, for crappy $20-45K / year jobs, because the cheapest non-leaded pads were going for $1K / month, nothing included within a 30 mile radius. This was many years ago and prices haven't gotten better.
The cesspool just got a check and balance.
how Adobe charging more money for their software to Australian customers helps prop up Australia's "socialist wonderland" "welfare state". The price difference is not in government tax or import duties, it just goes into the pocket of Adobe.
Double? Try 20% more nominal, and 19% less (PPP).
For many of us, the cost of living in Australia is vastly more expensive. An example: we in Australia pay approximately double per litre of petrol (gasoline) - which, for those of us who don't live in major metropolitan areas and have to make a 110km round trip to get to work and back every day, makes for a very big hit in the back pocket.
Median Household income in the US is about 50k USD. That's across the whole US, podunk cow towns to NYC. The Australian "capital territories" are averaging 60k USD per household. Across all of Australia it's 43k USD.
Not 43k USD, 67k AUD which is around 64k USD. The 43k USD figure you've quoted is adjusted for purchasing power parity (PPP) - it already takes into account the higher prices in Australia. So just looking at income, you're right that Australian incomes aren't double the US, but they are actually quite a lot higher.
In any case you've used different metrics for each country. This table shows equivalent metrics for each country. Australians clearly earn more, but are just a little behind on PPP. Of course, that table shows 2010 data, and Australia's economy is doing quite a lot better than the US - I would be surprised if Australia hadn't already overtaken the US on PPP.
FWIW I can confirm, having experienced hospitalization in the U.S. - with top-tier Blue Cross coverage - and later in Australia as well - the ordinary everyday Medicare system - there is no real difference in the quality of care.
The equipment, the people, and the access are all very good in both countries - assuming you have insurance in the U.S., and I'm comparing major cities to major cities here of course.
What's dramatically different is the cost, and the level of paperwork. In America we were snowed under for years with insurance company statements and bills from a dozen providers - we ended up just sorting them by color and then weighing them... and we had to pay thousands of dollars out of pocket after Blue Cross was finished.
In Australia, you pay maybe $80 for a doctor visit, and get some of it back from the government Prescriptions average $10-$20. If you go to the ER and get admitted to a room, you have to pay $6 a day if you want the TV to work. And I think you sign like one form on your way out. You never hear from them again.
Perfectly Normal Industries
If you import something for $999 USD today, it would be assessed as a $1,056.25 AUD import.
This would probably attract and additional:
$55 Customs Processing Fee
$50 Import Duty (assuming the standard 2.5% import duties)
$105.63 GST
It needs to be less than $1,000 AUD per shipment.
I've used a Shipito consolidation account for 5 months to send stuff to Brisbane. This is what I learned:
0. I pay $50/year for an account, which gives me an address in California (Suite 123456, 123 Something St., Sometown CA, 90250). When a package arrives for me, they list it on my web based UI with a photo of the package and shipping label.
1. The cheapest freight out to Australia available through Shipito is TNT, but the cost varies from $15/lb for 8lbs, down to $4/lb for 30 lbs.
2. The optimal weight package to consolidate and send off to Australia is 29.5 lbs. Shipito adds a $10 surcharge for heaviness if the package exceeds 30 lbs.
3. It is cheapest to minimise the number of small packages you send in to your Shipito account because they charge $4.50 per piece to consolidate each incoming package into the big box that they send to Australia. Their literature makes it seem like only $2.50, but really it is $4.50 because there is a handling fee and a consolidation fee for each item. So, if you want to order 10 books from Amazon, get them sent to your Shipito box in Caliornia as on shipment of 10 books and you will only have to pay $4.50 handling and consolidation fees. If, however, you let Amazon send you 10 individual packages of 1 book each, Shipito will charge you a total of $45.00 handling and consolidation to put the same 10 books in your big box that goes to Australia.
4. Watch your Shipito account like a hawk. If a package goes missing and you don't tell them within 10 days, too bad. You have no recourse.
5. A package can be delivered to Shipito by Amazon's courier, but Shipito might not ever credit it to your account, in which case you better read #4 again. Until the package is assigned to your account, it hasn't arrived.
6. Their customer service is not aleays good. However, once you have received a reply from a service agent, if you continue to send further enquiries directly to that agent's email address you may get better customer service than if you just use the forum or the general address.
7. Fill out the online customs declerations each time a package arrives. It makes it easier for you to calculate when to close off a consolidation because you can see when the value of all packages is getting close to $1000 or the weight close to 29.5 lbs. You need to send the consolidation before it is worth over $1000 to avoid being charged GST in Australia.
8. They do some annoying things like if you let the package overstay the maximum of 90 days in storage, they just remove it from your a/c without warning and say too bad. So be vigilant about their rules, and don't expect them to be as understanding as some other more mature businesses.
9. If you follow all the above guidelines, Shipito is a good service that will save you considerable amounts on freight, and enable you to buy stuff from US vendors who will only ship to a US address.
I live comfortably on about $500-700 per month in the Phoenix area.
I don't think that word means what you think it means.
I've learned that they're worthless, so I don't read AC comments anymore.
>The money is actually being transfered from the wealthy to the poor in terms of tax credits, entitlements, etc. The wealthy are getting richer because they have the capital to leverage technology and make even more money.
Remember when you talk about the poor in the states, you're talking about an ever growing % of your population. People aren't getting dumber, so something must be happening...
Here is what a person representing a rich and powerful company says about it: Lisa Shalett, chief investment officer at Merrill Lynch Wealth Management noted that, "for the last two decades and especially in the current period, ... productivity soared ... [but] U.S. real average hourly earnings are essentially flat to down, with today’s inflation-adjusted wage equating to about the same level as that attained by workers in 1970. ... So where have the benefits of technology-driven productivity cycle gone? Almost exclusively to corporations and their very top executives." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_inequality_in_the_United_States#Post-1980_rise_in_inequality)
Think about that for a moment. Your real GDP has about tripled in that time. In terms of real wages, you'd expect to be earning about 3x as much now compared to 1970. But the income for most North Americans hasn't changed in real terms for FORTY years...
Agreed.
Finding a roommate on Craigslist sounds wonderful until you start looking into it. Location? Basics of compatibility in communal chores; personal habits? Owning a car on 500-700/month means you already have one and you haven't budgeted for big-ticket failures - or you have all the tools needed, garage space, access to spare parts at cost or less... so basically that's bullshit. Public transpo means generally at least a fair-sized city of 50k up. Cabs? Good luck. Even with a senior/disabled discount card, that only is affordable for first zone, and it doesn't take too many $3.50 fares to soak up any "disposable" portion of income. There's a van service @$3.60 one way which really helps when you can make an appointment two days in advance. I'm still on crutches after a year which only complicates things, and can't stand long enough w/o passing out from pain to wait for a bus. On a good day, tho, I can walk to the groceria or Walgreens.
Hell, I'm living in a rooming house a few blocks from the "downtown" in a city of around 55k. Got 160sq.ft. with my own bathroom (5x10, part of that 160); rent goes up on the 1st, five bucks/wk for heat, so that's now $115/wk. There goes the $500 Social Security check.
Food. Well, on that income, one qualifies for food stamps or whatever they're called now. In my state it's food share, I forget what the Feds call it. Otherwise if you pay for food out of that income you're screwed; a steady diet of rice and beans takes you just so far. Without the ~$190 of that I'd be on the street, 'cuz the Sally Ann shelter is already full, with a long line of applicants, and I'm told even with the list there's already a line every morning on the off chance someday moves or is kicked out. There are no alternatives in this city except for one church that sleeps twenty-two or thereabouts.
Phone for $23/month? Wow. I keep looking; I've got a "lifeline" phone, and just the calls to insurance, clinic, pharmacy require adding minutes. Else Net10 is still predictably about the most affordable starting from scratch.
So, I get two smaller checks, totalling ~$250, so I'm theoretically in hog heaven compared to this person in Phoenix. Time Warner now graciously has upped my Internet bill to $53 at no greater capability despite advertised speeds and feeds. Yeah, and I splurge, too. Last month I bought a scarf for a tenner, and a pint of Guinness down to the local for five (well, four plus tip, during Happy Hour.)
So I'm doin' good; 2 yards a month for stuff, personal and household supplies, transpo - which has been running a good hundred what with all the extra stuff from the lung cancer in June, co-pays, laundromat. My desktop monitor died Tuesday on the five-year old home-built tower; using my five-year old laptop from better days. If I'm careful and lucky I should be able to get a new monitor in three months. Yup, living large and loving it. Nice to know, and I am grateful, that I'm doing better than a whole bunch of my fellow sapients. Nobody's shooting at me, either.
But, comfortable? No fucking way. AlphaWolf_HK is doing good, and more power to him or her, but I'd say that's an exceptional situation.