Tamara, I don't know the exact distances between Australia and the UK and Australia and the US - but from experience of posting my books to America, and receiving letters and other goodies from America, I know that it *always* takes a heck of a lot longer for mail between the US and Australia.
A letter from the US to here seems to take somewhere between 14 - 21 days, and when I ordered something from a US supplier, the parcel took nearly three months to get here, in spite of being "airmail". On the other hand, I sent a parcel of my books to the same supplier, and she had them in less than 14 days!! (On more than one occasion, too). But, like you, I exploded when I was told 6 - 8 weeks to send an airmail parcel to the US. I told the clerk that I didn't want them to *row* the thing across in a small boat, but to put it on a plane - but he wasn't amused. (Come to think of it, neither was I!!) It seems strange to me, 'cos I always imagine Australia to be roughly halfway round the world from either country!! The Australian postal service abolished the "small package" rate years ago, and has, in the past couple of years, readjusted the sizes of other parcels in what we, their customers, regard cynically as a revenue-raising exercise. Pretty soon even a letter will be regarded as a "parcel". Regards, Ruth Budge (Sydney, Australia) Tamara Duvall [EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Not from UK, but I went to the PO today to discover the various > rate/time schedules of shipping to OZ. The "small package" is no more, > in the US -- it's all under or over 4lbs now. The airmail rate for > "under 4lb" (slightly cheaper than "over 4lb") is, roughly, twice the > amount of that charged for "surface mail" (that's what it's called > here. It suggests non-air transport *within* both countries as well as > without). > > Expected delivery time? 4-6 weeks for "surface" (though, when I ordered > something for another Ozzie, to be delivered directly, I was told "up > to 8 weeks"). We had a bit of a laugh when it came to *air* mail... > "*47 days????* I screeched in my best soprano, "more than a month and a > half??? By air???? At that price???" It appears that my hearing is > going along with the rest of the senses; it's "4 *to* 7" days... :) http://personals.yahoo.com.au - Yahoo! Personals New people, new possibilities. FREE for a limited time. To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
