At least on this end of sending, the US Postal Service in May eliminated the surface mailing for international. As I understood it, it never went "surface" anyway. It was held until there was room on a plane, though that probably would not apply to places like Mexico or Canada.
But I agree with Hugh. I once purchased a frame from England and had it sent surface. It took four months to arrive, but arrive it did and in good condition.
Developing severe Cirque withdrawal; should be at the I-Hop down the street from the Battleground Inn insteading of reading CR messages.
Cheers.
Tom Hayes Chagrin Falls, Ohio USA
On 6/9/07, Hughethornton@aol.com <Hughethornton@aol.com> wrote:
>
>
> I once sold a frame on ebay and, at the buyer's request, sent it the
> cheapest method - surface mail - to the States. It took so long that
> the buyer put
> in a non-delivery complaint and PayPal took the money back. It got
> sorted
> out when the frame did eventually arrive, but there is no way that
> I would go
> through that again if I sold a frame or bike to the USA.
>
> Hugh Thornton
> Cheshire, England
>
> In a message dated 08/06/2007 18:38:44 GMT Standard Time,
> gillies@cs.ubc.ca
> writes:
>
> I have shipped one bike (Feb 2006) and one frame (July 2006) from
> England to the USA in the past 14 months. I DO recommend surface
> mail, and use it for ALL of my transactions in England.
>
> There is no reason to believe that airmail is any safer than surface
> mail, in fact, with today's rushed airline schedules and pressure on
> airlines to cut costs and make more money after 9-11, there is good
> reason to EXPECT a frame to be MORE LIKELY to be damaged in airmail
> than in surface mail.
>
> You always want to use royalmail because by using the national carrier
> you typically avoid horrendous customs clearance charges. It almost
> never saves money or time to use a private shipper for overseas
> transactions.
>
> Many times of the year, a parcel (not bike, but parcel) sent via
> surface mail will likely go by airmail on a space-available basis.
> When you ship via surface mail, you either wait 5 working days or 5
> weeks. It's a good idea to get the ship date from the seller so on
> the 6th day you can mark your calendar for the 5-week delay.
>
> My costs to ship a bike : 88 pounds, it was a complete 24" bike in a
> rather large bikebox.
>
> My costs to ship a frame : 45 pounds, it was heavily bubble wrapped
> with NO fork reinforcements (unfortunately), but arrived O.k.
>
> - Don Gillies
> San Diego, CA, USA
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
>
--
Tom Hayes
Chagrin Falls, Ohio