ELECTRONOTES Overseas Shipping

Overseas Shipping – A Guide to Forming Orders for Minimum Shipping Costs


As of about mid-2007, overseas shipping by surface rates is no longer available. About all
we can use are the "flat-rate priority" boxes which are shipped by air and arrive in about 6-10
days. These currently cost us $41.95 to send, which can be an excellent air-mail rate. The
problem is that it is economical only if we pretty much fill the standard-sized box. The boxes
we use are exactly our paper size (8.5 x 11 inches) and about 5.5 inches (about 14 cm) deep.
Filled with paper, these boxes are still under the weight limit. This puts us in the unusual
situation that we think of filling a box, and the cost of mailing, in terms of thickness, not of
weight.

Clearly, for shipment of items such as the Handbook and the Preferred Circuits Collection as
separate items (each less that 2 cm thick), the postage is more than the items. (Note that for
such separate shipments, we could ship something like 6 times more material for the same
$41.95 fee.)

As a point of reference, everything we have (the "everything package") fits fairly easily into three
standard flat-rate boxes. This means that the total shipping for all three boxes should be $41.95x3
or $125.85. This is substantially less than we previously paid for air, and not that much more that we
paid for surface. In addition, the "everything package" has a built-in shipping fee that is currently
about $31 for domestic shipping which is a "credit" on overseas orders. This makes the "everything
package" which sells for $300 have an overseas shipping charge of $125.85-$31 = $94.85. So the total
cost of the everything package is $394.85 for most overseas countries. I think that's real good for
air delivery.

Clearly the problem is not with the everything package, but rather with select items. The postage on
these is going to be disproportionately high. Clearly in most cases it makes sense to form orders
that will pretty much fill a box. For example, if you ordered the HB and PCC, you could add the
Vol 7-11 special($32)at no extra shipping cost. That sort of thing.

In order that you can better study the possibilities, we list below the items for sale and their thickness
in cm. Once you know how many boxes you will fill, the shipping costs are $41.85 per box. (Or just
$94.85 for the three “everything” boxes). Please email with any questions, or if you want to ask if an
order you intend to send makes economic sense.

ITEMS: Thickness (cm)
Musical Engineer's Handbook 1.9
Preferred Circuits Collection 1.7

Vol 1-9 (all together) 7.5
Vol 7-11 “Special” (all together) 7.2
Vol 10 1.5
Vol 11,12,13,14,15,16,17 (each) 1.2
Vol 18,19, 20 (each) 1.3
Vol 21 1.2

Extended Service Set 1 4.0
Set 3 283-306 0.7
Set 4 307-316 0.5
Set 5 317-324 0.5
Set 6 325-335 0.6
Set 7 336-349 0.8
Set 8 350-362 0.8
Supplements 1.0


Depth of Standard Box 14.2 cm