Sending parcels abroad

[Taz]

I want to send a friend a box of general household products that she can't get in her country very easily. The destination is quite a poor country where things that we take for granted like cling film and car shampoo are hard to find!

I'm guessing that the weight of the box will be around 6KG to 8KG. Is there a postal service that someone can recommend for private individuals that won't cost hundreds of pounds as the value of the contents will only be around £20? The size of the box will be similar to a box for a 17" CRT monitor.

I looked at ParcelForce and cost is around £126! The standard Royal Mail Airmail service is limited to 2KG so that's a non-starter as well (unless I send several smaller parcels).

[Howard]

UPS want £164 to send something to Syria (a completely random country in their list )

[XA04]

I know you have already mentioned ParcelForce... but ParcelForce are usually good when it comes to larger packages, so it may be hard to find a cheaper service (damn it must be a lot of heavy stuff though!, I sent a heavy package to Austria... VERY VERY heavy, and it cost me £80-ish via Parcel Force).

As Howard said you could give UPS a go..

[MD]

Try www.parcel2go.com, they use FedEx and their rates are pretty competetive....fixed price according to weight, so you can cram loads in

[Funkstar]

What country is it?

The high cost might simply be because "The destination is quite a poor country" and there isn't the volume of parcels and post heading in that direction from here.

[UltraMagnus]

have you thought about royal mail surface? or would that take too long?

[Taz]

I spoke to my local Post Office. He suggested splitting the contents into 3 x 2KG parcels so they will each cost around £10. I bought all the stuff I need to send yesterday from Sainsburys and it's around 5KG in total.

Funkstar: I'm trying to help a friend out in Uzbekistan (former CIS country in Central Asia, very corrupt government that does nothing to help its people, average salary less than $50 per month, very difficult to buy stuff that is readily available here from supermarkets).

UltraMagnus: Yes I did consider Royal Mail surface mail but it will take too long.

[UltraMagnus]

it looks like splitting it up would be the best option then.

if the country is like that, i would recommend sending it airsure or, at the minimum, international recorded. although the contents arnt worth much, it will save the hasstle of having to send it again