Help! How to Ship Sömething Cheap from Germany?

[On the Road]

My daughter Ängie and I are visiting relatives in the Black Forest (which is why I haven't posted in a while).

We bought a small piece of furniture from Senegal at the local African Festival (believe it or not). It has three drawers and is covered with parts of old tin cans -- things like sardine paste, insecticide, and "Coca-Cola" in Arabic. It's very colorful and was a great buy.

However, it would be nice to be able to ship it back to the states parcel post. It weighs about 18.3 lbs wrapped (8.3 kilograms). I figured $30 might do it, but all I can find on the internet are expitied shipping rates from FedEx and UPS for over $200.

Somehow, I think these are not the only options. Does anyone have experience on shipping things cheaply from Europe or know how to find out? Theoretically, it could be carried around but is kind of awkward.

Would appreciate any suggestions -- thanks! And greetings from Germany (where beer flows like water and the kezboards äre äll messed üp).

:toast:

[JVS]

1. Go down to Deutsche Post and see what they'd want to ship it

If you don't mind me asking, what are the dimensions of this article?

[On the Road]

2. I Will Try That

The dimensions are 15 x 16 x 26 inches. Not that heavy, actually, but kinda bulky to carry around.

[Kellanved]

4. ouch

The parcel branch of the Post is now called "DHL". It should cost about €40 without airmail. About double that amount via air.

I have to add: I have attempted to send packages to the US three times so far; only one of them was delivered, the remains of the other two were delivered by the USPS in a (small) plastic bag.

[CanuckAmok]

3. You should be able to find a container shipping company...

Since it's not very big, you could pay a fee to have it shipped across the ocean port-to-port "piggybacking" on someone else's container. I've done that from England, and it's not terribly expensive.

One nice thing about surface shipping wood furniture: the wood has more time to acclimatise to the destination climate.

And if you live in a dry area of the US, be sure to wax the heck out of your new table often. It will lose its internal humidity in a dry climate, and the wood could shrink and crack. Most of my mom's antique tables didn't survive the adjustment from damp England to dry Southern Ontario.

[deadparrot]

5. Gotta love those umlauts.

:)

Sorry for my lack of knowledge on the subject of shipping...just wanted to say that. :)