Sending A Package to US | How Much it Costs and How Long it Took
In my country, Philippines, it's more common for families to receive packages from their loved ones abroad. Rarely does it happen to send a package out of the country.
Hello, it's Straykat! I apologize I have been rarely posting now but rest assured blogging on Hive has been always on my mind. I do have a couple of drafts waiting to get published, it's just that I became too occupied to a couple of things. Hopefully, I can slowly return to my usual Hive routine.
There were few times when we sent documents to my sister in the US but sending a box two months ago through a courier was our first time, if I'm not mistaken. We would usually just ask favor from our relatives or our mother's friends who go home for a vacation to bring with them the goods for my sister when they return to US.
So two months ago, my sister asked a favor to send her supplies of her favorite skin care products. Unfortunately, these are only available locally so there's no other option but to purchase them here and send it abroad.
Here are my previous posts about the journey of getting these products and looking for a courier to send it:
We Bought Through A Delivery Service and was Delivered Incomplete Items
Finding A Funko Pop Hard Case
Our Experience Sending Beauty Products Abroad
Out of all the couriers we've asked, it was only the PHLPost (Philippine Postal Cooperation) who allowed to ship beauty products, but still with a restriction on liquid beauty products. Fortunately, they didn't require us to provide documents about the items and only instructed to bring a box, manila paper, and a wide tape for the packaging.
Since we're sending a box, we asked her what foods does she like to be included in the package. And she said, she likes peanuts, coffee, polvoron, and yema. Everything fitted in the box except for yema because we can't find one being sold in the grocery store.
I've also included some handmade stuff for her and her Chihuahua son. I also slipped in the Jollibee Funko in the box, my gift for her last 2019 and watercolor portrait.
The day came to bring the package to the post office so I rushed crocheting the gifts for my sister's dog and rearranged the items in the box so that I am assured that Jollibee is safe and that everything fits inside the box.
Dang.. fitting all these stuff in the box even felt like a challenge. Lol!
Since I was tired, I didn't go with my brother and mother to the post office. However, when they returned home, my mother immediately asked me how much I think the charge was for the package.
Can you guess how much was the fee?
Php 5000 (approx. 100 USD)?
Higher.
Php 8000 (approx. 160 USD)?
Higher.
Php 15000 (approx. 300 USD)?
Php 17020 (approx. 340 USD)!
She then showed me the receipt and I can't believe what my eyes were seeing. Lol. It was kind of hard to believe.
It was twice more expensive than the items in the package. Lol. The box is actually not that big. The size of the box was just around 18x10x10 inches.
She then explained that while the box was not big, another factor was the weight of the package. They do have maximum weight for the fixed fee but anything that goes beyond the maximum weight would be charged per kilogram.
The package weighed 9.2 kg and we believed it was the polvoron's fault for weighing too much. Lol. No wonder why not everyone likes sending packages abroad. Meanwhile, my sister in the US sent us two huge boxes and the fee only costs less than 200 bucks. Why, Philippines?
Anyway, the package was dropped in the post office on September 22nd and the update about its status on the PHLPost tracking website only appeared on September 27. On that date, it said the package was received at the gateway and was dispatched to the destination country. Meaning, it's already in transit to US. Well, 5 days was quite long but kind of understandable because the package will still have to travel from our municipality to wherever their hub is, plus some screening to make sure it doesn't contain any illegal items.
The staff in the Post Office told the estimated travel time for packages to US is one to three weeks. But guess what! Guess what!
Well, we guess the expensive fee was worth it because it only took 5 days for it to travel from Philippines to US and arrive to my sister's home. We were surprised one morning she sent us a message telling that her package has arrived.
The total days for sending the package was only 10 days and we think that's good. We had a nice experience with the PHLPost service. In the end, we were all happy it arrived safely to my sister's home. Sending a package isn't difficult after all. Though just get yourself prepared for the fee!
Have you tried sending a package outside your country? How was your experience?
I also just tried sending a package recently but the cost was twice good thing I had a friend who was visiting last summer and I had requested her to carry my package and mail it there instead. was able to save a lot!
But my eyes were wide when I saw your receipt! That is way too expensive! haha.
Oh you're lucky! Curse this virus, everyone we know still has no plans of coming home this year.
Right? I told my sister she should eat those polvoron 'till the last bit. Lol
Agree! Visits from relatives and friends coming abroad have been postpone to next year! And I also miss traveling abroad too.
Your sister is lucky to have received that parcel!
This is so true. Very rare!!!
Very rare sending package abroad. It's very expensive.
Have a good day sis! It is good to see you here! 😊
Hello sis! hihi Nice to see you here too ^_^
We've had a similar problem here in Suriname, needed some things from the USA, and shipping rates were astronomical. After spending a year researching way to move goods cheaper, we discovered the world of freight shipping, and that has been a lifesaver.
I'm not sure if it's available in the Philippines, but for us a package like you sent would also cost $200 USD via DHL in either direction, but we now receive heavy packages for as little as $20. It's not as simple as DHL, FedEx, or other choices, but I can simply go and drop my package off here in town, then it's put together with a bunch of other small things other people are shipping, put in a container and sent to the USA.
Upon arrival in Miami, the same company unpacks the container and ships the items locally. We have the option of air freight (more expensive and faster) and sea freight (slower and cheaper). It may be something worth researching if you think the Philippines might have services like this. I believe in English they are known as"freight forwarding companies."
Thanks for sharing! I just searched for it and saw couple of freight forwarding companies but they're mostly located in Manila, our country's capital. Far from where we live but I'll do more research on freight companies next time we need to send one again. Good thing you have one at your town, you can save a lot from it instead of paying 200 usd.
Same situation here in Paramaribo and in the USA, you must either drop the package off directly or mail it using a local service to the freight forwarder. When we receive packages in Suriname, my family pays for local shipping to land the package at the freight forwarder in Miami, then they consolidate and ship, no need for anyone to drop it off in person. It might be worth calling and asking if the Manila freight forwarders can receive a package by local mail and forward it internationally.
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