International postage fees
Dec. 30th, 2019 12:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mtbcThis holiday season I successfully avoided paying any extra customs fees for importing gifts but it annoys me that I feel inclined to go to such effort, coordinating with my overseas travel to bring items with me in person. I do not normally spend much money and I am willing to pay whatever duty and taxes are due but when people use their country's postal service to send overseas it is not as if they get any choice of recipient postal service.
I am used to postal things costing more in the UK than the US, despite the country being more densely populated with smaller distances, but the £12 ParcelForce handling fee for dealing with customs fees on incoming merchandise exceeding £15 seems excessive to me. The payment process is simply an online transaction where we enter the reference number and card details then they do the actual delivery as usual, at worst it takes someone at their end a moment to enter into the system the currency and amount from the form on the parcel.
Perhaps I am missing something but I suspect that if this fee at all corresponds to ParcelForce's actual costs then Her Majesty's Government should be looking to make some more efficient business the default national parcel recipient. I don't know if it is in the Government's power to grant, to what extent this kind of thing is regulated or by whom, even if there is any expectation that handling fees are reasonable.
I am used to postal things costing more in the UK than the US, despite the country being more densely populated with smaller distances, but the £12 ParcelForce handling fee for dealing with customs fees on incoming merchandise exceeding £15 seems excessive to me. The payment process is simply an online transaction where we enter the reference number and card details then they do the actual delivery as usual, at worst it takes someone at their end a moment to enter into the system the currency and amount from the form on the parcel.
Perhaps I am missing something but I suspect that if this fee at all corresponds to ParcelForce's actual costs then Her Majesty's Government should be looking to make some more efficient business the default national parcel recipient. I don't know if it is in the Government's power to grant, to what extent this kind of thing is regulated or by whom, even if there is any expectation that handling fees are reasonable.
