I'll pay $3.00 for a can of soda.
I'll pay $2.00 for a candy bar.
I'll pay $15.00 for a chocolate croissant and juice for Scotty.
Heck, I'll even pay $16.00 for a box of American Lucky Charms.
BUT I HATE PAYING SHIPPING COSTS! (If Scotty ever hears us say "hate", he reminds us we don't say that word.) so... I REALLY DISLIKE PAYING SHIPPING COSTS!
I went to the post office yesterday and spent ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS AND TWENTY FOUR CENTS to mail things. See? 500.70 dkk!!! I mailed a 2114g box to California ($60), a 1490g box to Germany ($25), a card to California, and a small envelope to Utah... that's it. I didn't even send $100 worth of stuff! Going in I knew it would be ugly. I also knew I was going to be irritated so I tried to work my self up for it. I had totally talked myself over it before hand. I knew it had to be done and I was just going to do it and move on. At least my packages won't get taxed when they arrive at their various destinations.
I have more things to send, but I'm now going to send it with people TO the states and have it mailed from there, or I'll just buy a plane ticket. ...and I think I may just email Christmas cards. :) Has it become acceptable to do that yet? :)
And if you are trying to add up my costs I also bought Letters to Santa "kits" for a silly price of $6.00 each. But I've been here long enough to know that 30kroner is cheap...
:) Oh well, now that I've complained I can move on... :)
10 comments:
Costs here are a joke. That's all I say nowadays, Denmark is a joke. Ha.Ha. Ha.
And the Oprah show with the Denmark segment was also a joke, I laughed all the way through it.
Hey but listen, you were warned, don't you remember the first time you ever came to Denmark there was that massive sign over customs in big red letters?
The one that said:
"Denmark. You don't have to be crazy to live here, but it helps!"?
If you didn't see it perhaps it was because they wrote the sign in Danish to trick you into coming here and paying their postage fees.
But hey, you know, integrated Danes never complain about the postage/shipping charges here OR the high taxes. They are too busy enjoying the fantastic health care and the totally free of charge number one schools. And the fact that they can leave their babies outside bars and nobody will flinch.
I tell you what, if I give you twenty thousand dollars would you leave and promise not to come back?
*whimper*
But please take me with you.
(LOL, written by a woman who has been charged ten billion dollars to send stuff out of Denmark in the same week she was charged ten billion dollars to receive stuff from out of Denmark)
P.P.S: I am not exaggerating.
I have become quite the expert and sending care packages to the US as "maxi brev". I typically buy the small rectangular boxes from the post and aim for either 250g (50dkk) or 500g(70dkk). I have found with a little creativity I can send some interesting stuff plus candy to my friends and family fairly cheaply. What floors me is how much they will pay to send stuff to me. On average the packages they send are $40 just on postage! Too bad we don't have friends that work at the embassy. They get to send stuff back and forth for US rates.
if you need a transporter of goods to the US, I'm available...well, for 2 more trips.
Holly - Yep, I've decided to take you up on that offer. :)
Angel - Just what candy are you sending back to the US? It better not be anything involving black licorice! :) Thanks for the tip, I will try that, maybe it won't bother me as much. :)
Ditto what Holly said. We leave on the 18th and have room to take things WITH us to mail for you... Just let me know.
I usually do an assortment of the small Tom's bars, Kinder, mini bags of Hairbo, and some of the St. Micheal's marzipan chocolate. I do send black licorice too sometimes. Is there some scandal with that I have missed out on or are they a no no like Cuban cigars? ;)
At least you managed to get your items out! I have to tell you that it took THREE trips to the small post office by our home,the final one with my sister-in-law, to complete my transaction! LOL It is funny now, but man, I was in tears about it when it happened! I have only gone in one time since then, and I swear she winced when she saw me come in. LOL :)
I'm telling Angel.... You are in BIG trouble! :)
Black licorice is perfectly legal, yucky... but legal. :) However, someone told me it is illegal to bring Kinder Eggs into the US because they contain a "non-edible" toy that one could choke on. :)
Yes, folks....Kinder Eggs are forbidden in the US. Consumer Protection Act from the 1930s. Seriously, I had no idea until I actually researched it.
Tara, I fly out on Wednesday. If you have anything to send back now, send me a PM on FB for the deets. Otherwise, definitely in Jan.
I only buy things at online stores in the States and ship them to family in the US from these stores. Too expensive to ship from germany! Even sending christmas cards from here to there is going to be a major dent in the budget!
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