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So I need to send some gifts to Vietnam. And spending a lot of money to do it is not something I wish to do.. so how do you get a bunch of things you bought off the internet (chough Amazon cough) to Vietnam, cheaply?

You might say 'Amazon's international site'. You would be wrong. While Amazon does have facilities in Vietnam, they have about 1/3rd to 1/2 of what is available on the US site... closer to 1/3rd, and there is no discount in shipping, and each item is shipped separately.

So what's a miser to do? Well, you use a International shipping service, like Planet Express (no shit, that's the name). http://www.planetexpress.com

If you sign up with my code https://planetexpress.com/?ref=91870 I get $5 if you do. Since none of you cheap fucks are donating to the site, sign up with my link. Once you sign up and make a deposit you get an address to mail items to. This is 'your' address, and you get a bin that holds your stuff.

So, how do you save? Well, it takes money to save money. You HAVE to sign up with a PREMIUM mail box. This premium service allows you to consolidate your individual packages into ONE box, and pay ONE shipping fee. Now a premium mailbox is $10 a month. After the month, it goes to the 'normal' mailbox. But the first tip is you CHOOSE THE OREGON MAILING ADDRESS. ITS SALES TAX FREE!!!!

I bought $150 worth of stuff on Amazon. If I ship it to my home in PA I incur ($150*6%) $9 in taxes. So right off the bat I paid for the 'premium' mailbox service. As I shop online and boxes show up at 'my' address I get an email and a photo of the package and the tracking number, so I can easily look up what arrived.

Now to mail 9 individual packages would mean 9 shipping charges. That's stupid. Put all the crap in ONE box and ship that, right? That's where the premium mailbox service of 'consolidation' comes in. You select what packages to include in the consolidation, and also if you want to ship the entire box, just the outside retail box, or strip everything and just send the item inside. I chose 'keep retail packaging' so they have the directions and instructions etc.

Here are my many packages:



And here they are consolidated:



Now there is a small fee per box. It cost me an additional $23 for them to open each package and put them in the new box. Now you may cry 'THATS NUTS!' but trust me, it works out in your favor in the end.

After I added the customs declarations and address in Vietnam it was time to get a total for consolidation and shipping. The CHEAPEST option was USPS at about $70 for up to two weeks delivery. But I chose FexEx Express at $84 with a 3-5 day shipping time. Plus the items are insured and I have full FedEx tracking, PLUS it gets there in 3-5 days.. for $14 more than the cheapest option.

All told its costing me $107.36 to mail a 14x14x6 box weighing 9lbs to Vietnam in 5 days.

Now I know that people are saying 'I can get the packaged shipped to my home, save the $23 consolidation costs and mail it myself!!!! FOR LESS!!!!!! Well, MAYBE. I live in PA. So by shipping the package FROM OREGON I save 2800 miles worth of postage. If you lived closer to the West Coast then your shipping might be less, but simply mailing ONE box from Oregon is cheaper than mailing that same box from PA. Because it's simply closer to the destination. How much do I save? Well, from what UPS/FedEx's website told me it would be about $30 more to mail from my home. Plus I don't have to find a box, shipping tape, customs forms, deal with a shipper that's not sure about customs/international mailing etc etc. Even if is costs the exact same, I am still happy with the service and not having to mess with all these boxes.

So wait, I spent $107 to ship $150 worth of stuff?

Well, yeah. Vietnam is literally on the other side of the world. There simply is no cheaper way to do this. Lets look at the box of Lego's I sent.

The Lego's are $38. But to ship them via Amazon, FOR ONE ITEM would by over $85



Now do that another EIGHT times for items ranging from $8 to over $100.

Can you see the savings? I can. Its not that Amazon is ripping you off, they just don't care what you pay. They don't make money (or I think they don't) off shipping.

Holy crap Vietnam customs have nothing to do.

They are holding my package for customs tax. W.T.F. I mail shit all over the globe and this is the first time I ever had a package held for tax. They are low value gifts, but still taxed at 30% because third world shit holes need money.

I have carried suitcases FULL of crap through customs at airports, even in the US. I'm both laughing and infuriated.