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Re: DM42 with homemade printer

Posted: Fri Oct 02, 2020 12:35 pm
by pcscote
grsbanks wrote:
Fri Oct 02, 2020 10:13 am
In the UK at least, the post office do not pick up items. Whether they're being sent to the UK, the rest of the EU or elsewhere in the world, you have to go out and take it to a post office. You can pay for the postage and fill in the customs declaration from your office/home but you still have to take it to a post office to get it sent.
Same here in Canada.

Also if there is duty/taxes on the package they give you a pick-up card, then you have to go to the Canada Post office indicated on the card to pay the fee and get the package.
grsbanks wrote:
Fri Oct 02, 2020 10:13 am
Couriers like UPS, DPD, Hermes (ugh!!) and their ilk do come to your place and pick items up but the cost is 10x or 20x higher.
Again, different carrier names but same pattern here.

Re: DM42 with homemade printer

Posted: Fri Oct 02, 2020 1:05 pm
by Walter
Same in Germany: you have to go to the post office with anything like a parcel as soon as you can't drop it in a regular (yellow) postbox. Since postage depends on a couple of criteria (size, weight, destination), it may be difficult to determine at home so the post office is the most economical way. If there is any customs declaration needed (beyond the EU), you fill in a small slip for this there as well.

Some days ago, I saw a DHL vehicle claiming you can drop your deliveries there - but this was the first of this kind I've noticed.

Re: DM42 with homemade printer

Posted: Fri Oct 02, 2020 3:02 pm
by rprosperi
grsbanks wrote:
Fri Oct 02, 2020 10:13 am
rprosperi wrote:
Fri Oct 02, 2020 3:20 am
While I assume the same is likely true in Europe (easy for EU mail, more work for outside EU mail) I really don't know.
In the UK at least, the post office do not pick up items. Whether they're being sent to the UK, the rest of the EU or elsewhere in the world, you have to go out and take it to a post office. You can pay for the postage and fill in the customs declaration from your office/home but you still have to take it to a post office to get it sent.

Couriers like UPS, DPD, Hermes (ugh!!) and their ilk do come to your place and pick items up but the cost is 10x or 20x higher.
Thanks. If that's generally true in EU, it is indeed a fundamental difference, and explains one key reason of the different attitudes among sellers here vs. there.

Re: DM42 with homemade printer

Posted: Fri Oct 02, 2020 3:11 pm
by Walter
rprosperi wrote:
Fri Oct 02, 2020 3:02 pm
grsbanks wrote:
Fri Oct 02, 2020 10:13 am
rprosperi wrote:
Fri Oct 02, 2020 3:20 am
While I assume the same is likely true in Europe (easy for EU mail, more work for outside EU mail) I really don't know.
In the UK at least, the post office do not pick up items. Whether they're being sent to the UK, the rest of the EU or elsewhere in the world, you have to go out and take it to a post office. You can pay for the postage and fill in the customs declaration from your office/home but you still have to take it to a post office to get it sent.

Couriers like UPS, DPD, Hermes (ugh!!) and their ilk do come to your place and pick items up but the cost is 10x or 20x higher.
Thanks. If that's generally true in EU, it is indeed a fundamental difference, and explains one key reason of the different attitudes among sellers here vs. there.
Watch it: the UK isn't in the EU anymore while Ireland is (and Scotland will be). Splendid isolation.

Re: DM42 with homemade printer

Posted: Fri Oct 02, 2020 4:00 pm
by grsbanks
Walter wrote:
Fri Oct 02, 2020 3:11 pm
rprosperi wrote:
Fri Oct 02, 2020 3:02 pm
Thanks. If that's generally true in EU...
Watch it: the UK isn't in the EU anymore while Ireland is (and Scotland will be). Splendid isolation.
Bob said "in EU" as an abbreviation of "in Europe". Not in the EU :)

Re: DM42 with homemade printer

Posted: Fri Oct 02, 2020 4:13 pm
by rprosperi
To be totally clear, since Godwin described the conditions in UK, I was addressing the rest of Europe (which I think = the EU) hoping someone there would confirm if the conditions there (i.e. a person must visit their PO to send pkgs) are the same as UK or the same as USA. Though I'd guess that this level of detail still varies country by country...

Re: DM42 with homemade printer

Posted: Fri Oct 02, 2020 4:38 pm
by MeinKuipers
Here in NL things are pretty easy. We can prepare the package and print the labels (including the customs declaration), pay online and we take that to the PO. Actually we do not have PO's anymore, these are usually desks in supermarkets, pretty well spread across town and very service oriented.
At the PO the labels is scanned and the package is accepted. The receipt is e-mailed, and the receiver (if you entered the receivers e-mail address) automatically gets the tracking information.

Re: DM42 with homemade printer

Posted: Fri Oct 02, 2020 5:20 pm
by akaTB
pcscote wrote:
Fri Oct 02, 2020 12:35 pm
grsbanks wrote:
Fri Oct 02, 2020 10:13 am
In the UK at least, the post office do not pick up items. Whether they're being sent to the UK, the rest of the EU or elsewhere in the world, you have to go out and take it to a post office. You can pay for the postage and fill in the customs declaration from your office/home but you still have to take it to a post office to get it sent.
Same here in Canada.

Also if there is duty/taxes on the package they give you a pick-up card, then you have to go to the Canada Post office indicated on the card to pay the fee and get the package.
grsbanks wrote:
Fri Oct 02, 2020 10:13 am
Couriers like UPS, DPD, Hermes (ugh!!) and their ilk do come to your place and pick items up but the cost is 10x or 20x higher.
Again, different carrier names but same pattern here.
Ditto here in Italy.

Re: DM42 with homemade printer

Posted: Fri Oct 02, 2020 5:42 pm
by Thomas Okken
rprosperi wrote:
Fri Oct 02, 2020 4:13 pm
To be totally clear, since Godwin described the conditions in UK, I was addressing the rest of Europe (which I think = the EU) [...]
Nope. :mrgreen:

Albania, Andorra, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, The Holy See, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Russia, Serbia, Switzerland, and Ukraine are all in Europe and not in the EU. Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway are in the EEA, though, which for many purposes amounts to the same thing, and Switzerland has a similar status, due to a set of bilateral treaties.

Whether you want to include Turkey in the list of countries in Europe but not in the EU due to its tiny European portion is a matter of taste.

Re: DM42 with homemade printer

Posted: Fri Oct 02, 2020 6:19 pm
by Walter
grsbanks wrote:
Fri Oct 02, 2020 4:00 pm
Walter wrote:
Fri Oct 02, 2020 3:11 pm
rprosperi wrote:
Fri Oct 02, 2020 3:02 pm
Thanks. If that's generally true in EU...
Watch it: the UK isn't in the EU anymore while Ireland is (and Scotland will be). Splendid isolation.
Bob said "in EU" as an abbreviation of "in Europe". Not in the EU :)
Advantage to native speakers - they can always claim they've written something different. ;)