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The Best Way to Send Christmas Presents Home

2017-12-09 ShanghaiWOWeng

If you’re not going home for Christmas then there is a strong chance you’re going to be sending gifts back to family and friends. Negating the Chinese postal system can seem like a bit of a nightmare, so here is our guide to sending stuff home.


China Post


Photo from China Post


China Post is your best bet for sending stuff home. You can send up to 30kg to the US, UK, Switzerland, France and Germany. You can send up to 20kg to Sweden, Denmark, Austria, Australia, Italy or Hungary, but you can only send 15kg to the Czech Republic. I have no idea why the weights vary, but they do. So there you are.


The price from posting stuff varies and you can look up full details on their website, just copy and paste this link: 


http://english.chinapost.com.cn/html1/category/1408/4048-1.htm


Photo from China Post


But sending a 5kg parcel via airmail to the US is going to cost around RMB 550, with an additional charge of RMB 110 for every 1kg you go over. So if you sent a 30kg box (which is HUGE) it would cost you 48 27748 48 13524 0 0 8031 0 0:00:03 0:00:01 0:00:02 8030RMB 3,300.


You can buy boxes in the post office, their largest box costs RMB 15. It’s better to buy one of their boxes to use, they are really fussy about what kind of packaging you can send. 


When you send stuff you have two delivery options, you can do air freight (which takes around 20 days) or you can do sea shipping (which takes a couple of months). This is advisable for larger items as it will make it much cheaper. No good for Christmas gifts though, you missed the boat on that one.


Photo from China Post


When you’re handing over your parcel to be sent they will ask you what is inside, and a rough value. We wouldn’t advise shipping anything too valuable, and make sure you’re not shipping stuff like boot-leg DVDs or fake shoes in bulk as you could get in trouble.


FedEx & DHL


Photo from DHL.com


There are other non-post office options as well. International delivery companies like FedEx and DHL also operate in China. FedEx charges between RMB 1000 and RMB 2000 to air mail a 5kg parcel to the US, but it’s really really fast, the economy shipping only take 5 days, which is pretty impressive. DHL charges between RMB 1500 and RMB 1800 for air mailing a 5kg parcel to the US and it takes a similar amount of time.


FedEx charges around RMB 3000 to air freight a 30kg box from China to the USA and DHL charges over RMB 4000.


Photo from FedEx.com


So, if you’re needing to send Christmas gifts home FedEx and DHL are your best bet if you want it to arrive before Christmas. But China post is the best value for money, if a little slow. If all else fails there are tons of expats going home this Christmas, I am sure you can find someone to take a few gifts home in their luggage and post it once they’re in the right country!


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