Paris Blog: How we get shipments & mail from the US to France

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(Quick FYI: By popular request, I’ve pulled the Paris Blog posts back into the main RSS feed – thanks for the feedback everyone!)

When we moved over to France, one of my biggest concerns was actually how to deal with incoming mail and packages.  Both personal (like cookies from relatives) as well as those from work and related to the blog.  For me, the packages coming in for review for the blog was my main worry.  How would it work?  Would it deter companies from sending units? And do people even understand how to ship internationally?

Given how many products pass through my doors for review, you may be curious how I handle it.  So here’s a bit of a tour.

When we first knew we were going to move, back in April, I started researching options for mail forwarding companies.  Turns out mail forwarders are a HUGE business in the US.  But not for the reason you probably think.  It’s not a bunch of expats moving abroad that fuels their business.  Instead, it’s actually non-US folks that want to buy goods at cheaper prices in the US and ship them over, which are still cheaper after paying import taxes and shipping fees.  Further, some companies even offer ‘personal shopper’ services to alleviate issues with non-US credit cards being used on US sites.

For us, our interest was more simple: We just wanted our mail held and forwarded, and our packages held and then forwarded.  But, finding the right company turned out to be tricky.  In general, most of these companies have sucky web sites, with misleading or confusing information.  For us, I had a few simple requirements:

1) Must scan the front of every piece of mail or package (and not charge a fee)
2) Must offer a web-based console for sorting mail
3) Must allow for paid full-scanning of mail items
4) Must not charge for arrivals by the piece (I can’t control what comes in)
5) Must allow specification of customs duties

With all that in mind I narrowed it down to a few places.  I ended up choosing a company in Florida – since they seemed like they fit the bill.  Once that was done, we setup our US Postal free forwarding (you can do it online) for general mail, to our new Florida address in Sarasota. That worked well…at first.  Mail took about 10-15 days from when it was supposed to arrive in DC, until it got rerouted to Florida.  That itself wasn’t really a problem – since very little that comes in envelopes is time-sensitive these days.

But we found a few issues.  First, USPS forwarding will only forward certain types of mail.  For example, no-go on magazines, nor on your typical personal letters (cards from family friends, etc…) – because those aren’t likely sent at a higher postage rate.  So,we found that it really wasn’t forwarding much that we cared about, except bills (which are automatically paid anyway).

However the bigger issue was that the Florida company would only scan the front of packages – and NOT envelopes.  Making them…well…useless for general mail.  Additionally, I couldn’t specify values for packages after all.

So back on the search I went.

This time, I went to our #2 choice, a Houston based company (US Global).  I spoke to a person and validated that they scan the front of every package and piece of mail.  Further, it doesn’t cost us anything to hold mail there upwards of a month or so (after that it’s a trivially small charge), and I can control everything via web console.  Additionally – and this is the big part – I can specify customs declarations values.  We’ll get to the last one in a moment, and why it’s probably the most critical aspect.

Now, here’s how it all works.

First, mail comes into my Houston address (a real address, not a PO box –very important).  In general, within about an hour of it arriving off the FedEx/UPS/etc. truck, I’ll get an e-mail notification that something has come in.  From there, I log into their little web console to see what it is:

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In this case, two pieces of mail.  First, an envelope from AT&T.  Oh AT&T, how I can’t get away from you.  No matter how many times I specify online bill pay, they can’t seem to get it right (as to why I still use AT&T, that’s a story for another day).  You’ll notice it has a little yellow tag on it.  This tells me that it’s a forwarded item.  Meaning it went to my DC address first, and then got forwarded on.  Odd since I changed AT&T long ago to my Houston address – but again, not surprised.

Then we’ve got a package.  In this case, it’s actually a watch for review.

Next up for me is declaring a customs value.  This is probably THE most critical thing for me.  Arrivals of any sort into France have a set import tax that must be paid.  19.6% of the value specified on the box – regardless of how much I paid for the item (or didn’t pay).  In fact, our delivery folks will actually stand there at the door and wait for us to either pay them in cash or check.  Without that, no box.  Like the Soup Nazi of boxes.  No money, no box.

As you know, all of the units I test end up going back to the company that sent it to me.  In the case of these units I’m not keeping them, and thus they actually shouldn’t have any import taxes paid – since they are being sent back.  In a perfect world, companies would understand how to declare this correctly on their customers declarations forms.

But the reality is, most don’t.  And for those that aren’t companies but rather personal shipments – they are just trying to be good-intentioned.  Most folks think that putting that declared value means that if something happens to the box, I’d get that amount.  In reality, that’s just telling them how much to charge me.  A very famous Paris blogger – David Lebovitz – goes into quite a bit more detail on this.

As I mentioned, most companies don’t do this correctly.  So when (for example) Garmin sends me not one, but TWO Garmin Fenix units for review (to test unit to unit connectivity features), do you know how much I pay?  Well, each one had a listed value of $399 on the invoice sheets, thus, $798 in total.  Therefor I paid $156 out of pocket to receive them.  Of course, you never get that back (and since the watches go back to Garmin, I don’t get the units either).  Technically there’s a way to get the money back, but even the French don’t bother trying as it’s never ending bureaucracy.

So instead, I now route almost everything via the US forwarder.  I can tag the customs values correctly and declare them as ‘SAMPLES’, which is the appropriate designator, and then life is grand.  Obviously, I pay for shipping, but, it’s not too bad compared to a 20% I’d otherwise pay – especially when you’re talking a typical review box of $1,000-2,000 in gear from assorted companies.  Obviously, for non-returned personal items (i.e. Christmas presents), the customs declarations are set appropriately.

Now, I specify a tax value on the site.  I usually just use a standard value here for review/sample items.  I’ve found putting $0 causes more issues than just paying a couple dollars – even if $0 is technically the appropriate value.

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Ok, the next step is bundling up a shipment for shipping.  In this case, I can decide what’s going and when, and via what method.  For us, we typically have two types of shipments- the first is stuff that we need immediately.  Sometimes a watch on a tight deadline or something needed for the CupCakery.  The second, is stuff that we just don’t care when it arrives.

At this point, I go through the little web console and simply select which items I want to put in the box.  It’s like shopping.  Once that’s done, it’ll show me all the items in the proposed package.

Next comes the painful part – deciding on my shipping method.  The forwarding company will automatically remove all outer boxing (the brown box part and packaging), and repack everything.  Unless I request them to, they won’t remove the inner box (i.e. the default watch box like you’d see it on a store shelf).  Usually, we’ll pay whatever is in the first column below.  Sometimes a touch less, as they often save some weight during the unboxing.

The below estimates are for the inclusion of about six boxes worth of stuff coming over (watch-sized boxes), plus random mail.

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Normally, we choose FedEx Intl Priority or DHL Standard.  Both are almost always two days for us, and we have a good relationship with both.  We avoid USPS because it’s a bit of a black hole once things hit the French side with La Poste.  And UPS here is really tough to deal with if things don’t get delivered on the first attempt.

And lastly, choosing which address to send to.  As some of you saw in one of my Facebook posts when I picked up my trainer via bike, we have a bit of a hate/hate relationship with the folks that deliver to our apartment.  They hate dragging trainers up the steps, and I hate that they don’t even bother anymore (and just simply mark it as attempted delivery and give up).

So instead, we deliver everything to the CupCakery.  It’s open all-day, and the FedEx/UPS guys that deliver there are much nicer for some reason.  Perhaps because we always give them free cupcakes.  Just perhaps…

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Typically, our packages arrive in two days.  But if there’s a tangle up (such as customs), then it can take a number of days longer as they have to untangle that with us.  Thankfully, some companies like FedEx actually have a full English speaking help desk in France to sort out issues – and quite frankly, they’re really darn good at it.  But others we just have to wait for it to work its way out of the system.  Like a bad piece of fish.

Eventually though, it does show up!

Now, we have give solid props to the forwarding company.  They are lean, mean, packing machines.  Never in my life have I seen so much stuff crammed so perfectly into a box.  And nothing has ever arrived broken.  Ever.

Recently we had a bit of a funny occurrence.  We had ordered some Lipton soup (look, when you’re done running a dozen miles in the cold rain sometimes you just want something warm from home).  On Amazon it’s super-cheap, and it’s incredibly lightweight as small packets, so it wasn’t a big deal.  We might have ordered a bit of it.  We had ordered a simple multi-pack off of Amazon, and assumed it just came in one box of like 20 or little packets, no extra individual boxes.  Like a Costco pack or something.  Made sense, right?

Except one little problem. Well, two little problems.

One: While sold as a bundle, it wasn’t.
Two: Thus, a LOT of little boxes.  A lot.

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Ya win some, you lose some.  Fear not, the entire box was not noodle soup – it’s just the space they filled on top.  I think the bottom was KitchenAid bowls from the US (again, far cheaper to import and pay taxes/duties than buy locally).

There are some exceptions in the overall forwarding process however.  Products that come straight off the factory floor from Asia (for companies otherwise in the US), usually go straight to Paris.  Most Asian manufacturers are really good at correctly specifying them as SAMPLE.  For example, Mio sent me a Alpha Bluetooth Smart unit last week, and direct shipped from the factory floor to Paris.  And of course, European mail goes straight to our Paris address.  Since it’s within the EU, there’s usually no import issues or complexities.  And for personal mail (like Christmas cards from family), we give our Paris address, since that’s more fun.

So there you have it, how we get our goods to Paris, and how products end up on their first journey for review.  Next stop after the box above – is usually The Queue.

Hope you found this intriguing.  Thanks for reading!

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37 Comments

  1. Dirk

    “Well, each one had a listed value of $399 on the invoice sheets, thus, $898 in total.”
    In Europe, two times 399 is stil 798. 😉

    • DC Rainmaker

      Funny, my bad, typo.

      However, there’s actually some truth to it. See, when a company in the US puts a value down – i.e. $10, the $ isn’t taken. Thus, in reality, it’s seen as 10 Euros. Of course, 10 euros is about $12. 😉

      (Sitting here looking at a FedEx invoice with this exact scenario on it, just realizing it.)

  2. Lieven

    @dirk blame those damn European unit conversions! 😉

  3. Amedeo

    Ray,
    I like reading every your post.
    The next time I’ll come in Paris, I’ll eat a “your” cupcake for sure!

    are you having trouble with French, metrical system and euro conversion?

    • DC Rainmaker

      No issues with metric system for the most part since much of it applies to running and triathlon. 🙂

      Euro conversion is easy, basically just use 20%.

      Now French…that’s a whole different pile of goodness. 🙂

  4. Matt

    Wow, I had no idea. That is both fascinating and terrifying. Did you have any idea what a painful complex dance this would be when you moved?

  5. Tom

    Who would have thought that a blog post on shipping stuff to France would be a fascinating read! Well done on laying out the logistics!

  6. Chris Castelmur

    always great to read your reviews and blog. but what is the name or URL of that rainmaker-approved forwarder then? or did i oversee it? thanks a lot!

  7. Chris Castelmur

    THANK YOU!

  8. As someone who has recently emigrated (Leeds, Eng to Sydney, Aus) its good to see someone else’s take on the fun of international shipping. Now I don’t have a business to worry about like you, but feel much better for knowing you still buy at home and ship out. I do the same (especially triathlon gear from UK websites) and get abuse for not buying locally. But I saved over $100 buying from home so why wouldn’t I? (We have big tax breaks though, no UK sales tax and no import tax under $1000).

    Thanks for the post!

  9. Nathalie

    Thank you so much for sharing all this info. I can’t tell you how much I’m impressed by how fast you guys have settled in and figured out everything like this! You guys arrived a little bit after us and we’re still struggling in some areas. And we speak french! lol

  10. Emma

    Had to chuckle at the comment, do people even know how to ship internationally? As a resident of NZ, and one of those people who try to buy products directly from the US and ship to NZ to save a lot of money, I can attest to the fact that MANY retailers apparently cannot ship internationally. And many freight forwarders charge absolutely ridiculous amounts of money to ship goods. So thanks for the tip on US Global.

  11. Hello, Rainmaker! I am a long-time fan and former almost-neighbor. And I am moving to New Zealand in about two weeks! I was just wondering if you have had any trouble with companies that will not deliver mail to known forwarding companies (i.e. US Global Mail)? I’m doing some research myself for my upcoming move and Lifehacker has brought this to my attention. Merci!

    • DC Rainmaker

      Meant to answer this, sorry! I’ve never had issues with any companies sending to US Global. It’s just a normal mail address, and not a PO Box (which can have problems). But thus far, no problems (9 months in).

    • Mike

      I had to look around a bit for mail forwarding services that let me ship some Sony stuff, US Global did.

    • Yup, going on almost two years with the service – I’ve never had any problems shipping anything through it. Box arrived today in fact.

  12. David

    Could you tell me how much (approx) it cost to ship a turbo trainer (e.g Kurt Kinetic) via US Global? Trying to work out whether there is still a saving to buying from the Clever Training and shipping via US Global. Thanks

    • DC Rainmaker

      Hi David and Clo*bee-

      You can use the calculator to determine the costs:

      link to secure.usglobalmail.com (just change the country from the drop-down):

      You can actually use Amazon to look box weight/dimensions (in this case, 30.4lbs). For a trainer like that, it’s pretty darn expensive (some $150 in shipping). It’s probably best in that case to talk directly to Clever Training and get reduced rates that way. I find that US Global is great for almost everything, but I noticed they don’t pass on the shipping discount they get – instead they profit from it (fair enough, as that’s their business model). Whereas someone like Clever has an incentive to pass on those discounts.

      Hope this helps!

  13. We are Canadians living in the southern part of France near Frejus 70 km west of Nice. If you plan trip trip down here bring your bike.

  14. Thanks for the info. I’ve been looking in to mail forwarding since I have to move every couple of years for work and would like to have a consistent address so I don’t have to update a bunch of addresses every couple of years and miss stuff in the process. This entry was super useful. Thanks!

  15. Kay

    Thanks for this post. I’m a Canadian living in the US and I’ll be moving to Annecy in the new year. I’m researching mail forwarding companies so that I’m not relying on my uncle to deal with it.

  16. minee

    I moved to Basel a couple of years ago and also use US GlobalMail. Love their service and the staff, even more importantly. very happy i found them so I didnt have to send my mail to relatives homes!! that never goes well 🙂

  17. Hans

    Ray, are you still happy with how you set things up? And are you still using US GlobalMail? Just wondering since I might need this services at some point.

    • Yup, still very happy with them. In fact, just had a shipment of stuff arrive today (Another Bia watch, another Hero4 unit, the Microsoft Band, some quadrocopter stuff, and an odd green dinosaur 1″ long toy that I can’t really explain). Wouldn’t choose any other service.

  18. Jeremy

    Hi – I’m curious about your comment: First, mail comes into my Houston address (a real address, not a PO box –very important)
    What exactly are the risks of taking a PO box? – if handled by a similar type of forwarding company. We live in Switzerland and are needing some address to send the non-electronic official correspondence, like statements from credit card companies.

    • The challenge with PO Boxes is that many US companies won’t send to a PO box, this includes both retailers as well as delivery services. For example, FedEx and UPS can’t deliver to a PO Box. So if you had paperwork that was being sent via one of those services, you’d be out of luck.

      Note that this is different than a ‘Suite’, which is what I use. A PO box is run by the post office (it stands for Post Office box), and not a company – so only the US Postal Service can deliver to it.

  19. Andrew

    I am moving to Bangkok shortly. I am in the research mode of looking or mail forwarding service. I am leaning towards US. Global because all sources of review give them good praise. Thailand internal postal system is so inefficient that one must do all one can to bypass it at al costs

  20. Craig Dupal

    I used to ship with US GlobalMail until someone recommend Viabox.com then I switched to them.

    Their shipping rates are much cheaper and they don’t charge any registration or hidden fees.

  21. Josh

    I know this is an older review, but I still appreciated you sharing your experience with US Global Mail. I had done a bit of research on them and a few other similar companies and your story was helpful in the process. So thank you.

    It sounds to me like the biggest headache in the process was on the French side, not the US side, which is good. Probably something you would have run into no matter what service you had used. Throughout my research, I had looked at a number of different services to compare them:

    My research on the best virtual mailbox mail forwarding services for travelers

    I think it helps to know that there are now a number of very good options to choose from. This competition has forced a lot of companies – including US Global Mail – to increase their security measures and provide more value to their customers.

  22. Sterling Pryce

    I am an expat having lived and worked across asia most of my career; Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Taiwan. During much of this time my wife and I have used a service called American eBox which provides various service levels with differing benefits. Last year we upgraded to the Platinum level, which reduced our costs and offers a cashback. Its worked out well for my wife who orders a lot of stuff from Amazon, Macy’s, and other merchants.

    As for mail forwarding, I have not had any issues with credit card applications using this address. Also, scanning is no charge.

    They offer many hidden incentives to reduce your shipping cost and generally our shipping cost in negligible due to discounts and incentives offered. I’m only offering my opinion, having used various services over time, but if you do sign up, feel free to mention my name. http://www.americanebox.com

  23. Artur

    Hi Ray,

    Any chance you’ve also tried the other way around, e.g. to ship from EU to US / Canada? I’m looking for such a service to ship from EU or UK (I guess it’s still EU for now) to Canada.

    Many thanks in advance!

  24. Earl Brown

    Hi Ray – couppla ideas:

    1. I’m sure you’re aware of a FedEx service called FIMS (FedEx International Mail Service). This air shipping service delivers packages to local post offices from a FedEx aircraft, which is then sorted and delivered by the P.O. FIMS is a tracked service for most countries.

    Here’s how it works:

    • Put your international mail items in a FedEx International MailService bag or box.
    • Your FedEx courier picks it up.
    • FedEx delivers your mail items to a FedEx mail sorting facility.
    • The mail facility sorts, stamps and transports your mail directly to the appropriate destination country postal authorities.
    • The foreign postal authorities deliver your mail.

    – No charge for FedEx pickup
    – Charges per lb.
    – Outbound only

    Info and sample pricing: link to bit.ly Here’s one example: USPS $13.75 FIMS $4
. –

    2. re: Your Samples – Duty Drawback: U.S. Customs charges and collects import duties and/or internal revenue taxes on a number of products as they enter the country. Should any of these products leave the USA to be sold abroad, the exporter of these products is eligible for a refund of 99.6%