Postage from USA - why so expensive?

[terroxyboy]

I have pretty much given up buying avything from the USA. Are their overseas postage fees really that exhorbitant at the other end? We are talking $25 - $30 for very small packages, compared to around $10 - $15 equivalent delivery method from the UK.

[k1ooo-slr-sales]

it is more likely that the seller has not included the item dimensions into the listing.  When this happens, the shipping cost is averaged out over other items listed in the same category.

Message the seller and ask them to include the dimensions in the item specifics.  This should reduce the shipping cost.

[davewil1964]

It's called the GSP.

ONE of the reasons it is expensive is that sellers don't put weights and dimensions in their listings. Understandable if they think or expect that they are selling domestically.

Edit: Snap

[barney_rubbles]

GSP? i did Google it but it came up with a martial arts dude named Georges St Pierre

[davewil1964]

Global Shipping Program

[padi*0409]

GSP - Global Shipping Program (Pitney Bowes).

Edit. Snap dave..............

[barney_rubbles]

of course, silly me, i was only thinking about it the other day as my US seller was using it (surprisingly it turned out to be about the same price as regular airmail though)......the cold must be getting to my brain

[countessalmirena]

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@barney_rubbles wrote:

GSP? i did Google it but it came up with a martial arts dude named Georges St Pierre

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I'd rather purchase through the JCVD than the GSP, if we're going to have martial artists deliver our goods.

[davewil1964]

Getting a bit long in the tooth, isn't he?

[countessalmirena]

He's no smooth-faced spring chicken, that's true.

His face has not aged well, although his body has done better. That face is an interesting one; it's almost like a visible story of his life. Too much, too seedily, too easily, although he at least pulled himself out of the cocaine spiral. The movies he's been in are notable for their dreadfulness from a script point of view. Had someone got him some serious acting training and guided his career in a different way, who knows...? But holy magazine cover, he was a beautiful man...

Sean Connery - who at the time he played in Marnie represented probably my ideal in a man appearance-wise - is one of those men who maintained his charm and attractiveness well into his sixties and even seventies. Some men just have that quality. (Besides, "Age does not wither, nor custom stale [his] infinite variety".)

George Clooney didn't appear particularly noteworth in his younger years, but as an older guy, he definitely gained something. (And it wasn't just the coffee association; I'm aware of the subliminal attractiveness of any man holding a cup of rich coffee and visibly inhaling its aroma with pleasure...)

[digital*ghost]

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@countessalmirena wrote:

He's no smooth-faced spring chicken, that's true.

His face has not aged well, although his body has done better. That face is an interesting one; it's almost like a visible story of his life. Too much, too seedily, too easily, although he at least pulled himself out of the cocaine spiral. The movies he's been in are notable for their dreadfulness from a script point of view. Had someone got him some serious acting training and guided his career in a different way, who knows...? But holy magazine cover, he was a beautiful man...

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And also exceptionally vain, apparently.

When Ringo Lam (one of my favourite directors of all time, at least for his HK ventures, RIP ) worked with him on Maximum Risk, he said the end product was nothing like what it was supposed to be, because JCVD [allegedly] forced a lot of re-editing to include more shots and closeups of himself, lol. John Woo said the same thing (apparently, working on a JCVD film was a rite of passage for HK directors wanting to break into Hollywood).