How do I ship something from overseas?

What is the best way to ship something overseas?

• I live in California. My boyfriend lives in Saudi Arabia, and I bought him one of those GORGEOUS gemstone, lapus lazuli globes. It weighs twenty pounds. I want to ship it to him, and I obtained a price quote from the DHL website and it costs like $263.00!!!!!!!! My goodnes, all that it is is a damned globe! I could see it if it were like a bicycle or something. But this is ridiculous.

• Answer:

  Sorry to say but that price is about rite. I now it sound high but there is a lot involved in this type of shipment. (over seas that is) The freight company has to accept responsibility not only for timely delivery that could be held up by any number of reasons. (i.e. Customs, TSA, not to mention Homeland Security) They also must accept responsibility for the contents of your package. All of this coupled with the cost of handling, fuel etc. starts to add up. I have been in the industrial service industry for over 20 years and have shipped items as small as a bottle cap to as large as a bull dozier. I found that it does not necessarily depend on what you are shipping as it does where and when you are shipping it. You can send a crate that is the size of a dish washer from Chicago to Houston by ground freight such as American Freight or Central Freight (that will take up to 5 days) for less than you can send a package the size of a toaster UPS Red (overnight) My son is a US Marine in Iraq. We found that the cheapest way to send him a care package is with the good old US Postal Service. It is much cheaper and you get the same benefits you get with UPS, DHL or Fex-eX.