CSP Shipping Progress- there was a snag... · 9:03pm Mar 19th, 2023
So, as of March 1, the United States post office kindly provides a warning of how much VAT your recipient will have to pay for their package (if they're in the European Union / Common Market).
I found this out on March 2, when I took two international packages in as part of that post office run, and was told that the recipient in Sweden would have to pay $314, and the recipient in Austria a whopping $1400+ tax, for packages valued at $50 and $70 respectively.
I didn't ship them that day. I tried to contact the recipients, and one of them replied that yes, it was outrageous, and it was nothing like what they would actually have to pay. The next day I shipped them from a different post office (and got the exact same warnings), and after a week got confirmation that yes, they only had to pay a nominal tax plus about $7 in handling fees.
I resumed shipping this past week... sort of. I began with the two largest bundles of this project (one intentionally so, one as a result of duplicate orders caught way too late for an easy refund). That hit a hiccup because the USPS website recommended an international airmail service that no post office within a hundred miles of me has the tag to actually process. So, after finding that no, I could not request the tag be sent to a post office on my behalf, I shipped the box to Canada by Priority Mail as usual.
I will be sending out a full box of packages Monday before my dental appointment, and probably another later in the week.
As of now 83% of the Kickstarter pledges have shipped, and of the remainder, all but one of the domestic shipments have had labels made up to await packing. International orders still lag, but I'll now be sending out four of those per trip.
I've also sent emails to those of you who either haven't sent in any mailing addresses or who sent in or adjusted your surveys long after I could no longer access them. EMAIL ME THOSE ADDRESSES, please. One in particular is packed and in the box to go to the post office right now, with the old address. Two old addresses ALREADY SHIPPED.
Out of the 214 pledges or wlpcomics.com orders, as of now, only 32 remain to be shipped. At this point, if you haven't received your books, now would be a good time to get in touch with me so we can find out what happened.
Getting close to done with this. Currently aiming for April to wrap up the international orders. And then it's just waiting on artwork for the Maretian project!
I tried to order something from an american retailer once… Here in Spain there are taxes for the tax handling fee service…
It’s not much… but it just adds insult to injury.
Still haven't got mine, but you mentioned in the last update it hadn't been shipped out at that time. I triple checked the survey, and it's still the correct address, so there shouldn't be any issues there. Take your time and ship it when you're able. I'm not going anywhere, and have other things to read in the meantime.
Old Joke
Not only does the Right Hand not know what the Left Hand is doing, the Right Hand thinks the Left Hand is a Foot and has 3 tentacles and a claw.
5718899 Not so much an old joke as an elder joke.
5718893 Yours is in tomorrow's batch.
I'm a Canadian order from WLP. Looking forwards to my book next month. :P
5718931 I can't be sure which is yours, but there is one package going to Canada- specifically, to a small town on the Great Plains- in the Monday shipment.
There's also a different Canadian package which is held up because the 5X shirt mistakenly got shipped to someone who wanted a S shirt... in Germany. Which means I'm waiting on a special reprint before I can send that one.
Here's hoping you're the first and not the second.
5718942
Sounds like I'm the Monday shipment. Looking forward to that. :D
I think you mean $140. VAT is 20% for Austria and 25% for Sweden.
Add shipping for international parcels (price group 5 for sweden/austria) and you get $1,400 - oops, you're right, my bad.
Kidding aside, shipping will be between $50 to $150 for a book - see pricing table: https://pe.usps.com/text/dmm300/Notice123.htm
No really, look at the pricing table - it has more prices listed than your book has words!
Anyway, they told you bullshit.
5718985
That would have been easier, but also more expensive. See Swedish Tax Agency publication SKV 552B p. 28:
5718988
Ooh, yeah, and that reminds me that there are special shipping rates for books, too! Lower ones, usually!
5718989 There USED to be. It's called "airmail media bag", and I can't use it, because no post office anywhere near me has the correct tag for it and won't get it for me.
5719024
Huh. I didn't realise that physical location could ever be a problem for sending stuff.
Don't post offices pick up parcels from your address?
Even after the KSes, is there somewhere I can get your works in hardcover?
5719030 Only if it's pre-paid. The USPS website only allows a limited range of services to be bought online, NOT including any form of media mail rate. For all practical purposes, if it isn't flat-rate priority mail, you have to go to a post office.
In this case, the difference between international priority mail and airmail media was less than the cost of the gasoline I'd burn to get to a post office that actually had the tag necessary for airmail media.
5719042 No. The hardcover was a KS exclusive, mostly because it's EXTREMELY expensive to print them, especially on short-run printing.
I will have a small number of hardcovers left once all the Kickstarters and preorders are fulfilled, and when they're gone, that's IT.
The same will be true of the Maretian reprint, when that happens.
5719046
Huh. It's as if someone is trying to make the USPS bad on purpose, so private companies can keep up while demanding outragous prices, eh?
5719047
Understandable.
5719048
Having worked for USPS, you can blame the union for keeping bad management in their positions and a general culture of failing upwards to get rid of local problems. They are very proud that none of the local DC management has college degrees...