what is the best way to send a package to Israel?

hila

Tue, Nov 07 2006, 9:18 am

You did not define "best" but I will try and answer you.

the easiest and cheapest way to mail a package is to find someone going to ISrael and ask them to mail the package / or deliver it for you. This avoids customs problems and is cheap.

Assuming you dont have an immediate "courier", then the next best is USPS - good old Post Office. They will deliver anywhere in ISrael. In most yishivim the package arrives at the local post office and the recipient gets a card telling him to pick up the package.

If teh value is over $50 then the recipient will be charged customs duties, probably , depending on the whim of the Post Office/ Customs officers here.

The other alternatives are PRioity USPS, which is door to door, UPS, FEDEX, DHL etc.

However they do not like , and may refuse to deliver over the "green line".
I have not found them to be too efficient. They usually work out a lot more money. However you can track the package.
Customs applies here too.

Hope this helps. You may be sorry you asked.

TzenaRena

Tue, Nov 07 2006, 9:53 am

Quote:

the easiest and cheapest way to mail a package is to find someone going to ISrael and ask them to mail the package / or deliver it for you. This avoids customs problems and is cheap.

I had to fedex documents to Israel for my dd's seminary ASAP. It costed $50.00 to send that envelope. P.S. It never arrived...That was the week that the war in the North started, and the companies weren't delivering up there. I had to e-mail the documents instead. More than a month later, the school called me to tell that they just received the UPS package. LOL

TzenaRena

Tue, Nov 07 2006, 9:57 am

Quote:

the easiest and cheapest way to mail a package is to find someone going to ISrael and ask them to mail the package / or deliver it for you. This avoids customs problems and is cheap.

One caveat: If you are sending a package send it with someone you know, and tell them what is in it. Do not find a hapless bochur at the airport or the Yeshiva to push it on, who could later get in trouble from whatever it is.

we had a bochur staying here during Tishrei, and I get a call from a complete stranger with a heimishe name that he knows that Yossi Z. is going to the airport in twenty five minutes, and someone is going to bring him a package. He tells me my adress to confirm shock

. I said: "Where did you get my name and this bochur's name?"
"From another bochur at the Yeshiva who knows him". Iasked for his number, got it, and asked him about this stranger who he said he knew, and he is a Chassidishe guy who was over for shabbos once. What

Chaim F.. calls back.
" I don't know you and I don't want this bochur to have any problems." He reassures me: "Don't worry, everything is Kosher V'Yasher".
I say: "Would you mind if I ask you what's in the package? Or if he takes a look at it just to be sure"
"Uh, I'd rather not, it's personal".
"Of what nature?"
"It's medicine".
My antennae shot up.
The man called to nudge a few times, and then the bell rang. "Sorry, I have to take the door" as luck would have it, it was the bochur himself, and I put him on the line with Chaim F., who told him that his driver is outside with package, and sure enough thereis white van. Without much thought he went and got it, but then asked him upon my advice:what's in the package"
"Handle with care, it's medical documents."
Okay! We caught him by a contradiction and felt that he was lying. We opened up the double, triple, quadruple wrapped package, and my mouth dropped in disbeleif. Three cartons of Parliament cigarettes!

PS, Yossi didn't take the package, and I called the bochur who referred to him to come get the package out of my house, I was already suspecting that inside the cigarettes who knows what's there. Turns out that they were innocent cigarrettes, BUT what if they weren't? And don't cigarettes have to be declared? what if they had asked if there is anything to be declared, the boy says no, and then they discover it?

challi

Tue, Nov 07 2006, 10:05 am

There is a special envelope that you can buy at the post office (I think its called global priority mail) it's a set rate (not according to weight ) for the envelope. The smaller one is $9 and the larger slightly more expensive. Its a good deal and usually arrives in 1-2 wks even thought they say 1wk.

You'll have to fill out a customs form for what you put in there and they put it on the outside. I've never had to pay customs on it and it has never been lost either.

The postal authority here in Israel delivers it special to your door.

DefyGravity

Tue, Nov 07 2006, 10:23 am

If I ever make it back to Israel, I'm definitely NOT going to tell anyone that I'm going b/c I'm not getting stuck taking lots of packages.

I got stuck bringing a package back to my hometown when I visited my parents over Sukkos (not in Israel) and it was a pain in the tush. Thankfully, I missed another package request. I never realized that I lived in such a popular area. Next time I visit my parents, I'm going to tell people that I live in Alaska. No chance of people knowing people there that they need to send packages to!