When you are an American living in a foreign country, you have to have a mail forwarding service. Only because the US Post Office does not offer this service. In other words, they forward mail within the United States but not overseas. They could. You could sign up and pay a monthly fee and extra fees for those things (packages) that go above and beyond....it would help the Post Office and it would help ex-pats. But....no such service exists.
What you have to do, as an ex-pat, is find a mail forwarding service. What fun.
I shopped around and was not happy with anything, quite frankly, but I had to choose so I settled on one that is "popular" and has been around a while. There is a modest monthly fee of twenty dollars. However, the cost racks up quickly as the mail arrives and departs. You get an American address to use, for instance, with our American bank, which does not take foreign addresses. So any and all mail from our bank goes to the "virtual" address. The service is supposed to show you everything that arrives. You then have the option to have it opened and scanned (for a fee), or sent (for a fee), or thrown away. If you recognize something from the envelope, you can skip the scan and just have it sent. Let me tell you, international mail is expensive.
Along the way, I have experienced problems, such as NOT seeing things in my "virtual mailbox" that get sent here..for a price...rather than thrown away. I have faced the choice of having something scanned or sent because both cost about the same. It depends on whether or not an original is required. I have waited seemingly forever for something to arrive. When it is "tax time" waiting is not always an option, so then there are "express" fees.
Luckily, as time passes, the mail continues to dwindle down to a mere trickle, so the additional costs have lessened.
Since we are still under restrictions here, and because we have far too many housecats, and because Spring is hinting here and there that it will arrive, I decided to buy a pillow from Pier One.
When I was in the U.S. I was a "member' and got points and discounts. Sometimes it was just fun to poke around the store just to get ideas, inspiration. There is no store like it anywhere near here, or one that I could reach. Being quarantined and confined for a year now, I was itching for something fresh to look at that the cats could not destroy. Pier One online was the way to go.
I found a pillow (on sale!) but they don't ship internationally. No worries. I'll just have it sent to my "virtual mailbox" and it will be forwarded here. It's a pillow. How much could it cost?
Said pillow, in the package, weighs TWO pounds. 2. Just two little pounds.
The email happily announced that the pillow was on its way for a whopping TWO HUNDRED and NINE DOLLARS!!!! Do you know the feeling when you go up in an express elevator and your stomach seems to drop to your ankles?
The deed was done, the pillow was already winging its way here via Fed Ex. I "chatted" online with a representative from the mail service. "209!!????" The answer was "Packages over four pounds are sent via Fed Ex International, here are the rates." "The package weighs 2 pounds." "Yes, but the DIMENSIONS of the box matter." "WHAT?" "The dimensions cause the package to take up more space on the airplane." So now we have to be Fed Ex packaging and pricing experts????? I'm so freaking livid.
I asked my daughter if, in the future, I could send something to her and she could just mail it to me. She told me the little package she sent at Christmas via the Post Office cost $165.00.
There's no good side to this. The most expensive pillow in the damned world is the last thing I will ever purchase from the U.S. Lesson learned the hard way.
P.S.: Don't tell my husband and try not to laugh.
Addendum: For those who love cats, I have another blog about our menagerie here that we have acquired since moving. www.gattitudeblog.blogspot.com
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