Shipping items to the PO Box (THANK YOU ANDY)

Andy:

I wondered if it would be helpful to have a thread with some guidance and gotchas, experiences of those that have sent.

From the UK, both times I've sent I've used Royal Mail. For one they've massively improved since the strikes - that might change with the new ownership. But your tracking is integrated with USPS, so you get the full tracking. I used their app, there's clear indications of parcel size and weight. So you can send something that's under 90cm total, so 30x30x30 (a shoe box) and under 2KG total weight for quite a reasonable price. But I would assume you're going to go over 2KG as I did each time. Don't send thinking it's close enough, it's all weighed and digitally handled these days, so you'll just get rejected or have the higher costs. If sending via Royal Mail you can only send 8 different items - at least for the medium size and 3KG. So you can send 20 Snickers, that's fine, but 8 different items for the customs form seems to be the limit. As far as tracking, it's pretty good until it's handed over to USPS. They'll show you it's in the US, US customs and when it leaves NY to Florida - but then it becomes a bit patchy. https://parcelsapp.com shows more info and you can just pop your RM code in. If you get the notification it's reached the local delivery office, don't expect it to be like the RM and delivered that day or the next. It can take 3 days to reach the PO Box. The confirmation delivery is also not instant. Here in Blighty when your postie is standing at the door and their doofer scans it and they take a photo, your phone will go off with "Delivery made" notification before you've closed the door. For whatever reason in the US, this is not the case, there can be a delay of a few hours. But chill, your parcel has made it at this point.

Universal Parcel Tracking - Global Package Tracking