[net.travel] Shipping books from Europe

macrakis@harvard.ARPA (Stavros Macrakis) (09/03/85)

> ... we accumulated books ... which we didn't want to carry home so
> we sent it home by the cheapest way possible.  It worked out great.

Shipping books by special sea mail book rate from Europe has never
worked out well for me.  Twice, a torn-up box arrived with half the
books, and a few books came in later.  Another time, nothing ever
arrived.  When books did arrive, it took from two to three months.  I
had boxed them very carefully.  Twice from Greece, once from France;
perhaps service is better elsewhere.  (Never mail anything valuable
or important from Italy: in Rome, use Vatican mail; elsewhere, wait
for the border.)

So if you mail books by sea from Europe, I urge you to insure them
for their full replacement value (if possible), and to write your
address in each book in case the box is broken.  (Address labels are
handy for this.)