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What mail forwarding company are you currently using?

None of the shipping companies are consistent so every few months I like to check and see which one of them is currently performing better.

I’ve been using MyBox exclusively for the past few months and they’ve been so slow that I might end up moving back to Shop & Ship if they’re doing better. Some examples of my recent shipments:

MacBook Pro (21 Days)
– Arrived to MyBox on December 14th
– Delivered to me in Kuwait on January 4th

Sneakers (11 Days)
– Arrived to MyBox on December 28th
– Delivered to me in Kuwait on January 8th

Laptop Case (13 Days)
– Arrived to MyBox on January 13th
– Delivered to me in Kuwait on January 26th

So what US mail forwarding company are you guys currently using and whats the average time it taking to get your items delivered to Kuwait from the US?

85 replies on “What mail forwarding company are you currently using?”

I agree MyBox are really slow , but it does the job , currently I’m with Shop and Ship , a bit expensive but delivers faster than others

Shop&Ship are still what works best for me. It takes about 7-10 days from the US but I noticed the delay is often in the customs’ processing in Kuwait.

I stopped that crap when the fastest way to get your package from Aramex was to put it on hold and pick it up from their nasty warehouse in rai. People lined up like cattle in the heat, worse than a ministry. Fuck that, never again!

That’s never happened to me fortunately. I do notice that it takes ages if there is a Eid holiday or a public holiday. The packages take forever then.

Efda3ly takes a month, but its almost always free. I’ve done about 6 or 7 shipments with them all for free. They always have a code. I don’t know how they make any money. Slow as hell, but i can’t complain.

But if I need something now, there is nothing like Borderlinx. You can order something from Amazon on Monday (overnight shipping) and have it in your hand by Thursday (if customs only take it 1day).

It’s either Amazon direct shipping (the list of items keeps increasing) or Mr. Babu for me. I can’t deal with the hassle of going to Aramex offices and take a number and sit like sheep for 1 hour to get one item. I still keep it active as a backup but haven’t used it for more than a year.

I was not even aware that Shop and Ship delivers! Maybe time to check it again.
Earlier, I have always received SMS every day till I go to their office and pick it up.

Mybox by Posta plus are slow, very slow hae the worst customer service center i have ever dealt with. Also they will just appear 10 mis away from you doorstep call you and if your not there well its tough luck for you, they assume everybody has a people at home either family or employees and they also sometimes say that they dont have change,

I have been using MyUS for over a year now and never looked back since.

As soon as I send the shipment request, the package is in my house in 4 days max! Just gotta keep in mind that if I make the request on a Saturday or Sunday, they will ship on Monday

I’ve been using MyUS for the past 6 years. Packages are always on time and they take a maximum of 4-5 days to get to my house. Always prompt and they have great features for stuff like extra padding,double wrap, etc.

I am using Edfa3ly. It is slow but cheaper than all of its peers. Recently i have ordered baby lotion for my kid and it took 23 days to reach me.

We still use Aramex but it has also been slow lately. During December they weren’t updating the tracking information on packages and it was taking 2 to 3 weeks to get a package from the US. They blamed it on customs but even when they received it in their facility it was taking 2 days to get to us.
We tried Stackry during December. Is great if you are ordering a lot of stuff to be delivered. They consolidate the packages and after receiving all the packages and consolidating them it was in Kuwait within 4 days and delivered to us. We also saved about 40kd on shipping in comparison to Aramex.

Shop and Ship, Takes about 10-15 days for me. I have some packages showing up 3 days after they were received in NY facility.

All the above wait times are ridiculous.. I use MyUs and it takes from 3 days till 7 max (including weekends). You pay by weight after filling up your suite with as many shipments as you’d like

It is pretty cheap when you consolidate packages. Like if I have 8 packages in MyUS account, I ship them in one box and costs me about 40 KD. Verses 8 different packages with Shop and Ship, costing more if you add them up

yeah but that defeats the purpose of myus which is speed. If you’re going to wait for 8 packages to all arrive before you ship you might as well just use Shop&SHip or PostaPlus and get it sooner and cheaper.

The slowest of the old players is Shop & Ship. Its so slow that I forget that I have ordered things and they just show up after two weeks with their hand out for money.

If I need something, I only use Borderlinx; it is very quick, very reliable, and unlike Shop and Ship their tracker actually works. I once got told on the phone by Shop and Ship that the tracker isn’t updated because “they are too busy with packages”.

Since Aramex (the company behind Shop and Ship) doesn’t own any airplanes, they always have the most creative excuses:

1. Your package is on the next flight.
2. The flight came, but your package didn’t.
3. Yes, the tracker says its in New York but its in Bahrain.
4. (After 5 days of it being in Bahrain) – yes the flight has landed but your package is not on it.

So yeah, its a crap shoot as far as their support goes.

Compare this with Borderlinx; who I never have to call – their packages arrive within 3-4 days at your door.

They are also constantly having promotions. I ordered things last year and got 25% off twice thanks to free coupons on their site.

So, for my money – Borderlinx is the most predictable, most reliable, always on time service. Never an issue. They are expensive though; but you pay upfront.

3dfaly – I used them once. Slow, but gets the job done. They told me on the phone that they don’t deliver so I had to go to their tiny office on Ghazali to collect my package (where there is no parking whatsoever). I might use them again, for small things.

Shop and Ship – I really don’t know why I even have an account there anymore.

I just received my box of sweets. It was just delivered by FedEx. I get a hankering for American Hershey’s chocolate. The Hershey’s here comes from Malaysia, and it’s horrible. Also, I got the mini’s, Turkish Taffy and Abba Zabba. Go to ‘Old Time Candy’ if you want candy you grew up with.
Here is the shipping info:
> From Old Time Candy (Ohio) to Planet Express (Gardena, CA)….$9.95

> From California to Kuwait $63.40 and it took 3 days at FedEx Economy.

I’ve been using Shop & Ship for the past few years but in the past few months I’ve faced long delays on shipments which had me thinking of changing.

The last straw was when they mistakenly sent my shipment to Egypt and practically held it for ransom trying to charge me 40KD in customs fees for a package with a value of around 50KD. Long story short, my package is stuck in egypt and the Shop & Ship customer service has been of no help.

Good timing with this post as I’ll be making the switch to another forwarding service based on people’s feedback.

I’m using MyBox, it’s taking 5-12 days at max, I can’t complain; knowing that their rates are competitively far better than their peers.

MyBox PostaPlus for me since the last 1.5 years, SNS prior to that. Although I do use Amazon Direct Shipping whenever possible – their costs are usually at par with SNS and I pay upfront, so no ugly surprises. In fact once Amazon refunded me some money as their actual expenses for customs were lower than what they charged me as ‘Import Fees Deposit’!

Average time for PostaPlus is between 7-10 days, which I feel is reasonable, esp. compared to service and cost level of SNS (which used to be anywhere between 7-21 days). Also, PostaPLus offers the facility to consolidate although its not really useful as you only save the customs clearance charge.

I do agree with the comments above – PostaPlus has become lax of late. Delivery times and tracking information has become inconsistent but for me, customer service has always helped out through email/call.

im new to on-line shopping couldnt do it through amazon directly because apparently you cant or they dont deliever all products on the site. i was told mr.babu is the best option but the prices are not competitve with amazon its similar to kuwait market.
am i doing something wrong??

shop and ship or mybox, set up an account with either and they’ll provide u with a US mailbox which you could send your items to and then they’ll send it to u here in kuwait

Ive been using posta plus, mybox for a year now. It used to be fast like 5-7 days, but now it takes like 10 -15 days.

Hey Mark,

This post can’t of came at a better time. I literally just got the opportunity to purchaser a pair of rare Technics shipping from the UK.

My problem is that I reside in the states but I’m moving back to Kuwait in a couple weeks, the seller has asked for a contact for the invoice.

I tried searching for that but I couldn’t find anything.

What company would you recommend in my situation?

Thanks!

Depending on how heavy they are just open an account with mybox or shop and ship. they both give you a UK address.

You could have the guy just send it by regular mail but since its rare i’m guessing its important and so i would personally prefer door to door delivery.

I’ve been using Aramex since 2003. The average delivery time is one week. The fastest time was 4 days, but that’s rare. The slowest is two weeks and that’s also rare. Mark showed me the greatest hack ever for shipping heavy stuff. Order it from Amazon UK (even for stuff made in the US or Japan) and ship it directly to Kuwait through their Global Direct option (they use UPS).

I ordered two huge US made speakers and a Yamaha amplifier delivered to my doorsteps. The total cost was exactly what you would pay if you bought them personally from Best Buy while in the States. The key to this is VAT deduction and it’s quite significant.

I used to use MyUS exclusively but with the increase in dollar, I now use various Amazon websites depending on availability of global shipping, if not and I’m willing to wait, then Mr. Babu. If it’s super urgent then I guess MyUs is the best option especially if you already have Prime.

The worst thing about S&S is their absolutely appalling customer service which is not even based in Kuwait. When you contact them on a chatline you are chatting to someone in Jordan who has no power to make things happen in Kuwait.

Couple of years ago I sent a package to the US, using Aramax, to my daughter who had just left an abusive husband. They sent the package to the wrong address. You guessed it..to the abusive husband. He burned the package and beat her up. Aramex response was to refund the package cost in credits. No apology. No admission of fault.

After that I told them that I would continue to tell that story to absolutely anyone who asked, to highlight their appalling customer service.

Which would you recommend for ordering books? Especially if ordering many books. Shipping direct from Amazon would have cost an arm and a leg.

Used PostaPlus mybox last year to order some PC parts. Delivered like after 3 weeks. Tried to claim a tax refund from Amazon but they say they dont have any airway bill. Will not use them again because I need my Airway bills.

I’ve been using ws1.com for two years and can’t imagine using anything else.

– No monthly payments: You pay to create an account and then nothing unless you receive an order (better than MyUS mail where you pay monthly whether you order or not).
– Quick processing: when I receive a shipment by the end of the week I can choose to fast process it by paying $5 so that I don’t delay it to be processed after the weekend. if it’s in the middle of the week it usually doesn’t take more than 1 day to be sent to the courier without paying anything.
– Consolidation: Borderlinx was annoying for not having this feature; I used to receive several boxes and wanted them combined in one box but they don’t do this (they don’t open the boxes and put them all in one big box). WS1 do combine everything in one box and usually get rid of the big boxes (e.g. shoe box) and stuff everything together with the necessary protection (air bags). I can also choose to pay a little extra for additional paddings.
– Options: I can request pictures, additional insurance, fragile stickers, choose the mail service (fedex, aramex, DHL) depending on my preference.
– Support: when I had some issues it never takes more than one or two emails, they also have online chat support and since then I haven’t even had to send emails.

The only drawback I can honestly think of is having to pay for the delivery guys when he hands me the box. In borderlinx when I pay online I pay everything including Customs and handling, but that’s not the case with WS1. I have to pay the handling when I receive the shipment at the end which is annoying (to check if I have cash or not every time I anticipate the delivery).

MyBox

Last package ordered
25/11/2016

Delivered to Customer
29/12/2016

+
10 Customer service calls and 5 emails sent to follow up.

Before they were “OK” but now forget it.

Posta Plus MyBox was slow around December & January time due to Christmas & New Years. I’ve been using MyBox for over 2 years now and have atleast 1 delivery per month. Their average delivery time 5~7 days after your package has arrived at MyBox. Their rates are not bad. But I only recommend their US Box. I’ve had hiccups shipping from China & UK.

Mark,
Can you tell us the percentage of Custom Duty you paid on the MacBook by PostaPlus. I’m planning on ordering one too.
Another question I have is on the voltage, in the US it’s 120v. Does your MacBook charger need to be changed or converter needed?

That’s Great 🙂 So only shipping charges for the weight.
Thanks Mark. I asked because I’ve paid customs charges up to 5% on most of the electronics that I’ve ordered in the past (never a laptop).

shipping also cost me around KD10 with mybox. Also a good tip, buy the laptop from eBay. No taxes and slightly cheaper cost than Apple. So you end up saving like KD50 or so

So I ordered my Macbook from eBay 🙂
It got delivered on 5th Feb but the update on MyBox site shows received on 7th and today is the 13th and the status is “Manifested”… So I called them to ask why the hold up. They said “because it has lithium battery. It takes 2 weeks for a shipment with lithium battery”. I also ordered a Bluetooth headset (which comes with a battery, not sure if it was lithium). That arrived in 5 days. You heard of issues with lithium battery?

does edfa3ly offer a service where they ship something for me? like for example I want to send someone something would they do that for me?

Another alternative is to order from Amazon UK and pay for postage to Kuwait. You will get a 20% discount because of not having to pay VAT which will usually cover most of the cost of postage.

I do this for books all the time.

i’ve been using postaplus since 2012 and never have problem with them, yes slow sometime but cheaper than others and reliable for me.

MyUS from USA

Pros:
Fast delivery;
Fixed price by weight only (no dimension fees)

Cons:
Very expensive;
No custom fees included and always end up paying random amount to DHL after delivery;

Borderlinx from UK

Pros:
Fast delivery;
Custom fees included;

Cons:
Weight by dimensions;
Not as expensive as MyUS but still expensive (especially large items with low weight);

———

I think it’s time to try some cheaper alternatives 🤔

Hi mark, i need help. I have been going back and forth between your posts on shipping forwarder companies. Im looking for the cheapest and best option to ship food and beauty items which one would you recommend? I calculate the shipping rate on mybox and for 5 kg it charges 20.500 kd. Isnt that bit much?

I have been using Postaplus for around 4 years. Recently they have started charging extra. 1.5 Kd for clearance and 1 Kd for Ministry Approval Fees (This was added instead of customs duty I think. Before, even with the customs duty it was cheaper).

So just for a small item of say 300 grams i was billed 5 KD whereas i used to pay around 3.5 Kd before. The customer service and resolution has not improved at all. (making other services a better option currently, for those looking for the cheapest option)

Last month, one of my friends tried to pay the shipping charges via Knet. the payment did not go through due to the error from their website, but his cash was debited. He was asked to pay again by the rude delivery guy who does not speak a word of English. Although he had the print out he had to call customer care for literally 2 weeks to receive his shipment without paying twice and zero coordination between customer care and delivery team. The customer service and complaint resolution is really a pain and needs a lot of improvement

hello,
I know this post is pretty old, but I’m wondering if you’d have any advice for someone completely new to mail forwarding?
I used to just send stuff once in a while to family in the states and pick it up in person if I visit that summer, but since that’s not really feasible these days, I’m really hoping I can find something more manageable.
Do you have a favorite service you’d still recommend? and would you happen to know if they would forward normal (non-commercial) parcels or letters sent to the address as well?
Thanks for reading this far ^^

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