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So I had a bunch of books shipped from Japan to Europe by surface mail, so quite possibly in a container on a ship like this. The package is still in transit so

So I had a bunch of books shipped from Japan to Europe by surface mail, so quite possibly in a container on a ship like this. The package is still in transit so news like this makes me a bit weary. Luckily the ship in question had sailed from China to the USA, so it most likely does not have my package. Still, best of luck to others with package in transfer by seamail! :)

schoen 6y ago
The U.S. used to allow very cheap international book shipping by surface mail, called an M-bag https://faq.usps.com/s/article/What-is-M-bag-Service https://faq.usps.com/s/article/What-is-M-bag-Service It was kind of insanely cheap compared to other ways of transporting books internationally. But it was discontinued about a decade ago and replaced with airmail M-bags, which may still be cheaper than many other options but are not nearly as cheap as the surface M-bags were. Did you (or someone who was sending you these books) find a service like this still available from Japan? I'd be happy to hear that this is still offered in other countries and that people are still getting a benefit from it.
- jwr 6y ago
  I used it once in the past. I cried when the bag arrived. The books were ground to a fine pulp, with all covers torn off and only some of the insides remaining holding together. The bag contained mostly dust. No amount of throwing would do this: they bag must have been thrown insecured into a larger container, where it slid around and bumped into other things as waves rocked the ship(s). Never, ever again.
  - schoen 6y ago
    My father owns a bookstore and would use surface M-bags, while they existed, to ship things to customers overseas (with their permission). I believe he never had a problem with significant damage to the contents. I agree it's got to be riskier for books than the airmail options, and I'm very sorry to hear of what happened to your books when you used it. :-(
- m4rtink 6y ago
  I havent seen any book specific options, but it could be that the transshipping companies I used (Tenso, Buyee) so far simply dont have those. In general there is quite a good price for air shipping < 2 kg. But above that weight air shipping costs get really expensive. On the other hand surface ahipping is already cheap at 2 kg and get even cheaper per unit of mass as your package gets heavier, up to 30 kg max (or some fairly genwrous size limits). So thats why I used surface mail for those books - they were mostly second hand and shipping them by air would be quite a bit more expensive than theor price in many cases! :)

schoen 6y ago

The U.S. used to allow very cheap international book shipping by surface mail, called an M-bag https://faq.usps.com/s/article/What-is-M-bag-Service https://faq.usps.com/s/article/What-is-M-bag-Service It was kind of insanely cheap compared to other ways of transporting books internationally. But it was discontinued about a decade ago and replaced with airmail M-bags, which may still be cheaper than many other options but are not nearly as cheap as the surface M-bags were. Did you (or someone who was sending you these books) find a service like this still available from Japan? I'd be happy to hear that this is still offered in other countries and that people are still getting a benefit from it.

jwr 6y ago
I used it once in the past. I cried when the bag arrived. The books were ground to a fine pulp, with all covers torn off and only some of the insides remaining holding together. The bag contained mostly dust. No amount of throwing would do this: they bag must have been thrown insecured into a larger container, where it slid around and bumped into other things as waves rocked the ship(s). Never, ever again.
- schoen 6y ago
  My father owns a bookstore and would use surface M-bags, while they existed, to ship things to customers overseas (with their permission). I believe he never had a problem with significant damage to the contents. I agree it's got to be riskier for books than the airmail options, and I'm very sorry to hear of what happened to your books when you used it. :-(
m4rtink 6y ago
I havent seen any book specific options, but it could be that the transshipping companies I used (Tenso, Buyee) so far simply dont have those. In general there is quite a good price for air shipping < 2 kg. But above that weight air shipping costs get really expensive. On the other hand surface ahipping is already cheap at 2 kg and get even cheaper per unit of mass as your package gets heavier, up to 30 kg max (or some fairly genwrous size limits). So thats why I used surface mail for those books - they were mostly second hand and shipping them by air would be quite a bit more expensive than theor price in many cases! :)