I Recently Sent A Coin...

I've had mail or packages from the US to this small town BC and they seem to usually arrive between 2 and 3 weeks later. Generally more than 2 weeks. Once I received something from Texas within a few days, but I think the quickness was due to the special Christmas time added deliveries. And this included priority posts and first class!!! Dogsled and Pony Express perhaps?

It even takes up to 10 days sometimes for mail to get to me from Toronto to BC!! And more than 7 from Calgary, which is only about 5 hours from me. Most mail is first routed to the big cities then resorted there, then rerouted to Provinces towns destinations.

I have no idea how long it would take for letters or packages sent from me to get to US or other countries.

I don't know the process of sending packages to the US or internationally at all. Are there special rules, or customs things I should know about? especially for things like coins? In my case I'd be sending just a few circulated coins now and then and they would be gifts or trades, nothing sold. Nothing bulk or very valuable.

I'm keeping all these comments in mind. Thanks everyone!

If your shipment to an overseas address took more than a couple of weeks, chances are that it got "bumped" from airpost to surface mail here in the states, even if it was marked "airmail". Check with your local postal clerk to make sure that your package is marked and stamped correctly so that there's no chance that it can get bumped.

FYI when I was still mailing by First-Class mail a magazine that I published, I found that the mag consistently arrived at addresses in the UK at least a day ahead of addresses in Canada. Proximity is not a good guide to estimated mailing times, and how long a package takes to clear customs may be much more relevant.

vermontensium - your clerk is an ... um ... er ... completely in error. If not, the plane that flew the boxes of books that I sent via USPS to Tinian Island last year had a 4-week holding pattern somewhere.

You can still send packages via surface mail. Yes, there hasn't been "third-class mail" for 20 years or so now. First-class mail is tightly regulated, and the document that regulates it and other mail weighs about ten pounds, so maybe your clerk hasn't been able to read through it yet, lol.

Want to have some fun? Take some International Reply Coupons in and ask him to cash them for you ...