My parents have twice now sent me packages which never arrived. One was for a couple of replacement heads for an electric shaver (nothing sharp). The other was a couple of bottles of a natural supplement (L-theanine, basically green tea extract, which is legal here).

I told my dad to ship with USPS, as I've heard bad things about FedEx and UPS packages being forfeited to customs. I told him ALWAYS get tracking on these packages, because in my opinion, shipping internationally without tracking is a ludicrous idea.

He called me right after he shipped the second package to tell me that tracking and insurance would have cost him an extra $40 USD (the contents of the package was under $30). Shipping the package apparently cost him $16. I feel like he might be confused, or the salesperson at the US post office was an idiot because those prices sound outrageous.

I've sent international packages before (out of the US, Thailand and Europe) and tracking always seems to be part of the deal.

Is the US system that <deleted>'d or is my pops just misinformed?

Kap

If you have the number you should be able to use USPS online system.

If EMS or other courier type or similar was suggested that woukd explain the high price and almost guarantee it will get stopped.

The fully tracked options are generally the expedited shipping options. You can't have full door to door tracking on the cheap 2 week delivery option - it's not possible.

So you can only get full tracking on the fastest possible shipping options which explains the large price difference. It's comparable to FedEx, DHL, etc in both price and service.

Thanks ukrules. I checked with my condo and they told me that they can't track a package unless it's "registered". That explains the higher price.