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How long did it take to get to your neck of the woods?
By Davinci
#122056
Why are the shipping costs so high today? In 2008 I paid 5 dollar for shipping to the Netherlands, now its 9 dollar for very small and light parts!
You would expect that the shipping would be fast a these costs but it took more than a week unfortunatly..The box was also very big for the parts :) perhaps a possibilty to reduce the costs?

Also Erik-sparkfun mentioned here that there would be more shipping options soon. Will those be availabe before the freeday credit expires? Because now with I could spend 10 dollar freeday credit and pay 10 dollar shipping..
By CS Paul
#122151
Several factors affect this:

1. The USPS has increased their rates, period.
2. The USPS created more classifications, depending on the packaging. They used to just have one rate, but now have 'envelope', 'large envelope', 'package', etc. We have to classify everything as a 'package', meaning it costs more than it used to, regular rate increases notwithstanding.
3. Our calculations were off. We were getting more and more packages returned for insufficient postage. In redoing our shipping estimate algorithm, we end up with a slightly heavier weight for the same package. This makes sure the package gets to you, rather than returned to us for more postage.
4. We are using more packaging. We have reassessed our standards, deciding that a little extra packing material is worth it if it means getting the goods to you unbroken.

Let me know if you have other questions.

Edit: To answer your second question, other shipping options, namely UPS, probably won't be available before FreeDay credits run out, and even if they were, they will be more expensive than the First Class Mail International option.