Posting? London > Cairo and back

[Fatima]

Hey everyone,

Has anyone posted a letter or a small package from Here to London without using DHL or FedEx? I mean, i wanted to send a small package and they are pricing it as 90 pounds sterling, for a letter, so thats not an option atm.


What about from London to here, is there anyway that my friend can post me something without it being torn open at customs here in Egypt (something reliable but not too costly), the contents isnt too valuable, just letters and some gifts.


Thanks

[RPC]

Originally Posted by Fatima

Hey everyone,

Has anyone posted a letter or a small package from Here to London without using DHL or FedEx? I mean, i wanted to send a small package and they are pricing it as 90 pounds sterling, for a letter, so thats not an option atm.


What about from London to here, is there anyway that my friend can post me something without it being torn open at customs here in Egypt (something reliable but not too costly), the contents isnt too valuable, just letters and some gifts.


Thanks

I have always used DHL since there are no other valuable options I am aware about!

[GM1]

you can go to the post office and ask to sent your letter "mousagel ba-elm wasoul" this cost only a few pounds. We have used this (from Hurghada) several years back. The price then was something like LE 5. All these letters have arrived, I know because we sent the same letter as normal post and the "special" post came back to Hurghada because nobody picked it up at the destination in Holland, I know that because there was written in Dutch that it was not picked up.

Packages sent from Europe will be opened and charged, sometimes you have to pay the same amount as the cost of the goods!

[Horus]

You probably not going to receive any goods from Ali Baba and the 40 postal thieves

DHL should be no more than £45 and if you use then regular they have a discount scheme of up to 50% but you must negotiate with your local agent and they keep the price list in a ring binder not on a leaflet

Be warned however you must list everything on the waybill and they do inspect what is going out, incoming the exact same procedure

[SHendra]

I never failed to get a letter from UK but it varied in time it took to arrive. A UK tax/payslip I use to get very fast! (Ironic ain't it?) But personal ones would take WEEKS! However going the other way I never felt safe by it and did use DHL Or TNT.

[Sam]

Originally Posted by SHendra

I never failed to get a letter from UK but it varied in time it took to arrive. A UK tax/payslip I use to get very fast! (Ironic ain't it?) But personal ones would take WEEKS! However going the other way I never felt safe by it and did use DHL Or TNT.

Ironically I've always felt safer "risking it" with outbound letters than incoming ones!! But either way, I don't trust anything except a courier.


Fatima,
If you don't use FedEx or DHL you can try Aramex or TNT. Not sure how their costs compare but both are equally reliable. There was another company I've recently received a shipment from too, but can't remember which. World something!!!
If your things are replaceable then just stick it in the post box. Royal Mail offer a tracking system, but it enters the Egyptian national post once it gets here, so is just as reliable as putting it in the post box, except for the fact that a fair few RM items I've had sent to me on the tracking system got returned to sender approx. 6 months later, not sure the same would happen if you just used the normal Royal Mail service.