Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Mein Gott!!!

I went to the incredibly inconvieniently located FedEx office in Arlesheim this morning to send an overnight envelope to the U.S. I've been to this office a couple of times before, and this was the first time I was actually able to figure how to navigate my way to the parking spots right in front of the office. The last two times involved parking on the upper-deck of a parking garage and maneuvering down a three-story spiral staircase. Of course, the front door of the office is locked. You have to ring a doorbell, and then a man comes to the door, unlocks it, and invites you in. The man didn't seem to understand my "sehr gut Deutsch", and he didn't speak very much English. But, I managed to communicate what I needed, and things were rolling smoothly. Then, I asked him a question in German, and there seemed to be quite a bit of confusion. That was, until a man who spoke perfect English walked up and informed me that the first man was French and only understood French, Swiss-German, and a little bit of English.
The price for this plain old FedEx next-day envelope going from Basel, Switzerland to Herndon, VA U.S.A.???? CHF 67.30, or U.S. $57.48!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Am I the only person who thinks that's a bit steep? How much does it cost these days to send an overnight envelope from the U.S. to Switzerland? Just curious. To add insult to injury, if you're paying cash, you have to have EXACT CHANGE!!! Although I noticed that they now accept credit cards - something new since my last visit about 18 months ago to this "customer friendly" FedEx office.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Since living in Switzerland and Canada, I'd agree the shipping rates are quite expensive. I was in shock the first time I mailed a letter there. OR is it just that the US is extremely cheap? And people who live in the US should be greatful of the discount...

Here in Canada, you can mail a letter to the US for .91 cents but if you want it overnight, it will cost you $10!!! So I usually opt for taking 4 to 6 days to arrive...

Michael Lehet said...

According to the FedEx site there are two services available:

Int'l Priority (24-48 hours) = 40.68

Int'l Economy (4-5 days) = 58.38

Go figure that it costs MORE for it to take longer to get there.

The Big Finn said...

Thanks for the info. I guess I'm still thinking in 2000 prices (that's when we moved away from Chicago). Maybe 57 bucks isn't too bad. Plus, because we have the time zones to work with, the letter should be delivered by 10:00 a.m. Oh...I suppose that means that it's already there.