Click on tab to view pages.

How to JOIN quilting block swaps Australia

Hello and thank you for visiting. This is a community group for all Australian quilters to join or just follow. Membership is FREE and you are partnered each month and we make each other a 12 inch quilt block based on our preferences which we swap. (12.5 inches raw edge to raw edge) The emphasis of the group is on friendship and sharing. To find out more or register to join email me on quiltingblocks@hotmail.com This purpose of this blog is to chat and showcase blocks and quilts made by members, kind of like a show and tell . Yours in stitching, Sue



Wednesday, February 6, 2013

POSTAL CHARGES

There has been a lot of emails lately regarding the rising cost of International postage, which is causing a few ladies (sadly) to leave QBSA.

I have been communicating with Cathy ( who runs the Christmas group ) at length over the past week to try and come up with a solution, questions we have been asking each other are:

Do we split into two groups? one international and Australia?

Do we stop swapping internationally and revert back to an Australian only group?

Do we leave it like it is, and let the members drop out if they don’t want to swap internationally?

Do we allow individual members the choice of swapping with their own country or with everyone in the group.

I have emailed all of the US members,  as it was firstly the US members that have been dropping out of the group due to a recent increase in postal charges.  I have given them the option to do USA only swaps or stay in the mix with everyone, and all but one have opted to stay swapping Internationally.  Which is really pleasing, as why join an Australian swap group, and not swap with Australians. 

There are a lot of tips on saving  postage and I thank you all for your feedback.   Lori has come up with a good solution for the US ladies which reads

So you may want to let these USA ladies know you keep your envelope to a business size 4.1/8 x 9.1/2 (USA) and get a global stamp $1.10 and you should have no troubles. It helps to go to the counter & ask 'what do you have available to this area.

I got stung today at the post office sending a parcel to the US, it contained two blocks, flat in a plastic zip lock bag and a note card.  As it weighed 71 grams it cost me $6.20 to post.  The post mistress informed me that us Aussies have also had a price rise and to get a letter to the US, its needs to weigh in less than 50 grams and be flat, so I guess that means no more double blocks, and lighter note cards.

I have therefore gone onto the Australian post website and can give you the current cost of posting to the US and other countries that we have regular swaps with and they are

images[7]

TO USA AND CANADA

( costs correct as at 5th Feb 2013)

under 50g   $2.35

50g – 250g   $6.20

250 – 500g  $14.20

Please bear in mind that these are posted as LETTERS, anything bulky will be treated as a parcel and the costs would increase accordingly.

So, where to from here.

To those ladies that we have made special arrangements with, we will honour that, but this is for a limited time as partners will run out.  Other than that, no changes will be made to the groups in the short term but we suggest that if postal costs are a concern to you, to be mindful of the weight of your letter before you head off to the post office.

 

imagesCAH6RO6A

8 comments:

Maria said...

I learnt some time ago to keep my LETTER flat and light.. The folk at our Post Office are always very haelpful when it comes to how to post off my swaps.. guess I am a good customer....
Thanks for the info Sue..

Sooli said...

I have to admit I had a run of overseas swaps last year and it did get a bit expensive and I'm sure its only going to get worse.

Fiona said...

postage overseas is bad enough.... I get asked if it is paper... and I'm not good at pretending my blocks are paper so I always have to fill in custom forms and pay accordingly....
I will check out next time I am there...
Hugz

elliek said...

I too have been stung with a parcel that weighed 57 gms and cost $6.20 so I will be weighing them in future. However in the spirit of swapping this is a small price to pay.

Michell said...

here in NZ letter can be up to 200g. $2.40 to Aus/Pacific and $2.90 the rest of the world for a 165mm x 235mm x 10mm

Janet said...

Here's some info for Canada. The rates here rise every year. They haven't raised any more substantially this year than other years as far as I know. I always try to put my swap items inside a card that I can send as letter mail. Sometimes it is heavier than normal letter mail and I have to pay the next rate up, but it still doesn't go over $3 even for international. I have to buy big cards for the 12 inch blocks to fit into and not be too thick. That is where things become more expensive in Canada - if they are too thick and don't fit through the slot. And if something is too big for a card I buy a PO plastic envelope that I can fit the item into and still keep it under the slot size and send it small packet which is also not that expensive. The only catch to all this is if I mail in Whitehorse they always ask me if it is "just paper" and if I say it is fabric then they charge me an exorbitant rate. This doesn't happen in my town so I try to only mail from my town - which means sometimes things are slower as I can only get to my post office on Friday - or else I just say a recalcitrant "yes" in Whitehorse....

Janet said...

Oh and here are our postal rates - but remembering that it has to fit through the slot to get these rates....

Canada
0-30g $0.63 | 30-50g $1.10 | 50-100g $1.34

USA
0-30g $1.10 | 30-50g $1.34 | 50-100g $2.20

International
0-30g $1.85 | 30-50g $2.68 | 50-100g $4.36

CathyC said...

I agree, the most recent price increase with AusPost and the lowering of the weights is very frustrating. So that I can stay within the weight limit, it will be single blocks and a simple card for my overseas swappers - I am not quite ready to stop swapping just yet ;-)