What's the 'best' way to ship a knife??

The only problem that I have ever had with the USPS is there is one dimwit supervisor at my local PO who has gotten it into his head that the section of the Postal Regulations that prohibits the mailing of automatics other than between FFL holders applies to ALL knives and no amount of telling him otherwise will change his mind even if you cite chapter and verse of the regs. This clown can't even tell you what the term "licensed dealer" mentioned in the regs that he is misquoting refers to. He seems to think that there is some kind of Federal licensure for "knife dealers."
 
Redrummd said:
I am a retired Postmaster....... The lowest cost way to ship a top end knife is in a flat rate priority envelope. You can put anything that will fit into one as long as you can close it up. I keep small boxes and knife" tins" to put into a flat rate envelope when sending off a top end knife or when shipping several at a time. I take fiberglass strapping tape and go around the envelope both ways and you can do a shipping label and insurance for up to $500.00 on line with Click-n-Ship using the USPS.com site.
Click to expand...

My Postmaster handed me a bunch of flat rate boxes today, they are just being released, they are about big enough for a video cassette(don't quote me on this), and the kicker is THEY ARE THE SAME RATE AS THE FLAT RATE ENVELOPES! Last year I shipped over 100 pkgs through the post office, and no doubt he is trying to keep a good customer happy. He is a good guy and I have had very little trouble with the post office. There is no need to label shipments within the US for the post office. For international I have used both global priority and express, they take about the same amount of time to get there, but as been pointed out GP allows for insurance and tracking.
Del
 
I sent four knives to Canada in one box, three made it there. I put "Pocket Knives" on the Customs form, mistake! All of the pivots were tightened and they had zip ties through the thumb holes to avoid being able to flick them open if checked by Customs and the knives were bubble wrapped in their packages when I sent them but not when the buyer got them, all had been rifled through! I had to make up the loss to the buyer by sending him two more because of course, I was too dumb to get insurance. When I sent the others I put "Steel Cutting Tools" on that customs form and it wasn't opened and pilfered like the other. When it says "knives" on the box I think there's more of a chance of some crooked postal worker or Custom worker going shopping.
 
When shipping internationally, mark the item as cutlery. It is in fact cutlery and it keeps the thieves guessing whether or not they are risking getting caught for a spork :D

Use USPS for shipping internationally as well. UPS rapes the customer with a huge "brokerage fee" when it gets to them (30-50 bucks, sometimes more). Usually the post office has a fee as well but much more reasonable ($5).

Brad
www.AndersonKnives.ca
 
I have used "camping tools" when sending knives to the UK and as far as I know, they packages have never been opened. One of my customers told me to use this name.
 
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