Clothing & Accessories Best Posts in Thread: BALIKBAYAN BOXES

$90 per box does seem expensive mind you, thousand + miles from the nearest sea port, all done with a covered Wagon may explain that?

Through the years they have come up with various different rules for this service, around 5yrs ago when I collected my empty boxes I was given additional forms to fill, on these forms I had to categorise each item i.e.; toys, clothing and a value, things of high value I put down as used, maybe it had taken a few weeks to get these two boxes filled, but when it come the time for them to be picked up the courier just laughed when I handed him the forms and told me to throw them in the bin, I'm sure he also said forget about any new rules they make there are never implemented, I would suggest the Customs Officers at the receiving end may get P50 per arriving box to help fill the petrol tank of his big car? the rule concerning the amount of boxes that can be received in one year is not adhered to, my neighbour had 12 boxes delivered in one shipment, I have had 3 then another 2 boxes delivered in the space of 3 months.

There will always be new Bills passed in PH where the people who raise them never think that far ahead on how to implement them, if they had name recognition their computers would blow up with too many Dong Dongs, Gie Gies and La La's to contend with, mind you even in England that would be a problem where the common name used to be Smith this has become rare and now it is Patel, to be fair in Scotland the phone book starts and finishes with the letter M, mostly they will be MacTavish, MacDougal or MacPherson, the MacDonald's cease to exist there, they were all deported to US where we used to send all our criminals, as they were a clan of thieves and vagabonds. another problem being we are mostly named Jock and the females Mary so you have to dial up the operator and ask for Big Jock frae Auchtermuchty, or wee Mary with the big boobs frae Auchtertool.

 

I'm guessing three times a year means 3 duty free/tax free boxes per year.
https://customs.gov.ph/boc-guidelines-on-balikbayan-boxes/

This bill, if passed, would increase duty free/tax free to 1 box per month.
https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1193883

Last Tuesday we sent boxes to five different address around Dumaguete from Oklahoma City. $90USD per box which hasn't changed from last year. Sound high until you add in the thousand + miles from the nearest sea port.

 

We sent 2 boxes in one shipment to one family member on September 9, 2022. One of them was delivered a week ago and the other is still in transit. So coming up on the 6 month mark if that second box gets delivered soon.

We love watching the videos of wife's family opening the boxes but have decided it just is not worth the cost of buying gifts to fill those boxes, plus the cost of shipping, plus the stress of wondering why the Christmas gifts are not there 6 months after shipping.

 

Travel times usually only vary nearing to Christmas in my Experience? for 9/10 months of the year it has always been 10 weeks.

Many times I have sent Liquids over such as paint and oil, but they always have a secondary packaging in case of leaks.

John it may surprise you just how expensive some things can be there is PH, especially food the last box I filled still had a little room in it, so I did a little shop in Aldi to even buy some rice which is cheaper here than there, that is just one example, but there is so many others I can give.

 

We use LBC and others when they have sales. Most here will even strap and wrap the boxes prior to shipment. From the East Coast of the US to Negros is almost always three months or more. Last year there was an incident with the boxes held up at Hong Kong but the tariffs were paid and they were back on their way. We never did get an explanation to why they went through Hong Kong.

 

I thought to tell of my recent experience sending Balikbayan Boxes over to PH from UK, I must have sent a dozen boxes over in the past 10yrs, mostly using a Filipino company called Alsomavic Cargo ltd, there is two UK Mob No; 07957945745/07984517093, the price to send a standard box, 24inch high and 20x18inch wide is £65, usually I send three of them to get a better deal 3 for £150, larger boxer are to be had but I prefer to use the small ones as they are easier to handle than the large, plus the bigger they are the harder they fall, my choice of box is comparable to two large suitcases side by side, I would guess I have at least 5okg's in each and there is no limit to weight, up till now I never had any damage (usually i am generous with the parcel tape to the tops and bottoms of the boxes) or things stolen from these boxes and they have taken 10 weeks to arrive, they seem to fly through customs and are never really checked in my experience, I guess you can send anything you want in them even contraband if that is your desire?