Clothing & Accessories BALIKBAYAN BOXES

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?

 

Not sent any Boxes recently Dave,
but must say we have not had problems in the past, however we have found that the travel time can vary, probably depending what time of year they are sent.
We did have friends who foolishly included liquid cartons that burst during transit destroying part of the other items.
Strange why some items freely available in Philippines end up in the box! but that's another story.

 

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.

 

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 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.

 

I have sent at least a dozen and either myself or others have received them all in within 10/12 weeks, apart from one lot sent over leading up to or during the Christmas period only this was a little late by 2/3 weeks, a further 10 or so have been sent to me from my son in UK and all of them arrived intact and on time, all things considered I am pleased with the service I have had and will continue to use it, I guess you have sent a few before with no problems and you have just been unlucky this one time?

My neighbour in PH a Danish guy sent over around 25 boxes in three batches this was done over a few weeks and from what I recall he never had any problems, perhaps there may be others here on DI that have had problems and can let us know if they did?

 

Wow never realised rice can be cheaper here in UK, we tend to buy 10kg sacks of Thai fragrant rice from Cost Co. or 10 kg Jasmine rice from our local Thai shop.
The wife tells me it has increased in price to around £22-£25 a sack.
Just checked it out....... View attachment upload_2023-2-28_21-0-42.png

 

John what I am talking about is the essentials brand long grain from Aldi this is 46p per KG, so that is close to P30, 6 months ago at the wet market in Valencia I think the cheapest rice there was around P40=60p and perhaps the average was around P50=75p, I'm sure the Aldi basic brand will be better, however I am not an expert, I believe the better Tilda Thai rice is around £1.20 there in Aldi, The one I get is 95P , Tea bags, Aldi price and ones that I am happy to use are £1.29=P86 for a box of 160, they brew a good strong cup of Miners tea just how I like it, in PH you would be lucky to get one bag for any less than 6p many are half that price again, of course they are named, Fine English Breakfast Tea and come with a little string and label attached, I would rarely ever drink Tea in England, as the waater tastes P!sh doon there, ye cannae mak gid tea with thon stuff, it staunds tae reason? ye kin only mak gid Whusky wi Scottish waater, awbidy kens that, its the same fur Tea.

 

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.