Situated in North America, The USA is the third most populated country in the world, with a population of approximately 308 million people, bordered by Canada and Mexico. The USA has the world’s strongest economy and the world’s largest private sector, which makes it an economic powerhouse. Cheap courier services to USA is extremely common and luckily, the United States has a long and deep connection to the United Kingdom, both economically and politically. It’s been listed by the World Bank as the seventh easiest country to do business with and thanks to excellent transport links and competitive cheap courier services to USA, the US is a hugely attractive market.
The USA market offers a huge export opportunity to British retailers, and this is especially true around the Christmas period of November and December. Due to the size of the United States, professional delivery couriers are needed to ensure your parcel delivery to USA arrives at its destination quickly and in the right condition. Thankfully there are lots of parcel delivery UK to USA options. Here is some further information to help you find cheap delivery to USA.
Parcel Delivery To USA
When it comes to cheap shipping to USA, there are many courier options which help keep the price competitive and the service efficient. Depending on the urgency of your parcel, there are many delivery durations available. The quickest cheap parcel delivery to USA aim is 1-3 days and the slowest is a duration of up to 6 weeks. There are many options in between and generally the slower the parcel, the cheaper it will be. You should note that your USA parcel delivery time will depend on a smooth transition through customs and the area in which you are sending within the USA.
Some courier companies that offer cheap shipping to USA may not be able to offer special delivery options to more rural or hard to reach areas. The weight of your parcel will also influence the speed. Generally, the heavier the weight, the longer it will take to complete your parcel delivery to USA from UK. You should also note that similarly to the UK, parcel delivery UK to USA won’t be conducted on a Sunday.
Delivery Prices To Send A Parcel To USA
Thanks to the variety of courier services offering parcel delivery to USA from UK, you can find a price that will suit your budget. A cheap courier to USA starts at under £15 for a 2kg parcel with a delivery aim of up to six weeks. The more expensive and quicker options can cost over £60 for a 2kg parcel.
There are a number of other factors that will impact the price when you send a parcel to USA. These include the size of your parcel, the weight of your parcel and the number of parcels you wish to send. You should note that most parcel delivery companies have a maximum weight limit in place of 30kg, so if your parcel is heavier than this, you will need to send more than one parcel. If you decide to add on extra services such as tracked delivery, signed for delivery or insurance cover for your items, then this too will also affect the overall price of your parcel delivery to USA from UK.
Useful Information When Sending A Parcel To USA
As with all countries, the USA has limitations on what you can send to their country via cheap parcel delivery to USA. It’s your responsibility to ensure you check whether the items you are sending are allowed or require any verification documents or specific licenses. Failure to do this could result in your parcel not passing through customs at the US border and therefore your parcel will not arrive at its intended destination. If this does happen, the parcel company will not take any responsibility for this, nor compensate you. Here is a brief list of some of the restrictions and prohibitions for parcel delivery UK to USA.
Prohibited items
These items are not allowed under any circumstances in the mail.
- Cigarettes are not allowed due to legislation passed in 2010 stating that roll-your-own tobacco, cigarettes, and smokeless tobacco are no longer admitted in any type of international mail.
- Foodstuffs — the FDA are constantly tightening up security on food imports. If you want to send food to the US, you will need to obtain a notification registration number that proves you’ve informed customs of your delivery in advance, otherwise your parcel will be undelivered.
- Meat and fish products
- Live animals
- Dairy produce
- Live trees and other plants
- Edible vegetables
- Edible nuts and fruit
- Drugs
- Coffee, tea, spices, and matte
- Prepared foodstuffs; beverages, spirits, and vinegar; tobacco and manufactured tobacco substitutes
- Fur skins and artificial fur
Restricted items
These items may require further verification or a license.
- Bees
- Products of the chemical or allied industries
- Mineral products
- All serums, vaccines, viruses or other biological products intended for the treatment of domestic animals
- Wood and articles of wood
- Articles of stone, plaster, cement, asbestos
- Clocks, clock movements, and devices for measuring speeds, distances or cumulative quantities
- Clocks and watches and parts thereof
- Firearms and knives
Further information on customs
Below is some useful information on specific items you should take into consideration before you send a parcel to USA
- Note that with regards to sending textiles to the USA, you should ensure commercial invoices clearly break each item down individually into their component fabric parts such as silk, cotton etc. You should also state the country of manufacture.
- Restrictions apply on some metal goods, paper, antiques, china products, toys, tobacco, tyres, wood products and tubes.
- Foodstuffs are difficult to send to the USA as noted above. There are restrictions especially on dairy products, ice cream, fruit & vegetables, sugar & syrups, peanuts and confectionery containing alcohol. The FDA requires “”prior notification”” which applies to all businesses shipping to the USA.
- To support the clearance of items through US customs, sometimes specially worded invoice declarations may be needed. This is especially the case for textiles.
- Please note that anything you are sending that has a connection with Angola, Cuba, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea and Vietnam will probably not be cleared through US Customs.
Please note that any goods up to the value of £270 require customs label ‘CN22’ which needs to be signed by the sender and attached to the items you are sending. Goods over the value of £270 require customs declaration ‘CN23’ and an adhesive plastic wallet SP 126.
Addressing your parcel to the USA correctly
To ensure your heavy parcel arrives at the correct destinations in the USA you need to correctly address it to the format of the USA. You will need to include a ZIP code next to the names of the city and state and the ZIP code acts as the postcode. We always recommend that you include a copy of your UK home address on the parcel and an extra copy within the parcel in the event your parcel cannot be delivered. This means it can be returned to you in the UK.
At Parcel Delivery, we care about people receiving the best, yet cheap courier to USA as possible. For any further information or assistance on finding cheap delivery to USA, please do not hesitate to visit our FAQs pages on the site.
