Shipping Books with an M Bag

Hey all,

Anyone know approximately how long it takes to receive a box of books I shipped with an M Bag?  They say it can take about two months since they are shipping surface by boat.  I would like to hear others experiences on how long things took to get to them.  I shipped my stuff the end of September, and I was told not to expect it until early December.  Is this right it should take this long???!

yep... M Bags are sent on the slow boats. but oooh so cheap compared to air.

btw, how did your air parcels arrive? doorstep or did you have to trek to the PO?

Yup it did take a long time---but the savings was well worth it in my mind!

What are M bags?

I recently looked into shipping books to the UK from the Us via the USPS and was told that the contents needed to be business materials inorder to ship at the reduced rate. Meaning that the books or print material needed to be from a company here to a company over there. This applies only to international shipping of printed material.

What are M bags?

I recently looked into shipping books to the UK from the Us via the USPS and was told that the contents needed to be business materials inorder to ship at the reduced rate. Meaning that the books or print material needed to be from a company here to a company over there. This applies only to international shipping of printed material.

I am afraid you were given misinformation. It is for printed material only------and usually businesses use it----however people can use it privately. I simply went to my local post office (in very small town Pennsylvania)--they were surprised when I requested one but I was able to use one. They gave me the bag (actually I ended up sending 3 bags) and the tags ahead of time to take home and fill up. You should have seen me dragging them down the block to mail!! Again they weren't too used to handling them..but when I told them I wanted M bag to mail to the UK they had no problem---I did have to wait a day when I went for more because they had given me the last tag.

When we received them in the UK they were also surprised and let us know that there isn't a similar option if we ever have to send books back to the US.

Here is a link about them:
http://www.iosart.com/misc/m-bags.html

Thank you for the info.

I shipped 600 kg. when I moved to Sweden via M-bags, all got here, although some took nearly 12 weeks.  You are now allowed to ship video tapes and CDs via M-bag as well, or so I'm told.

I definitely need to arrange this whenever I'm back in the States.  I miss my books!

yep... M Bags are sent on the slow boats. but oooh so cheap compared to air.

btw, how did your air parcels arrive? doorstep or did you have to trek to the PO?

Hey Jen,
All boxes arrived at the doorstep, I was lucky to have a flatmate be home at all times they arrived.  They were stacked neatly in my room when I got there.

Anyone give me additional time estimates from personal experiences on M Bags??  Thanks.

That must have been a great feeling! 

M Bags to Africa took about 4 months from the states.

Yes, they are to include printed materials only but I've seen other stuff sent... although parcels are subject to search more frequently these days so have the potential of causing delay and fees.

I am not sure if shipping boats out of the US have strict schedules on departure whether full or not. Out of Kenya, you could wait months if the boat just arrived and had to be filled or if you get lucky and are the last parcel to be loaded. That could increase/decrease travel time.

I shipped all my books via m-bags, they did take about two months each but the books arrived safe & sound!

If you do go the m-bag route make sure you:

• pack the books in cardboard boxes or wrapped in paper and secured with string, they won't let you put them in the bag loose.
• write your name and the destination address on each box/package and the words "postage paid M-bag"

I shipped mine over (needed them for work).  I dropped them off in Boston around the end of June.  They arrived some time in October.  It was a long time but the price was totally worth it.  I spent time wrapping the box up entirely in tape...and they were still a bit battered.  One thing to note...you'll have to keep the M-bag until you return to the States...the UK postal service doesn't want them (at least they didn't when I tried to return them!)

The actual bag is extremely good for the keeping of camping and sports gear, since the foreign post offices don't want them.

Oh, do you have to buy the bags from the USPS or do they just give them to you?

they are typically reused canvas mail sacks  so they usually are pretty grubby considering the fact that they have been transported all over the world. think of those plastic USPS bins they use for mass quantities of mail... they get used again and again.

I think there even may be a penalty if you don't return them... but who will chase you down, really?