mailing books to the US

Hi all
Apols for cross-posting [put this on another US/UK forum] but I have a question re: mailing boxes of books to the States and not knowing the answer is holding me up from a fun filled night of packing!

I bought some boxes from a local storage place and although the boxes have a blank side on top, they have branded images and writing all along the sides of the box. Does this present a problem for mailing the books?

Also, does anyone know if the UK has such as thing as a 'book rate' - that's how I originally sent all my books over the the US...

Cheers
Mimsy

Slightly late response, I'm afraid, but here goes anyway.....

although the boxes have a blank side on top, they have branded images and writing all along the sides of the box. Does this present a problem for mailing the books?

It shouldn't be a problem.  I often send out packages (both national and international) using whatever boxes I have to hand.

Also, does anyone know if the UK has such as thing as a 'book rate' - that's how I originally sent all my books over the the US...

There's no equivalent of the U.S. flat-rate envelope for single books, but there is a "Printed papers" rate which is slightly cheaper than standard and can be used for books.  There's a low weight limit on it though, about 4 or 5 lb. if I recall correctly, so it wouldn't be any use for a box full of books.   

When you get over those sort of weights the cheapest would most likely be ParcelForce International Economy.

thanks. i finally found out about the 'printed papers' thing, but you are right -the weight allowance doesn't really cut it for all the books i've got. i think we are now going the international movers route. sigh....

I bought some boxes from a local storage place and although the boxes have a blank side on top, they have branded images and writing all along the sides of the box. Does this present a problem for mailing the books?

Yeah, that shouldn't be a problem.  The only thing you have to make sure of is that there are no visible barcodes along the sides of the boxes.  If there are, I don't think the US will accept it.  You can just black them out with a thick black marker though.