Would you use this freight forwarding service?
1From the ever-snarky Pinboard on Twitter comes news of a new freight forwarder:
http://www.shypmate.com/
For the non-US buyer looking to get an item:
The fastest way to shop from the U.S and get it delivered
Buy products from any online store in the U.S and get it delivered in 5 - 10 days.
And for the traveler looking to make some extra money:
Traveling
Become a Shypmate traveler and use the money you earn to pay for your plane tickets, up to $300 for empty space in your luggage!
- 3 comments, 11 replies
- Comment
Doesn't that sound sketchy using luggage space for someone else's stuff?
@luvche21
I totally want some unknown unwashed stranger carrying my stuff, messing with it, stealing/borrowing/destroying it, or doing even worse to it, which i refuse to imagine at this instant.
Perhaps not.
@f00l Well I guess it would depend on where I lived and how much I needed something that I couldn't get anywhere but here and in any other way.
Not sure how this works BUT when I worked in Tokyo (literally a life time ago) people were paid handsomely to carry even an important document overseas.
I never carried anything but the way friends described it was that someone met you at the airport and checked your documents. This was way before 9-11 so security was very different. Depending on the security of the document you were given a locked briefcase and, I may be making this up, but I kind of remember that one friend said the briefcase was handcuffed to him! But that can't be true!?!
@fjp999 People do the handcuffed briefcase thing all the time, for diamonds and such.
@MrGlass
How does that work w security?
@f00l I don't think they do it in airports anymore, but street couriers still will. Also, I think the courier often has the key - cuff is just to prevent snatch thieves & such. Handcuffs have universal keys anyway.
@MrGlass Oh, so maybe I wasn't imagining it after all.
When I lived in Tokyo it was the BOOM economy (1986 - 1995). One nite a bunch of friends were walking around and this guy points to an apartment - he said a friend had bought that place when it was worth a BMW (crazy expensive in Japan at the time he had bought it) but what we were looking at was worth a LearJet!
When I did my year abroad in Israel, we did this all the time (but with people we knew). You occasionally run into issuers at customs, since they want to charge tax. Also be aware what you can't import into other countries. I have had it work just fine for all sorts of items - medicine, a dozen books, ~500 in computer parts, even a block of cheese (fun fact, they don't have american cheese in Israel). Supposedly, there was one group of rich kids who liked a particular restaurant in NY, so every few months they would split the cost of a round trip ticket and send 1 guy to get takeout.
@MrGlass Sounds like an interesting time!
Heavy taxes in Japan on certain items! and then everyone wanted porn! Japanese are heavily into censoring pubic hair... so lots of request for mags and video of American porn. We never got caught carrying the little we had but often would try and ship it and got caught! They just removed it and life carried on BUT you were put on a list!
@fjp999 One of the guys stupidly packed a 6 pack of beer (favorite brew of one of the Rabbis). When the border agent tried to confiscate it, he grabbed it & drank them on the spot.
@MrGlass
Odd, I know a similar story also involving someone going to Israel. °_°
@FroodyFrog Were they going to a certain notorious school in Har Nof?
@MrGlass
Can't remember. (Sorry?)