This hopefully is helpful information for all of you who are receiving or sending goods from the US to Germany. Apparently the US Post has made a sole contract with German Parcel to deal with every package that comes to Germany. What this actually means is the person sending it from the US will pay for the postage, this is normal but when German Parcel touches it, they will also demand money for handling it, the minimum fee is 17 Euros and for those in the US, this is about 17 Dollars. They will also charge 19% customs of the value that is on the package. Talk about rip off. So basically you only paying for the package to leave America and then the person receiving it has to pay handling from when it reaches German soil. This in effect is a legalized way of doubling the profits of postage over night from America (shipping from Germany to America is always much more expensive anyway) This is brand new and the US post will only deal now with this single company (nice monopoly to have) whereas before it was the German Post (Deutsche Post) as well which was free beside the usual import tax depending on the value of the parcel. So any “cheap buy” will have a minimum of about 17 Euro added for this companies handling. I would recommend when sending to Germany to see if there are other companies doing this service like FedEx, DHL or UPS, they may now be cheaper as well. I do not know if the shops have noticed this yet by feedback from customers, we only found out today.
Colin
Geeze, that sucks 
Loren
Ain’t it amazing? Both the US and Germany preach to anyone who has to listen of the virtues of free trade, while themselves behaving like robber barons of the worst sort.
I used to send a lot of paper work to Germany and our preferred carrier was DHL, but I haven’t done it recently.
OMG! Brigitte! They didn’t do that to that little Kokopelli pin, did they? Groan!
Thanks for the warning Colin. I passed it on to my business partner, who occasionally ships items internationally.
Hi all,
unfortunately I have experienced this myself when I bought a used keyless flute from a guy in the US. As long as the value of the package is less than 45 Euros there will be no customs fees but the 17 Euros Colin spoke of, above it they will charge custom fees as well…which made the flute just a wee bit more expensive ((
All the best, Dagmar
There’s something weirdly ironic about Europe aping the US and privatising public services right left and centre, then having one of its private operators behave as an abusive monopoly in partnership with an agency which is STILL A PUBLIC SERVICE IN THE US (sorry for shouting)!!
Had to clarify that a bit and talked to the GPS Customer desk…the 17 Euros are charged for every package you have to pay customs for which is up from 45 Euros for private packages and up from 22 Euros for commercial ones. Below this they don´t charge anything (as far as they told me )
Still pretty much of a ripoff, just to fill in one form…I think my customers would chop off my head if I charged them 17 Euros each time I fill up a form to have some labworks done 
All the best, Dagmar
i’m sure the germans will avoid some taxes if they get there packages send as a present!
Sorry, but no, declaring the item as a present does not change anything, the guy I have bought the flute from thought so as well and tried to save me money this way but it simply did not work !
All the best
Roger,
I’m in total agreement. The USPS
and it’s deal with COSIGNIA (formerly
the British Post) has cost me
lots & lots of money, frustration,
etc., etc. I don’t just want to
shout I WANT TO SCREAM BLOODY
MURDER…
Kelhorn Mike
There is also a big chance that the German postal service will be allowed to run a mail service in the UK. I await eagerly to see if it means we get cheaper post, especially to Germany.
OT-ish: the sexy name change by Consignia hasn’t saved it from going belly-up and having to be bailed out by the British taxpayer. Now the similarly re-badged company which produces nuclear-generated electricity at a loss has also gone down the tubes - speaking of which, maybe now they’ll start selling off some of those mysterious aluminium tubes.