Why is it so hard to get stuff from the UK to the US?

[Psy]

Well, not so much "hard", as "ridiculously expensive".

I wanted to buy my friend a game she's been looking for for ages. A while back she saw a game called "Love Upper", which is sort of like foxy boxing but based on an actual boxing sim engine. It's for the PS2. It's also partially in Japanese. Then, last month, I learned the game was translated completely into English and re-released as "Heartbeat Boxing" in Europe. I just can't get it for less than $30 after shipping, which is pretty ridiculous for a PS2 game that's several years old.

I remarked on this to a friend that has family in Wales and he says it's always been like that, the shipping prices are just stupid. It seems... well, stupid. I can understand that the prices will be increased, but of that $30 I mentioned above, $25 are for shipping. $5 for the game, then another 500% in shipping costs for what is just a DVD in a DVD case. Bah. Humbug.

Just venting I suppose.

[h]

On the bright side, it's still easier than getting stuff from the USA to anywhere else in the world.

[67 more]

As someone from the UK, through Royal Mail, postage would be £4.50 (US$ 7.33) for bog-standard airmail, £9.80 (US$ 15.97) signed for and £9.90 (US$ 16.14) fully tracked. Anyone charging more than an extra £1 (US$ 1.63) for packaging is downright lying.

[Hurbster]

Is that going as a small parcel ?

[67 more]

Yeah, that's a small parcel but due to the weight of the game (case, disc, manual, should be over 100g) it costs the same price as a letter would.

[Deleted]

I want to know why it's so hard to get quality UK TV shows on American TV without someone feeling the need to retool them.

Not that our Offices and Shamelesses don't have redeeming qualities, but we... speak the same language. Outside of having to smarten up to colloquialisms and such, there's no real reason Johny Couchjockey couldn't enjoy the original work.

[Ultimo Gallos]

Back during the summer I sent 4 comics,one set of 3 dvds,a flash drive and then 4 dvd-rs in sleeves to Wales. Total cost for shipping was $25. And I think the total weight was 4lbs.

[Ryback on a Pole!]

Is there anything that isn't overpriced these days?

It seems everything is out to prize as much of your hard earned money from your fingers as possible.

[Deleted]

I'm the opposite of op's friend I live in Wales and have family in the states. I also sell DVDs and have a few times had to ship some WWE ones to America


Shipping isn't that expensive to the US, but shipping internationally is so slow and unreliable you have to send it tracked which is much more expensive than regular shipping.

Then there's the issues of import fees, if its not declared as a "gift" or is worth above a certain value even if it is a gift then the person on the other end has to pay the import duty, most websites you buy things from can't declare things as gifts so they will sort the import duty on their end for you (Like WWE shop do when sending stuff from US to UK for example) and pass the charge on to you during the ordering process (this is imho better than them not bothering and then you having the nasty shock of a letter from the courier asking for alot of money before they'll deliver your item) this is very expensive.


That game wouldn't work anyway as the PS2 is region coded so only games bought in North America will work on a North American console.

[Deleted]

Dec 17, 2013 7:20:13 GMT -5 @lesscra said:

I want to know why it's so hard to get quality UK TV shows on American TV without someone feeling the need to retool them.

Not that our Offices and Shamelesses don't have redeeming qualities, but we... speak the same language. Outside of having to smarten up to colloquialisms and such, there's no real reason Johny Couchjockey couldn't enjoy the original work.

One of the main issues is the length of a US TV season, 2 seasons of the UK office is just about half a season in the UK. Also there is slang that Americans wouldn't get. You could argue that it's the same the other way around but in the UK we're exposed to American media so much nowadays we know all the slang and differences in phrasing and whatnot.

Also America responds better to different types of humour than the UK, The Office when it first aired in America tried to go for the awkward dull style of the British one and that kind of failed, it found its footing when it went in a more absurdist kind of direction

Not to mention the issue of American network having a hard on for controlling a shows creative direction with knee jerk reactions based on nielson ratings (In the UK a season will be fully taped before it airs so this isn't an issue)



An interesting program to watch is "Episodes" it's a dramady about 2 writers with a successful british show who are making an American version of it and it covers alot of the differences between making TV for America as opposed to UK.

[RedSmile]

4000 miles of Atlantic Ocean?

Just a guess.