So I had my first taste of the using the Korean Postal System today. I sent one 15 kg (that's 33 lbs for you oldtimers) box to Canada; it cost me $115 to send it via EMS (Express Mail Service), a kind of guaranteed delivery, trackable, expedited parcel service. The guy next to me was mailing what looked like a crate of truck axles to Russia! I guess the postal system here is really useful to small businesses.
The bigger post offices even sell the boxes, seven sizes up to about a half cubic metre in size, the boxes cost about $4 for the biggest, double corrugated box they have and there's a guy in a booth who will package everything, including bubble wrap, etc., for you for a small fee. You can walk in with a bag of stuff and they'll do it all for you. Crazy service!
Seyoung sent a parcel to her sister in New York last week: a total of three days to delivery. Canada Post never looked so poor next to these guys. It costs about the same to send a standard service parcel of half that weight from Canada to Korea.
I had to fill out the EMS form twice because I filled out the return address in Korean and the clerk explained in broken but passable English that Canada requires its return addresses in English. All other countries will allow return addresses in Korean. So I guess Canada Post provides as poor a service to its international brethren as it does to the citizens of Canada. So much for a privatized post office.
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