We emigrated last week from the UK to Ireland (ROI not Northern Ireland). Posting stuff to/from Ireland seems to be very stupidly expensive (I did know this as the father-in-law complains about it all the time). Anyone have any experience and can offer some recommendations?
If you’re getting anything that has free U.K. delivery setup a parcel motel account, they give a N.I. address and deliver it to R.O.I. for small fee (not sure how Brexit will affect this).
First up, welcome to Ireland. Sounds like you have (in law) family here, so I hope you settle in and enjoy it.
Expensive deliveries are the downside of living on an island with a relatively small population.
In general, the postal system is excellent here. Very reliable, and almost anything you post will reach anywhere else in the country the next day. Even stuff coming in from abroad - once it gets into the country, you’ll get it the next day.
Parcel Motel mentioned above is great, but as it’s a Northern Ireland address, some sellers from abroad who only ship to mainland UK won’t ship there. An Post (the national postal service) has a similar service, but it gives you both a mainland UK address and a US one too.
It allow you to nominate an address for delivery, or have it delivered to a post office or pickup point. Even though you pay extra for both these services, it can still work out cheaper than direct shipment to Ireland, or give you access to vendors who won’t ship here.
It’s worth having an account with both, as they’re pay as you use, so there’s no subscription or setup fees.
For sending from Ireland, I hadn’t noticed that it was expensive, but then I don’t post stuff internationally that often. Aside from An Post and the usual couriers, Parcel Motel allows you to send stuff too - you pay for it online and then leave it in their drop box and they pick it up and send it off.
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Cheers man, there’s some great info there.
Yeah, liviing with the wife’s mum and dad for a while until we get on our feet. It’s no great hardship as they have tons of space and are more than happy to accomodate our needs for creative spaces and stuff. We’re very lucky!
Where abouts are you in Ireland? We’re down in Co. Tipp just outside Clonmel.
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Cool, Tipp is nice and it sounds like you have a good setup. I’m originally from Dublin, but living in Co. Clare the past 15 years.
A bit off topic but I since you mentioned co. Clare I thought I’d mention that I really enjoyed the short time I spent there. I spent about a month there some years back. I was just outside of Ennis. My first exposure to Hurling, coal heat, and the DSI evolver. Good memories.
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Co. Clare is so beautiful! When we got married, the in-laws paid for us to go to the Westport Festival (accomodation etc.) Totally fell in love with that side of Ireland - so much drama in the landscape!
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Www.adverts.ie is good for buy / selling gear, with checking out.