Ask Slashdot: Package Redirection Service For Shipping to Australia? 206
An anonymous reader writes "I've recently moved continents, and one of the things I've noticed is the lack of the latest technology, as well as high prices for books and other goods here in Australia. I'm looking at package redirection services from the US, and there's a bewildering array of offerings, at a wide range of prices. What should I look out for? I'm hoping to reduce overall shipping costs to, but obviously worried about costs to deliver mostly empty boxes (yes, I'm talking about you, Amazon), damage to electrical goods from rough handling, packages going missing (does everything have to be registered post or tracked?), import duties (I'm not buying anything that should attract import duty, but still...) and overall costs (I'm not going to be buying frequently, just occasionally). What have other slashdot readers used, and what would they recommend?"
Re: welcome to the socialist wonderland (Score:3, Interesting)
Double? Try 20% more nominal, and 19% less (PPP).
For many of us, the cost of living in Australia is vastly more expensive. An example: we in Australia pay approximately double per litre of petrol (gasoline) - which, for those of us who don't live in major metropolitan areas and have to make a 110km round trip to get to work and back every day, makes for a very big hit in the back pocket.
Re:welcome to the socialist wonderland (Score:2, Interesting)
>The money is actually being transfered from the wealthy to the poor in terms of tax credits, entitlements, etc. The wealthy are getting richer because they have the capital to leverage technology and make even more money.
Remember when you talk about the poor in the states, you're talking about an ever growing % of your population. People aren't getting dumber, so something must be happening...
Here is what a person representing a rich and powerful company says about it: Lisa Shalett, chief investment officer at Merrill Lynch Wealth Management noted that, "for the last two decades and especially in the current period, ... productivity soared ... [but] U.S. real average hourly earnings are essentially flat to down, with today’s inflation-adjusted wage equating to about the same level as that attained by workers in 1970. ... So where have the benefits of technology-driven productivity cycle gone? Almost exclusively to corporations and their very top executives." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_inequality_in_the_United_States#Post-1980_rise_in_inequality)
Think about that for a moment. Your real GDP has about tripled in that time. In terms of real wages, you'd expect to be earning about 3x as much now compared to 1970. But the income for most North Americans hasn't changed in real terms for FORTY years...