April 18th 2016 - On April 10th the US Postal Service consolidated and raised rates on First Class International Package (known to the rest of the world as Small Packet). They consolidated 22 different weight classes down to 4. Under the old system most weight classes ran 4 oz, so over 4 and up to 8 oz would ship at one price then over 8 and up to 12 would ship at another, and so on up to 4 lbs after which Small Packet stopped and you had to ship Priority International. Under the new regime, the first weight class is 8 oz and less, the second runs from over 8 oz to 2 lbs, and the last two run up to 3 and 4 pounds respectively. Rates for Priority International also went up. 

So how does this affect the international shipping costs on bottleopenerdude.com? Glad you asked! In some cases there is not much change at all. For instance, a single wall mount bottle opener weighing 5 or 6 oz going to Canada, the shipping cost is the same: $9.03US. A few of the wall mount bottle openers and most of the key chain openers ship at 4 oz. These would have shipped at $7.75 under the old rates, but now will ship at the $9.03 as they eliminated the 4 oz and under rate. Unfortunately it is the orders of multiple openers which will get really tricky because of the consolidation. Using Canada again as an example:

2 5oz wall mount openers (10oz) - Old rate $10.30, New rate $14.73

3 5oz wall mount openers (15oz) - Old rate $11.75, New rate $14.73

4 5oz wall mount openers (20oz) - Old rate $13.20, New rate $14.73

5 5oz wall mount openers (25oz) - Old rate $16.10, New rate $14.73

6 5oz wall mount openers (30oz) - Old rate $17.55, New rate $14.73

7 5oz wall mount openers (35oz) - Old rate $19.00, New rate $23.28

So, for Canada, if you are ordering 2 or 3 openers there will be a bit of a price shock. Ordering 5 or 6 will be a little less, and ordering one will be the same. Please take the above with a grain of salt: different openers have different weights, as do cap catchers and the many other things I sell on this site. The vast majority of the wall mount openers, however, do ship at 5 or 6 ounces. International rates for countries other than Canada will follow this same pattern, albeit at higher dollar amounts. 

Ok, what if you are putting in a big order that will ship at over 4 lbs and thus not be eligible for Small Packet? For Canada, the rates went up 4 to 7 dollars per weight class, which thankfully just runs up in one pound units. For international other than Canada, mostly the same. So expect to pay a couple of bucks more than you did last month for larger orders that ship Priority International.

For a breakdown on all the shipping rates, Domestic and International, click on the link at the top of any page on the site marked SHIPPING or just click on this: https://www.bottleopenerdude.com/pages/shipping

Did you actually read all the way down to the bottom of this post? Amazing! Though really, I would think you could find something better to do with your time than read my ramblings about international shipping. Well, since you made it this far, and are probably bummed about the extra shipping costs, use coupon code “ USPSSUCKS “ at check out for a 12 percent discount on anything in the store. This code is good through May 2016. I hope you enjoy the site and thanks for reading! 

Dean