Hi,

Does anyone have any experience or knowledge of shipping items back home?

For instance how long, expensive, and reliable is it to ship a 25kg+ box of clothing and other personal items to the USA from Kunming.

Thanks in advance for any replies.

Try sending it with EMS. They have small boxes that are easier to send than boxes with most other courier services.

You will probably need to break your stuff into two or three boxes to get it back.

The limit for shipping with China Post is 30kg, so 25kg should be fine.

Cost isn't too bad via surface, probably about 1000rmb, but it'll take several months and tracking doesn't update regularly (if at all). Airmail to the US is taking ~3-5 weeks these days, but it'll cost over 2000rmb for that weight.

Better yet, you can check out all the options and retail pricing here: www.ems.com.cn/freight_prescription

Outside of the start of the pandemic, I've never encountered a lost package to the US when sending via China Post. But I've also rarely sent via surface or SAL.

Thanks.

Great info.

I've sent overseas by this method a few times and have never lost a box, but I have had the boxes quite badly damaged in transit. Make sure that you pack the boxes with some pretty rough handling in mind.

That's a good point - international packages can get pretty beat up, so anything delicate should be well padded (air tubes are amazing, but wrapping in clothes could help to) or double boxed inside. 5 ply carboard and lots of padding it a must.