UKC

This advert popped up

https://www.sendmybag.com/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAmpyRBhC-ARIsABs2EArnG4lRqu_odsVCEr...

I have often considered looking in to shipping my gear ahead of a flight out to save on baggage costs and airport hassle. 

Anyone ever done it or used this or a similar carrier? 

Only when I sent my daughter's massive wheelie suitcase up to Aberdeen from the Midlands by parcel post (suitably wrapped to make it resemble a parcel since suitcases are banned for some reason). It was a big heavy parcel but under £15 to send which is a lot lot cheaper than fuel costs. So, yes, a good idea if you need to shift a lot of weight but otherwise why not carry? 

Conversely, if you ship stuff from the UK to Europe chances are you'll get stung for import taxes. A quick eyeball also suggests that they actually charge more than a checked bag on most airlines. Only looked at my own use case - £39 to ship 23kg, vs £30 to put that 23kg on the same plane as me. Personally I'd rather deal with a wait at an airport than an entire day at home waiting for a package to turn up.

When bolting in Sicily and Albania I used to send stuff out in advance, often not successfully. Once your gear is sent you are a hostage to fortune, thefts, delays at customs, random custom and handling charges and the local  carriers might make Hermes seem like a good reliable carrier. We knew our glue was in Marsala, but they wouldn't deliver to San Vito lo Capo as they didnt have a van full!

I took 3x 20 kilo bags to Albania with BA as hold baggage and it was definitely the best option.

I considered it with a souvenir (large vase) I bought in Mycenae on a rest day outing from Leonidio. As it turned out paying the extra luggage fee for a second bag on the flight home from Athens cost about the same as the postage would have done, with less worry for me about when/whether it would arrive.

At the moment the chaos in air-freight rates means to somewhere like the US it's cheaper as extra baggage than with a courier and there's no extra hassle with air safety and customs.

One May we posted all our climbing gear back to Kalymnos from the Peleonesse as we were headed back to the UK - the cost was €1:50. The lady at the Post Office said it would be fine as long as we didn't need it before the autumn

Chris