Information- Mailing money/gifts to Australia, Tasmania etc. (solution
found at end of post!)
Long post, but I did some searching and it was suggested I share the
information with the FML since we may get other cases of overseas
rescues posting to the FML.
Re sending money: I first looked into sending money out of the US at
my local US Post Office (International Money Orders) and got "Huh? We
don't know about international money orders". So I checked with my bank
and talked to a teller who was pretty helpful. She mentioned that doing
a transfer to the Australian/Tasmanian bank would be fairly easy (I
had done that when I bought the "ferret color coat book") if I got the
routing number of the recipient's bank. She said Western Union (the
other option) would probably need the same information. I checked and
found that yes, Western Union needs your bank's routing number and then
they also charge a fee for sending the money. Using my bank directly
seems better (they charge a small fee as well) since that seems to be
what Western Union uses anyway. In both cases you have to ask the
recipient for their routing number so that the money goes directly bank
to bank. I emailed Van Deman ferrets and asked if they wished to send a
routing number. I'll let you know how that works out. Also, I looked at
the only Australian ferret site I could find and did not see an online
commercial ferret store of the kind we have here, but I did see items
that had been imported and were available in Australia/Tasmania online
at <http://www.ferretshop.com.au/>http://www.ferretshop.com.au/
However, even if gifts go to Australia they then have to be
shipped/flown to Tasmania from the mainland. Tasmania is a beautiful
island (home of Tasmanian devils and the now extinct Tasmanian tiger)
and is an hour away from Australia by plane. So, I bought 4 light but
sturdy shallow boxes in my local Postal Annex and decided to pack them
with soft sacks/ tunnels and a few toys and treats and send them to
Tasmania. The Postal Annex guy said everything goes by air - they
don't send by ships anymore - that takes months!! He said they would
get to the destination by Christmas.
I checked the ferret sites here in the US: Ferret.com does ship
overseas - minimum order of $150 which is reasonable assuming the
hassle they have to go to ship internationally, but the warnings are
several - lots of good info and also this :- "Restrictions" Some items
sold by Ferret.com cannot be shipped internationally due to import
restrictions or size; for example pet food and products containing
animal by-products cannot be shipped internationally"
Ferret depot has the following more detailed information:
"International Shipping Information: Shipment to all countries is by
USPS only. Shipping and insurance charges will be determined when the
order is processed by connecting to the USPS website to get the most
up to date rates based on the weight of the products ordered and the
shipping destination. All USPS packages are insured. Larger
International orders requiring shipping quotes may take 2-3 days to
process. In some cases due to Postal Service package size and weight
restrictions to some International countries, additional packages are
necessary to process/ship the order completely. This may create
additional shipping charges to cover the cost of the extra packages.
If necessary, you will be notified of the additional amount needed
to process the order. Upon your approval, the additional amount will
be charged to your order and then processed/shipped. Customer is
responsible for all taxes and duties that will be collected at the
time of delivery.
International Shipping Methods & Estimated Shipping Times:
Shipping Method/Estimated Shipping Time:
Priority Mail International 6 - 10 business days (After day processed),
Express Mail International 3-5 business days (After day processed).
These are the United States Postal Service's estimated delivery times."
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So summarizing, I guess I could have just picked stuff from the two
stores (and probably Dr Foster and Smith) but with a minimum purchase
in one case, and probably a weight issue for any store in terms of
shipping costs it makes more sense in my case to send a boxes of
goodies by the local mail services. Shipping food would be darned
expensive.
BTW I noticed no UK requests from ferret lovers on the FML site. As
an ex Brit who left South Wales/UK in the 1970's I thought I'd check
about ferret food there - and found lots of UK ferret food available -
James Wellbeloved, Vitalin, Merlins, Alpha, Chudleys, and Science
Selective -- which has a nice website
(<http://www.supremepetfoods.com/furries/ferrets/>)
I also checked the UK for ferret rescues and found a great website:
<http://www.britishferretclub.org.uk/>
which has rescues listed for the UK, lists of ferret clubs and
information on housing (you can buy Ferret Nation and Marshall's cages
in the UK) and keeping ferrets. Lots of interesting information and it
sounds as though ferrets there now have a great network of ferret
enthusiasts!
PS just got an email from Nicole the Tasmanian ferret owner and she
suggested PayPal - I think that may work - I will let everyone know
when I have given it a try!
Meryl
[Posted in FML 7273]
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