If you’ve been following me for awhile...
...you already know that I’m kind of crazy.
For at least 4 years, I’ve had this dream of having my own AirBnb or a hostel. I refer to it as my "hostel-house."
The crazy part of this is that for the last 4 years, I’ve been buying unique decor items from the countries I visit for my non-existent Airbnb, because I want it to stand out from other listings.
I literally justify my purchases by saying “It’s for my hostel-house.”
Yeah, the one that doesn’t exist.
Hello, looney bin.
I got rid of a lot of my stuff because of Marie Kondo’s “The Magic Of Tidying Up” book (if you haven’t heard of it, it’s a book that helps you throw out all the excess crap you don’t need, so that you can feel better as a human).
I mean, I wanted to downsize anyway, but listening to it on audiotape WHILE cleaning out your house helps you get rid of a LOT of things...
...because you’re tossing stuff to the rhythm of her voice cheering you on, telling you to just get over hodling all of your crap.
Anyway, I think presentation and being unique is super important when it comes to renting out a room/apartment to someone.
So that’s how I end up buying things for my invisible non-existent “business” when I don’t even have a permanent place of residence.
Marie Kondo would yell at me so hard if she knew. Please don’t tell.
It really makes no sense that I buy these things when I have nowhere to live...
But I already told you I was crazy.
It would make more logical sense to wait until I knew what country, city or state I wanted my hostel-house in, but again... crazy.
Now I’m 6 months into my Asia trip and I’ve been traveling with just a 20-inch carry-on suitcase (definitely regret not bringing my hiking backpack instead) and a school backpack.
I’ve finally come to the point where my suitcase is too full for me to feel comfortable with, but I’m going to be traveling for at least several more months.
It’s just that Vietnam has some AMAZING hostel-house items that would be hard to find anywhere else. I even checked the internet to see if I could order some of this from home and the answer was no.
Thailand and Bali have some amazing things, too.
So I ended up with some really unique fabric lanterns, pillow cases, an oven mitt, and pen holder.
Add that to the random things that I’ve gotten because, well, my friends in Indonesia gave me several things before I left Bali. My friend in Thailand got me some random stuff for my birthday. And my friend from the US brought me a banana suit.
And then I had the steem dress made in Hoi An.
And now I have too much stuff because I didn’t leave any extra room in my suitcase for all of these unexpected things to happen.
All I’m saying is I should’ve listened to my own travel advice!!
So, I frantically searched the interwebs for tips on how to ship from Vietnam to the US on the cheap, because it has to be worth it for me to do that.
Apparently, a lot of other people have this question, too, but it hasn’t really been answered clearly or updated in any forums since around 2009.
So, I wanted to help answer your questions in case you're looking for info that you can't find, and you're feeling overwhelmed like I was.
You can relax now because I've got your back!
What’s the cheapest way to ship from Vietnam to the United States?
As long as you’re not in a hurry to get your things, sea shipping from the regular post office is by far the cheapest option!!
I went to the Saigon Central Post office and shipped from there, but it seems you can get these same rates from other cities like Hanoi, Hue, Hoi An and even Da Nang.
I thought it was the perfect choice because it just so happens that this post office is also a tourist destination, and one of the main attractions that people see when they’re in Ho Chi Minh City (aka Saigon).
Cool, right?
It even has a huge souvenir shop with things like this inside:
So, I figured I’d kill 2 birds with one stone, and go explore that area...
...while also getting my errands done.
I’m staying in District 1 about 8 minutes from the post office, and my grab car cost 28k (a little over $1 USD) to drop me off at the post office.
I literally walked in there with a backpack and an extra bag full of stuff and asked for a list of different prices. A bonus of going to the post office in Saigon is since it’s such a tourist spot, all of the workers speak pretty good English!
Okay, so how much does it cost?
The nice lady at the counter showed me these white and blue price sheets.
White is for air shipping, which I promptly ignored because I won’t be back in the states for 3-4 months anyway, so sea is perfect! It takes about 3-4 months to get to the US by sea shipping.
I’m a sea girl, I guess.
Blue sheet for blue ocean= sea shipping? That's how I'd remember it, anyway.
So, here's the blue sheet sides 1 & 2:
What the heck does that blue sheet even mean?
Lemme break it down for ya.
Basically, the first kilogram you send costs 412,900 VND (Vietnamese Dong) to send if you're sending to the US. That number changes depending on what country you want to send to.
If you're sending to the UK, for example, the price for the 1st kg would be 598,200 VND.
Every kg after the first one will cost 138,900 to the US.
So, for 5.5 kg for me, it was 138,900 x 4.5 (625,050) + 412,900 for a total of: $1,037,590 VND.
Add in the packaging fee, which was pretty cheap, the new grand total is:
You pay the same rate whether you’re sending to the east coast, midwest, or west coast. The entire US is considered one zone, and therefore it’s all the same price.
I essentially paid $50 today to send 5.5kg to the west coast. That included the packaging fee, the box, bubble wrap, tracking number and most importantly, customs clearance.
Sometimes if you ship stuff by sea you can get hit with a surprise fee once it arrives in the destination country. I don’t have to worry about that. Everything is taken care of! I made sure to ask about it.
Do they accept credit or debit card?
That would be a big fat no.
I had to shell out over a million Dongs.
If you want to be an instant millionaire, just come to Vietnam:
Do I have to pick up my package at a sea port?
Nah, dude. The other nice thing about this option is that even though it’s shipped by sea, they send it door-to-door, meaning it will arrive at your doorstep!
No dealing with sea pirates, for you!
Make sure to send the package to someone who will be there to sign for it!
If that’s you, then send it to yourself. If you won’t be back by the time your package arrives, make sure to send it to the name of someone that you know who can sign!
Otherwise, they will send your stuff BACK to Vietnam (eeeek). I'm going to link it to Quora and other travel forums where people keep asking this question.
I hope this post helped someone!!!