Australia Post delivers Australian shoppers an early Christmas present

Australia Post gives Australian shoppers US address and cheap postage

Mike King

Mike King is a Fool.com.au Investment Analyst and Writer. He caught the investing bug more than a decade ago, at a time when the U.S. had invaded Iraq and fear reigned in the markets. His initial success as the markets took off encouraged his passion and thirst for knowledge. With 13 years behind him at one of Australia's largest domestic banks, Mike's passion for stocks led him to join a boutique funds management firm, where he stayed for four years. A seven-year stint in equity research at one of the largest investment banks in the world followed that, giving Mike a thirst to pursue his passion further. Mike holds a Diploma in Applied Finance and Investment and a Graduate Certificate in Financial Planning. His passion is to help retail investors invest better, and that passion was one of his primary reasons for joining The Motley Fool Australia in late 2011. Mike has written thousands of articles since joining, including for Fairfax Media, Yahoo!7, Ninemsn and has also appeared on ABC's The Business. You can see all of Mikes' holdings here

Published November 5, 2014 3:22 pm AEDT

Ever wanted to buy goods from the US, but gave up when you got to the realised what the shipping fee would be?

I know I've gone through the process of ordering something online from a US store, then got to the order part and realised the shipping charge was, in some cases, multiples of the price of the product.

Well, Australia Post has started a new service that could put an end to that.

The ShopMate service allows subscribers to have their parcels sent to their "US Address", actually an Australia Post warehouse in Oregon, and then forwarded to their Australian address, for a fraction of the usual shipping rates.

Australia Post will charge a base rate of $24.95 per parcel, with a weight rate of $5.95 per 500 grams. As an example, you could order a pair of men's or women's sneakers and pay around $60.65 for delivery.

Even better, if you order more than one parcel, you get a discount of $10.00 off each subsequent parcel. Items shipped via ShopMate are automatically covered for loss or damage, up to the value of $5,000, but shoppers can add extra insurance if needed.

Unfortunately, if you want to order an item longer than 1.05 metres in length, you're out of luck. Looks like I won't be ordering that new Sony widescreen television anytime soon.

And then there's the list of dangerous and prohibited items you can't buy, including ink cartridges, precious metals and gemstones, alcoholic products or beverages and nail polish.

Still, I imagine many shoppers may jump at the chance to order goods from US stores, given the prices consumers are charged in Australia. But it does seem a little strange that a government organisation is encouraging Australian shoppers to shop overseas.

What it may also cause is an an uproar from Australian retailers, including the likes of Myer Holdings Limited (ASX: MYR), JB Hi-Fi Limited (ASX: JBH), Dick Smith Holdings Limited (ASX: DSH) and OrotonGroup Limited (ASX: ORL).

You could certainly imagine products that show the widest range in prices between Australia and the US, such as consumer electronics products and fashion items will be amongst the most popular packages.

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