mantis0014:I'm a courier in Australia.... delivering parcels to people from Fedex, Dhl and Ups.... They are the main ones.... People are getting parcels from the US in 3 days over here now at a very small delivery price. It's cheaper for us to buy things overseas over the Net than to walk down the street and buy something in Australia.
I see it from my perspective as an importer, wholesaler and some retail. For small items I am happy to use my account to bring in small packages as the ease of less paperwork is appealing.
For heavy and bulky items it is not commercial viable to use the likes of Fedex, DHL or UPS as the cost is high. Occasionally I will revert to using them but the cost can be up to $200 for a box weighing 30kg. If there are a lot of items in that box it is viable, if it is one or two items the value of the product must warrant it. Otherwise it is a container via sea shipping.
As for the companies mentioned, they often have their own aircraft, pilots, maintenance, landing fees, fuel etc, (and it is a hell of a flight schedule doing freight) so need a lot of packages to make it viable.
But I concur often prices are cheaper (depending on the weight and volume of the goods) (including freight) buying from overseas and there is no GST to pay. But depending on where the items are coming from, the quality can be poor, no comeback for the consumer and occasionally are dangerous.