How Long Does It Take To Send Something To The U.K.?

When you want to send something overseas to a foreign country, you might be wondering about what you can and cannot send, and how long it may take to reach the person to whom you are sending something. For the sake of argument, let's say that you are interested in shipping to the U.K. from the U.S. Some of the questions you (and other people) may have about sending something so far away follow, as well as the answers to those questions. 

What Does It Cost to Send Something to the U.K.?

It should come as no surprise that any postal system anywhere has varying prices for what you want to ship and what you are sending. The United Kingdom, remember, includes Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and all of England. In the midst of all of those countries and isles, you have varying prices. Add to that the cost of sending a standard letter for correspondence versus sending a 20-pound (9.1 kg) package, and you have quite the shift in prices. Thankfully, the U.S. postal service is able to tell you what it will cost, even though you do not know what the shipping costs would be in, say, London, England. Your nearest post office can set your letter or package on the scale, type in "air mail" to the city, county, and country of origin, and give you exact postage. 

How Long Does It Take to Get There?

Almost all packages, large envelopes, and letters sent to the U.K. go "par avion," or by air/air mail. It will take about three to five days to pass from your post office to an air mail hub. There, it is sorted and loaded onto a plane bound for the U.K. That is typically a six-hour flight, although it could be longer depending on what time zone you are in in the U.S. Once the air mail arrives at a British airport, postal trucks pick up all of the mail from the airport. All of the mail is trucked to a sorting hub, where every piece is screened to ensure that it passes customs and is safe to continue on for delivery. This process may take a few more days, depending on what you sent, and how long it takes the postal carriers at the British hub to screen the mail. 

By now, about a week has passed. If your sent items are not to be delivered to anyone in London, then the items pass on to a local post office where it is sorted yet again to be sent out on another truck to the destination city. Another day may pass, possibly two. Once all of the things you sent have arrived in their destination city (or cities), then it goes through another sorting process to prepare it for delivery to the recipient. A day or two later, the recipient receives the item you sent, so it could take "up to a fortnight" (i.e., up to two weeks) from the date you sent it to the day when the recipient receives it.