Good news for BMOW fans from outside the United States: international shipping costs for most orders should now be substantially lower than before. I wrote about the pain of international shipping costs a few weeks ago, and ever since then it’s been on my mind. Since about half of all BMOW customers are outside the US, I want to do everything I can to make their shopping easy and inexpensive, and I’m glad I’ve finally been able to address the shipping issue.

So how did I do it? The weight-based shipping rates haven’t changed, and those are set by the US Postal Service. Since I can’t lower the postage cost for a given weight, I instead focused on reducing the weight for a given item by using ultra-light packaging material whenever possible. Instead of shipping international orders in bulky and heavy cardboard boxes, many orders will now ship in padded mailing envelopes with a triple-layer of bubble wrap inside to protect the contents. I’ve tested this to several different destination countries, and it’s proven to protect the contents just as well as a box. Lower weight means lower shipping costs, so everybody wins.

International shipping costs for typical orders will be 40% cheaper thanks to this change. Most orders will now fall under the critical 0.5 pound threshold where higher postage rates take effect. Overseas customers will see typical shipping costs reduced from $24.25 to $15.25, and Canadian customers will see a reduction from $17.00 to $11.00. Hooray!