Small Scale Military Headquarters

This information is for the collectors of HM Tanks in the UK

The recent RM postage charges looked to be affecting all 1/72 Tanks as far as postage goes.

All Tanks seem to be on or about 8cm thick thus stopping the use of the small parcel and making postage of these products in the new medium parcel of £5.65. or about $9.00 for one tank.

In all the RM clap trap there is a small exception to the rule.

Any box with a dim of 16cm or less in any direction and under 2kgs can be sent as a small parcel for about £2.40 ($3.50)

HM Tanks are generally 15cm long (super pershing is the only HM Vehicle you cannot send in small Parcel

HM 1/48 are about 12cm long

We packed two of the general HM tanks with a careful bit of packing, kicked it round the warehouse (post office test) no damage to the models. Took it to the post office and it meets the new small parcel, just but just is all you need. So a trader can send two HM tanks in the UK for about £3.00.

HM competitors sizes are as follows

Warmaster 19cm

Dragon new models 19cm

Easy Models 20cm does not matter if they are as light as air they are over 16cm

Ex Magazine Models Altya Ixo 19cm

So all HM competitor may be cheaper (not Dragon) but over twice the price to post.

As a Billy bonus our Panzerstahl range is also the same size as HM so they can go as well.

The competitors may be only a few cm longer but it may as well be a a Foot

On a foot note Logistics is some thing we have always looked at for the trader and end user, the HM Harrier is in a box over twice as small as the Corgi Version, this may seem trival to some but on-line retail is now a fact of life and large boxes full of fresh air will now suffer under new postage prices.

Corgi will release a Vulcan in 1/72 and it will be in a very large box, this new postal system is in one fowl swoop taking out the smaller trader as the larger companies like Tiger Hobbies could send this in the UK post free as it will only cost me £4.00 or £5.00 but the smaller trader it could cost £30.00. Already some small traders have shut down their web site until they can sort out the post problem.

IMHO models will be sold in future by fewer outlets on line as the large companies get much better rates thus capture the market. Also private collector selling their collection is going to become much harder, no use selling your model for £60,00 only to have £15,00 to post it when others can do it for £3.00.

It is a shame as we all had to start small and in the past the RM provided a service at reasonable cost for all now there are huge gaps in the rates for the larger companies and smaller companies.

We were lucky with the tanks but you need a bit of luck now and again.

I bought 5 tanks from Maryland U.S, which is a few states over from CT. and it cost me $18 (11.74 GBP) for shipping. It cost me 8.95 GBP ($13.73) for 5 tanks from the U.K. which is over seas. ??? Hard to figure out sometimes.

JJVan wrote:I bought 5 tanks from Maryland U.S, which is a few states over from CT. and it cost me $18 (11.74 GBP) for shipping. It cost me 8.95 GBP ($13.73) for 5 tanks from the U.K. which is over seas. ??? Hard to figure out sometimes.

Possible reasons for high US shipping cost:

A. Depending on where you are located. It's not just the shipping distance. If you are located in a remote area, a shipping carrier will charge more. It's common to see a higher shipping cost from CA to middle of America than CA to NY. This is especially true of non USPS, such as FedEx, UPS, etc. USPS is cheaper, because they are NOT allowed to charge the actual shipping cost.

On the side note, before anybody make fun of US Postal Service's financial problem, be grateful. If they are allowed to charge the actual shipping cost, most of their financial problem will be immediately solved. I do not work nor affiliated with USPS. I am a private diecast collector who became a fan USPS.

B. $18 shipping cost for 5 (1/72?) tanks is extremely high. Unless you are located in a really remote area, the shipping cost should have been $9-$12 (by USPS). The seller probably marked up the shipping cost.

An interesting and informative post, Captain Tiger.

Being in Canada, postage is always a factor in my purchases. Our US friends usually get "free shipping", at least from online retailers, but I need to consider the shipping cost when making a purchase. And these shipping costs can vary greatly from country to country.

I have purchased a few models from the UK, but only from dealers such as yourself. The shipping cost for an ordinary Ebay sale is usually prohibitive. The worst example I have seen was for the Corgi 1/32 Mosquito{ "Oboe" Pathfinder bomber }, which a few years ago would cost 90 GBP, or about $150. Just kills the deal. Granted, it is a very large box, but $150 for shipping?

Shipping from Australia is also extremely expensive, but strangely from China or Japan, it is about the same price as having it shipped from the US. Go figure.

I find it interesting that dealers seem to get much better rates than the average citizen, and on one hand that is good, but doesn't seem fair to somebody selling a couple of things on Ebay.

Royal Mail is pretty bad, but Canada Post is outrageous, for overseas delivery. Heard it is the worst for any developed country from a few people. I sold a 1/18 F-18 Hornet, and the shipping to Switzerland was $300! It gets better. I was going to sell a spare 1/32 Corgi Mosquito to a forum friend who lives in Johannesburg, South Africa. To ship to the capitol of South Africa was $700!!!!. That's right, $700. Needless to say, that deal didn't go through.

Thanks for your post about the new Royal Mail rules. As if they weren't expensive enough already.