I am considering having a buffalo backskin used to make a rifle case and pistol case in Bulawayo. I've asked a number of times what the DHL cost might be, since they indicated that could be the mode of transport. The answer has been.............silence. I don't know whether that means they don't know, don't care, or don't think I will like the answer. Anyone had any such experience they could share?

Several years ago we shipped a box of curios etc. from the Vic falls hotel by DHL and reached a deal on price with their local rep. Upon arrival stateside the price about tripled and they wouldn't budge.
The only answer was a lawsuit, so I paid. But never, never again will I do business with DHL. Just my experience, good luck!

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a deal on price with their local rep.

Huh..?? Must be African DHL...

We ONLY ship DHL International Express. It's half the price of UPS, get's there everytime on time, usually 36 hours tops door to door (which is about a week faster than UPS)

Never heard of anyone having to negotiate a shipping price.....

Long story but when I was in S.Africa in '07 one of my bags ended up in the Virgin Islands. As luck would have it all my Snuff ( Skoal ) was in THAT bag.
Well apperently that particular nasty habit is not common in SA, I couldn't find anything nasty to chew and spit! Soooooo.......I called home and for $120.00 got a friend to send me a few boxes via DHL. 24 hours is what they claimed. It actually showed up about a week AFTER my 10 day hunt was over and I was back home in Texas.

Go figger?????? It's Africa, Baby!

Third world customs don't help. When I say 24 hours I mean from the US West coast to a NATO/EU country ...

SKOAL ...

I grew up in the south/midwest where chewin' & spittin' was normal stuff. Here you'd look like a leper doin' that.

Mac, I didn't say we negotiated a price.
The DHL I tefer to was neither african or American but was owned by deutche post or the german post office. As far as I know they failed in the US. If they work for you enjoy!

Damit JTEX, how did you go 10 days without skoal? I don't think I could go that long without my COPE. Wonder if I can put in my carry on.

Well it was pretty tuff! I had about three boxes in my carry on, I made those last for about five days, then my PH had a five year old unopened box of cherry Skoal on his mantle as a momento from another client years ago. I decided he was gonna lose that trophy. I re-hydrated that with a touch of Crown Royal ( Man that stuff was NASTY ) made that last a couple of days. Then lo and behold on the next to last day the errant bag made it to Port Elizabeth. Man was my wife relieved, she said I was gettin' a touch testy. I don't think I would have survived the flight back without snuff!

I learned an important lesson from that. This year I am gonna pack a full supply in my guncase, another full supply in both bags and another full stash in carry on.

My wife is a genious, just ask her, she packed everything half and half. Half of each of our clothes in each bag, half my Bourbon in each bag but all my snuff in one bag. That little episode damn near caused a divorce. 23 years down the tube.

I was lookin' for a witch Dr. to give her to, but the only one I met I liked.

Lesson learned!

That's funny!

OTOH, I workd in Africa for many years, mainly based in Kenya, Ethiopia and Angola. We always used DHL and had great service. We shipped some small, critical aircraft parts via DHL and got them quickly. That was over ten years ago, though, so times have obviously changed.

They have discontinued service in the US, IIRC, but I guess they're still doing overseas stuff.

Their web site shows an estimated transit time to South Africa of 3 days. They seem to be continuing their International service.

They no longer have domestic US service. As a foreign owned company I understand they were not permitted to fly city-to-city in the US and had to contract that out to others, which doesn't seem to be very practical.

We use DHL sending parts from Singapore to the rig in Papua. Most of the lost time is sitting in Customs in Jakarta waiting for Customs to decide how much money they think they can get off us.

Come on guys!!! Help me pay for my safari, I work for UPS.

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Originally posted by James Cardwell:
Come on guys!!! Help me pay for my safari, I work for UPS.

So does my ex-girlfriend. That's why I use FedEx!

Our company tried to switch from UPS to DHL. That crap lasted about 2 months and we went back to UPS.

DHL = Day and a Half Late!!!