How to Send 4 Books to USA from Ukraine?

[Sarah543]

Hello Fellow Expats!

I hope you are all doing well and are staying healthy!

I have an urgent question.

What is the best way to send 4 books from Ukraine to the USA?

I went to the local post office. I was told that, due to COVID, I need to go to some post office in a village called "Velika Bakta". They told me I need to get a special "spravka" for the books first.

They would not give me an address or a telephone number.

I know enough about life in Ukraine not to just go somewhere without exact information and preferably a personal contact! I value my TIME.

I have searched the internet in Ukrainian, Russian, and English. I found one telephone number for this little village poshta, called it, and of course I got a message saying the number is no longer in service.

WTF? But this is Ukraine.....

QUESTIONS:

1. Do any of you have any experience sending anything out of Ukraine?
2. Is it true that there are special rules, due to COVID?

If you can share your thoughts and experiences, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thank you in advance!

Sarah

[Tnic]

Spravka for books?  What kind of books are these anyway?  Original Gutenberg bibles?

Barring that, I seem to recall that Nova Poshta now ships Intl as well as Meest, whom I've used on several occasions to get some comfort items shipped here to UA.

https://novaposhta.ua/international_delivery/chastnym_klientam_md

https://us.meest.com/services/service/from-ukraine-to-us

Hey UKUA  neener neenr neener   

[fabula_rasa]

I can confirm that Nova Poshta works fine and quite fast. And much cheaper than standarn curier service like UPS.

As to the other thing: I'm sending stuff abroad all the time and I never heard of any special covid rules. I'm quite sure that whoever you were dealing withwas either lazy or just incompetent. Or both

[AkMike]

The Nova Poshta does send and recieve to the States. If you're having trouble with the locals at UKR go to the New Post. But UKR has been good to us.
 I do not know what a sparvka is. But you are not allowed to send antiquities out of Ukraine by law. IIRC they define thata as anything over 50 years old. Maybe something to do with that?

[Sarah543]

Spravka for books?  What kind of books are these anyway?  Original Gutenberg bibles?

Barring that, I seem to recall that Nova Poshta now ships Intl as well as Meest, whom I've used on several occasions to get some comfort items shipped here to UA.

https://novaposhta.ua/international_delivery/chastnym_klientam_md

https://us.meest.com/services/service/from-ukraine-to-us

Hey UKUA  neener neenr neener   

Thanks for your reply. I want to send 4 hard-backed copies of a book I wrote and published in 2004 (by a university press). They are still in plastic. Together they weigh just about 5 kilos. I am in a town outside of Uzhgorod. Does Meest have an office anywhere around here?

There is a small Nova Poshta office here, but it seems to be only for receiving parcels, not sending them. Do you have direct experience sending something out of Ukraine from one of the Nova Poshta offices?

There is only one small Ukrpochta office here, and I'm getting this weird story that I have to go to a small village (Velika Bakta) -- population of 1,050 -  for a "spravka" (certificate), due to COVID. They would not even give me the address. I found one on the internet, but their phone number is dead.

I can easily see myself shelling out for a taxi there and back, only to find out they have no idea what i am talking about. I really don't want to waste my time. I have had enough crazy things happen to me here, enough to fill several bestselling book manuscripts. 

Thank you so much for your thoughts and advice.

Sarah

[Sarah543]

I can confirm that Nova Poshta works fine and quite fast. And much cheaper than standarn curier service like UPS.

As to the other thing: I'm sending stuff abroad all the time and I never heard of any special covid rules. I'm quite sure that whoever you were dealing withwas either lazy or just incompetent. Or both

Thanks. I asked for some kind of documentation, and she refused. She would also not even establish eye contact.

Are you in a major city? Is anyone here living in a smaller city and heard this story--that one needs an anti-COVID certificate in order to send a small parcel, like 4 books, out of Ukraine?

Thank you!

Sarah

[AkMike]

Nova Poshta sends both directions always. Use google to look for a Meest near you. Since you know that there's a Nova Poshta It'd be a waste to taxi anywhere to mess with UkrPoshta. They might be a bit cheaper but the hassle isn't worth it IMO.

[Sarah543]

UPDATE:

Well I lost lots of hryvni in taxi fares and lots of lost time.

1. I went to two separate Nova Poshta offices and was told the same: WE DO NOT SEND ANYTHING TO THE UNITED STATES. They send only to cities inside Ukraine and a couple of countries like Moldova.


2. On the internet it stated that there was a Meest office in this town. No one picked up at the telephone number listed. Took a taxi there, and it happened to be an Okko gas station. They had no idea about any Meest office.

3. The woman at Okko then gave me the address of a small Ukrpochta office in a nearby (smaller) town.

Got there. Office was closed. (It was around 2 pm).

4. Took the taxi back to the original Ukrpochta office. There was a different woman there, and she calmly started to process my order. Then another woman came by, Magda, an old acquaintance, and she starts loudly saying, "Oh, it's Sarah from Amerika".

So then the Bitch walked over and asked for my "dozvil" [authorization] for sending the books.

Back to Square One.

5. I asked to see documentation that I could not send a 5 kilo package of 4 books to the US. She again starts talking about this little village "Velika Bakta" of 1,000 inhabitants where i need to go get the "dozvil".

Another woman comes out and shows me a book published in 2007 apparently saying that it is prohibited to send all printed material out of Ukraine.

They would not show me any documentation about this Velika Bakta bullpoop.

So anyway, that is my experience. I'm in a small town outside of Uzhgorod. Those of you insisting to me that Nova Poshta sends internationally: maybe you are all in modern Kyiv, or maybe you really have not sent much overseas recently.

All I know is what you are telling me and what these people are telling me do not mesh, and it is frustrating as hell! 

Sarah

[fabula_rasa]

Hey Sarah!
Your experience does seem awful. And very much like many experiences with any official offices in any post-soviet country .

I am in Kyiv, yes. You can't just go into a Nova Poshta office and send international packadge, it's a special service that you sort of need to order. It's described in detail under that link that Tnic provided you in this topic at the beginning (https://novaposhta.ua/international_delivery/chastnym_klientam_md).
In short, how Nova Poshta international delivery works is:
1. You need to register yourself at: https://new.novaposhta.ua/
2. You need to create your order there. You fill out some basic info about what you are sending and so on.
3. That is reviewed by someone (fast during working hours). You can see the status on the site. They sometimes call while doing that review. But it's Ukraine, they love their phonecalls .
4. Your future packadge is asigned a number and all that and you can go to Nova Postha to send it.
5. In the actual office, you can just scan your client card from your phone app (or give them your assigned packadge number), pay and give them the packadge.

And that's it. At least that's how it works here in Kyiv. 

I never tried to send books. But Nova Poshta also provides (under the same link that Tnic gave you, at the very bottom of the page) a full list of prohibited items that they will not accept for sending. There is nothing about general printed materials there. Antiquities, so old books, are forbidden. And identification documents. But your books are neither. See full list: https://novaposhta.ua/uploads/misc/doc/forbidden_goods_uk.pdf

[Ted]

Maybe these guys will help.... https://www.ups.com/ua/en/Home.page
or DHL https://www.dhl.com/ua-uk/home.html

Both have offices in Kyiv. I mean, look, you are looking to send something to the USA, why not use a proven real international service that sends and delivers even through Ukraine, instead of some Ukrainian company? 

I really dislike DHL, but I would trust them to deliver. The only drawbacks is that yo have to deal with Ukrainians first.

[fabula_rasa]

I really dislike DHL, but I would trust them to deliver. The only drawbacks is that yo have to deal with Ukrainians first.

And I really dislike UPS 
I have a true horror story experience with them delivering to us a piece of hardware we backed on Indiegogo. After that, I would not trust them with delivering my trash to the nerest trashcan 

[UKUA]

Hey UKUA  neener neenr neener   

Hey Tnic, what's a neener?

The Urban dictionary suggests:

Neener-neener

A childish taunt or jeer pronounced with a nasal sneer, for lack of a more intelligent retort to someone else's jeer or taunt, usually from a peer. Sometimes sung to the tune of "Ring-Around-the-Rosy" for really driving the point home.

[Ted]

I really dislike DHL, but I would trust them to deliver. The only drawbacks is that yo have to deal with Ukrainians first.

And I really dislike UPS 
I have a true horror story experience with them delivering to us a piece of hardware we backed on Indiegogo. After that, I would not trust them with delivering my trash to the nerest trashcan 

Well looks like DHL then! Forget the Goat Cart Delivery system in Ukraine.

[Tnic]

UPDATE:

Well I lost lots of hryvni in taxi fares and lots of lost time.

1. I went to two separate Nova Poshta offices and was told the same: WE DO NOT SEND ANYTHING TO THE UNITED STATES. They send only to cities inside Ukraine and a couple of countries like Moldova.


2. On the internet it stated that there was a Meest office in this town. No one picked up at the telephone number listed. Took a taxi there, and it happened to be an Okko gas station. They had no idea about any Meest office.

3. The woman at Okko then gave me the address of a small Ukrpochta office in a nearby (smaller) town.

Got there. Office was closed. (It was around 2 pm).

4. Took the taxi back to the original Ukrpochta office. There was a different woman there, and she calmly started to process my order. Then another woman came by, Magda, an old acquaintance, and she starts loudly saying, "Oh, it's Sarah from Amerika".

So then the Bitch walked over and asked for my "dozvil" [authorization] for sending the books.

Back to Square One.

5. I asked to see documentation that I could not send a 5 kilo package of 4 books to the US. She again starts talking about this little village "Velika Bakta" of 1,000 inhabitants where i need to go get the "dozvil".

Another woman comes out and shows me a book published in 2007 apparently saying that it is prohibited to send all printed material out of Ukraine.

They would not show me any documentation about this Velika Bakta bullpoop.

So anyway, that is my experience. I'm in a small town outside of Uzhgorod. Those of you insisting to me that Nova Poshta sends internationally: maybe you are all in modern Kyiv, or maybe you really have not sent much overseas recently.

All I know is what you are telling me and what these people are telling me do not mesh, and it is frustrating as hell! 

Sarah

Welcome to Ukraine Sarah, where the simplest thing can be made into rocket science.  Or as we often simply say...Eto Ukraina.

[Tnic]

Hey UKUA  neener neenr neener   

Hey Tnic, what's a neener?

The Urban dictionary suggests:

Neener-neener

A childish taunt or jeer pronounced with a nasal sneer, for lack of a more intelligent retort to someone else's jeer or taunt, usually from a peer. Sometimes sung to the tune of "Ring-Around-the-Rosy" for really driving the point home.

I was feeling sassy when I actually found something in a giggle search before you did....in Ukraine.