Pre paid postage

kmk101

Hi all,

Pretty sure this is the right place for this thread, if not I apologise!

I was recently in California and left some documents in the hotel that I need (I know, I'm an idiot) I contacted them and they have found them, but they say if I want them back I have to send them a prepaid envelope addressed to myself as I am abroad. I asked in the post office about this, but the man didn't seem to understand what I was asking for. (Or I didn't articulate myself properly maybe) My question is, I know I can pay for a letter to be sent to California from Ireland, but is it possible to send a prepaid envelope within that which will be sent back to me in Ireland from California? And where can I do this?

Thanks in advance for helping a forgetful fool :P

the_syco

What they need is a pre-paid envelope from a US-based courier so that they can use it to mail the documents back to you from the US. A couple of suggestions:

Get a friend or family member in the US to buy a pre-paid envelope and mail it to you.
Create a FedEx account online. You can then print your own FedEx return label and send it along with an empty envelope. Similar services may be available on the (American) websites of of DHL and UPS.

StripedBoxers

Could you not just sent a self address envelope to the hotel? Or bring a SAE to the post office and ask them if you can prepay the postage cost and then you could post the SAE to the hotel inside another envelope and they'd use the SAE to return your documents?

Or maybe could you pay the hotel over the phone for the price of postage?

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

I had a similar issue a few years ago and could not get anything here as it needed an american stamp for their end. I got family in america to address and stamp an envelope for me over there, which they then sent on to the company involved.

skelligs

If its worth €60 you get organise Fedex or DHL to collect from hotel and deliver it to you. Just give them a call.

coylemj

Back in 1999 I was able to buy things called international reply coupons in the post office in Ireland and I then posted them to a crowd in the US who accepted them in payment for the postage of a packet to Ireland, I don't believe you can buy them any more. I guess international couriers like UPS, DHL etc. have done away with the need for them.

kmk101

Thanks all,

I've been looking into your suggestions and pretty sure I'll need to go down the courier route which is a lot more expensive but then again it's my own fault! The only other thing I found sounds similar to what was mentioned as available in 1999 are "global forever stamps". Has anyone any experience with these?
Thanks again

DMcL1971

It sounds like the hotel just don't want to pay for the postage, which is perfectly reasonable. So their suggestion was to use a prepaid envelope. They presumably didn't think this through as how can you possibly send an American prepaid envelope to them when you are not in America to be able to buy one.

Why not contact them and explain that you are willing to pay for the postage cost. They should be able to tell you how much it will cost to post the documents to Ireland (Weigh the documents and look up the price of postage to Ireland on the USPS website http://postcalc.usps.com/). Then your only problem is figuring out how to get the money to them. But seeing as how they are a Hotel presumably they can just charge you credit or debit card.

American postal charges are pretty steep for International postage. If they try to use 'Priority Mail' it will cost around $40 but if you are not in a rush, you can ask them to just use 'First Class International' which will cost around $10.

dudara

Seems weird that they won't post, and then charge you for the postage. I left an item in the MGM Las Vegas once, which they arranged to courier over to me, as long as I bore the cost.