Which courier do you prefer?

German mail is way cheaper than French mail, or mail from the Netherlands, to the US. There’s also a wide range of pricing from the UK to the US, depending on the seller- it’s not additional profit taken by the seller, but record stores seem to be able to use commercial postage, whereas through e-Bay, they have a system (I don’t know if you’ve encountered it) where the items are deposited or mailed locally, then containerized or shipped to the States for distribution through an e-Bay system. At least that’s how I understand it. And it is expensive. I had one seller from whom I bought three records at the same time, and suffered three shipping charges at full retail plus shipping rates- I had asked him to bundle into one shipment, but he claimed he could not do so. The records were fine, and priced right, but the shipping was exorbitant; I’m now making sure that a seller can do multiple purchases in one shipment. (I know volume/weight is more, but it’s not as much as X time more, per item).

My experience tells me you can have very positive outcomes, or a negative one with any shipper. I’ve gotten records from the Mideast via DHL to NY in a week, I’ve had parts shipped from Eastern Europe via TNT (which I think is now part of Deutsche Post) overnight- i’d get an email saying it was dispatched by the sender and the delivery person would be walking up my front steps by mid-day the next day. And, I had same day cross country service.
I don’t consider any of these shippers ’couriers.’ A courier is a guy in a dark suit with sunglasses, a Halliburton handcuffed to his wrist, and no sense of humor.
As for the US Mail, I'm shocked that it works. But it does....

Beruit. And other places nearby. Almost all UK pressings. There are people with great records all over the world. 
New Zealand has some wonderful pressings from the era- so does Australia- big market for British rock/folk/psych from the era, sometimes with the same matrices as the far more expensive UK pressing. In the Court of the Crimson King was released in Australia or NZ as a Vertigo Swirl. How bad is that! (I don't have that one, but wouldn't mind it- oh wait, I'm not supposed to be collecting!). Ah, it's late my friend. Tomorrow, another big adventure!

Geoff- someday, that teleportation thing will catch on....