European and International Shipping for Tix

[Progress]

We have a number of international burners in our camp who we will soon need to get tickets to. We've avoided using Will-Call for the most part so we don't have to deal with the challenges of transferring a ticket from one person to another in that system, and so that our tickets are fluid in case someone can't come at the last minute.

I'd be interested to hear about strategies for getting tickets to international burners from the US--
1. if you ship the tickets, what are the cheapest yet most reliable & safe methods to send a ticket from the US to someone in Europe, or Asia, Australia, New Zealand, etc.
2. If you get the tickets to the international burner once they have arrived in the US, what are some great strategies for ensuring the ticket gets delivered to the burner in the days between landing in the US (say in Reno or SF) and the time they need to travel to the playa. I've heard of many tickets getting stolen or otherwise lost in this whole process and since we have camp tickets spread across many camp mates I'm looking to come up with some best practices around this effort.

--Darrell
Camp Contact

[pizzamancer]

Will call is the way to go. The only time I had a ticket shipped, it cost $70 to fedEx it to me here in Japan.

Not the answer you are looking for, but changing the name on a will call ticket is a far less painful way to do it than mailing tickets.

[kiss-o-matic]

Don't use Fedex, DHS, or any other private carrier unless you have an account with them. USPS can have documents shipped internationally, safely, and even insured for a bit more. Calculate here. I run a small side business and these options are simply not affordable unless you're a bulk shipper.

Personally I would recommend some safe and highly insured shipping method for tickets, and have them sorted out by the first of August at the latest. Us international people don't really have the luxury of waiting down to the last minute. The one thing that *can* be a trick is customs but as long as you're sending "documents" in an envelope they should go right through. I would even have the packages marked "documents".

to me here in Japan.

Are you going this year? You got your tickets all sorted out?

[junglesmacks]

Personally, I use FedEx for all company shipping and they're stellar. It takes a couple of minutes to setup an account online, and then you get super cheap rates vs standard counter rates. What I like about FedEx is that they're package tracking is spot on, their customer service is killer, and honestly their rates these days are sometimes better than USPS.. and with way better service and reliability. Insane reliability.. it amazes me.

I just used my account to test and plugged in a random address online to Brisbane, Australia. I got a rate of $39 to be there by tomorrow mid-day. That's coming from Florida, USA.. and is about as far as you can get from me.. so figure a range from $30-$40ish.

Although.. this may be a moot point being as that the BMOrg will NOT ship international tickets. You're aware, right? The only way would be if they are sent to someone here stateside, and then they sent them on to you. If you did that, there's no way that I'd trust anyone else BUT FedEx with my precious cargo.

[theCryptofishist]

The other option is to have them fly into a city where they will meet someone who has their tickets. Having a home base for their trip might be useful in other ways. Of course, it may be too late for that this year.
(JS, I think that they are reshipping the tickets, not having the llc ship them.)

[dragonpilot]

WILL CALL ain't that big a deal! So you might have to wait in line awhile...enjoy the freak show...make friends...chill...

What...you're in a hurry to wait in the traffic lineup? For hours?

[junglesmacks]

WILL CALL ain't that big a deal! So you might have to wait in line awhile...enjoy the freak show...make friends...chill...

What...you're in a hurry to wait in the traffic lineup? For hours?

I don't read his motivation of wanting hard tickets shipped as trying to avoid will call. They want them in hand so that they can more easily slide them around among friends at the last minute or what not and not have to deal with the crazy backup of partiserv emails. I can't say that I blame them.

[Borris]

another way could be the General Delivery (AKA Posta Restante) services.
call 1-800-ASK-USPS and check which post office in Reno offers general delivery services.
then mail the tix to that post office under the recipient name.
the post office will hold the envelope for 30 days and will only release it to the recipient showing ID (Like will call, but at the post office).

https://www.usps.com/manage/research-de ... ptions.htm

Check the General Delivery tab.

[graidawg]

all meet up in Reno and distribute tickets at the sands hotel in a preplaya party - the last chance to get dirty and then have a really good shower for a few days. Me? i would go for will call it takes no time at all and the ticket just Won't get lost. just leave name changes till the very last minute

[SnowBlind]

When I have gotten tickets for European friends in the past, I have not mailed them. They have usually picked them up in person here. And this year, where a lost ticket pretty much can't be replaced with money (at least not easily), I would definitely not mail a ticket.

They can either pick them up from you, or if you will already be on the playa by the time they arrive, pick one trustworthy person and have them pick them up there.