Finally! No more Christmas Shopping and even the packets are sent since yesterday. By snail mail. But do not ask me how much it did cost to get a few presents home to the loved ones… With Swedish Snail Mail it is as expensive as with the English one – leaving Germany almost looking like a cheap option, even if my family does not share that view on Deutsche Post rates (yet).

One Euro is right now worth around 10 Swedish Krona. So when you compare the postage costs then you get the picture…

I had 6 packets, two of them weighing between 2 and 3kg, the others between 1 and 2kg… and I paid in total around 115 Euro in postage. That is almost two thirds of the value of the presents sent… sigh.

My feeling is that the Snail Mail makes the profit of the entire year around Christmas time. And if they complain that they are not profitable, well, then I suggest that they should look at revising their operations. Good task for 2009, isn’t it?

Anyway – you can also have some fun at the post offices here. When I left my packet at the post place of our local ICA supermarket, the young lady asked me “Can you help me, please? Great Britain, is that in Europe? Excuse me, but I am so bad with this.” …. hmmmm…

That comment could ask for another blog post actually, but let’s leave it here and – let’s enjoy the small things in life 😉