Life with two kids: International Demon-Hunter Shipping

A week and a half ago I ordered a couple of K-Pop Demon Hunters hoodies for the kids from Amazon. I didn't realise quite how much of a trip they'd be making:

8th - Taken from warehouse in Shenzhen (China) and handed to massive chinese shipment company SF Express.
8th - Driven an hour up the road to Dongguan shipment centre.
11th - Transported (presumably by road) 1,100 km to Ezhou (SF Express hub airport, also China))
12th - Flown to Liège Airport (Belgium), stopping over in Almaty International Airport (Kazakhstan)
14th - Flew in to Heathrow
14th - Then arrived in Stansted for customs
15th - Then handed to Hermes in London
16th - Who got it to me in Edinburgh the next day

Total cost, including shipping: £24 (£12 per top).

I am both impressed and somewhat aghast.

Interesting Links for 17-09-2025

1. DOJ Deletes Study Showing Domestic Terrorists Are Most Often Right Wing

(tags:politics terrorism USA censorship )

Whining about online t-shirt purchases.

Ooh, I thought, that's a really cool t-shirt! And the price is only £24, that's actually pretty reasonable!

Except no, it's £24 plus £6 tax plus £7 shipping *that takes up to 6 weeks*.

And this for an item that's print on demand. Which means, theoretically, they could print it in the UK in the first place and not have to presumably ship it to me by alpaca from Kazakhstan!

Shame, really, it's a nice t-shirt. But not £37 nice.