This is a Cross Post from the Friends of BookMooch group on Facebook:

Mooch for the Summer as tax on packages is going up. Now I am not sure of all the legal aspects, but one of the expat groups I am on has had some postings saying that in July this summer there will be a tax for packages that are going between the EU and other countries. So that also means the UK.
Apparently upto now gifts and packages with a value below 22euro have been tax free. BUT it seems that there will be an import fee to be paid from July. So I am not sure if this will also affect those elsewhere???

Anyhow I recommend using a few Mooch points now to try and mooch books rather than storing them up if you think you might want some summer reading. Mooching now and not paying a fee is better than mooching and having to pay an import fee if you are in the EU.

I am not sure if this is not a general change elsewhere nor exactly what is happening - it seems there is also a move to have all packages with a tracking number and that they will have to be sent this way. As of now letters (which can include most books) do not need this, but this is on the horizon and in some places may already be here. Here in Finland we are supposed to buy different stamps for internal and external to the country mail and it may be that external to the country letters will have to be paid for and sent via this tracking system.

If anyone has ideas about sending cheaply do say! For example some people might be able to send through armed forces post and save on sending. It seems that this tax change is happening via an EU Directive so not every country will interpret this the same. It does apply to second hand books as a gift - mainly what we say BookMooch books are.

In some cases all packages will go via customs and a processing fee will have to be paid. It is unclear to me, but it is suggested in Finland at least this will be waived if no duty is due - details here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/172157289532073

Moving Country - mooch away!

I am moving country so if you mooch my books away I am very pleased. Half are Finnish and half are not!

I think that a system where we can mooch away when someone moves country and as a favor we would mooch in our new country would be good. (So I would still have the same number, just different ones!)

As Finnish books are not so useful in Austria and I am sure some people like students are moving away from Austria where I am going.

I am quite happy to do that kind of deal so that when moving we don't have to throw away all of the books we have had moochable that no-one wants to mooch right away.

I have about 20 on my mooch away list that are on other's Wishlist - but they don't have the points or inclination to mooch them right now.

Well anyhow feel free to mooch from me and save my travel difficulties.

I think this also works from the point of view that in a new country you need to make friends and bookmooch friends will have at least something in common with you - a sharing caring spirit!

The French Red Cross is collecting children's books in good condition to give to needy children this Christmas. They've joined forces with the Crédit Agricole bank which is offering collecting points in its branches. If everyone donated just one book, we'd make a big difference to many children this Christmas, with books.

French postal rates go up on 1st January 2014.
The cost of sending a "lettre verte" will rise from 0.58€ to 0.61€ and the "lettre prioritaire" rate will rise from 0.63€ to 0.66€.
http://translate.google.fr/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.francetvinfo.fr%2Feconomie%2Fle-prix-du-timbre-va-augmenter-de-3-centimes-le-1er-janvier-2014-annonce-la-poste_424853.html&prev=%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Dposte%2Bfrance%2Btarifs%2B2014%26espv%3D210%26es_sm%3D93

We shall be able to make a small saving by buying un-denominated (valeur permanente) stamps in advance. Note, however, that only those marked "Europe" or "monde" may be used (letters only) outside France; other stamps without values printed on them (lettre prioritaire, tarif vert) may not be used for international letters/packages.

BM doesn't enable us to search on inventories in a specific language.
I'd like to find out who in France has inventories in English. If you have books in English, and aren't adverse to sending within France, please could you add your name here. I'm sure there are plenty of people whom I haven't "met" yet through BM. Can we encourage some more domestic mooching here, please?


Jacquie

Economy rate postage for overseas packages has disappeared from the online rate calculator. This effectively doubles the cost of sending books overseas from France.
Three points to bring a book in and many euros to send books out. There don't seem to be enough of us trading English books within France to make this worthwhile.