The situation with shipping is much better than it was a few years ago. At least domestic shipping. International, well. It can be a challenge. Here is the situation as it stands for domestic and international shipping, for both booklets and carburetors.

International carb rebuilds
I have stopped doing international carb rebuilds. I regret this. It's not what I want. But the situation with international shipping has just become untenable. USPS International used to work. But, always a bit sketchy, it's now incredibly bad. Even dismal. And it can be even worse when you ship to me, because your country's state mailing service likely links up with my nation's embarrasingly poor state service and that is a disaster. As for the privates such as FedEx, well, domestic FedEx is still good enough to be my preferred service. But internationally, no. It's an incredible ordeal. There is no sane reason that their online system should be so complicated, requiring special steps and then not explaining them. As if one has to be a lawyer or a shipping magnate to figure it out. It really is too much.

How-to books
In the beginning I shipped my how-to booklets USPS Priority, because it represents the best observable outcome of our dear Post Office. However, in response to complaints about the unusually high postage, booklets have been going out USPS ground rate for several years. I don't know why a 6 oz. booklet should cost to ship more than the booklet is worth. And even First Class International was a challenge during Covid. Some countries returned all my booklets while others simply lost them. Thankfully, this seems back to normal post-pandemic. While the USPS organization continues to prove themselves barely up to the task, at least booklets appear to still be within their capability, both domestically and internationally. And worth the risk. At least for now.

Carburetors
All carburetors are returned to you using FedEx. Large, heavy, expensive boxes is their forte. I don't use UPS and I don't use the Post Office (USPS). You really don't want to trust your carbs to USPS.

USPS
Why? Aside from the fact that USPS seems unable to deal with valuable cargo, they do something else that should make you think hard about relying on them. They simply do not take responsibility. Whether for domestic or international shipments, starting a claim will get you nowhere. Worse, if the lost or delayed shipment is international, they will throw up their hands and suggest you contact US Customs. As far as I know, US Customs does not have a customer service department.

Boxing
About every tenth carburetor shipment I receive has the carbs poking through the box, and twice as many, while usually undamaged, are in boxes that arrived only by a miracle--tape loose, cardboard old and decaying, and little to no stuffing. Take a care. Your box should be at least two inches larger than your carburetors in every direction. Reinforce the inside bottom and sides of the box with extra pieces of cardboard, carboard wrap delicate areas such as throttle cable brackets and float bowl overflow nipples, and fill the space with crumpled newspaper--after winding bubble-wrap longitudally around your carbs. Do not use metal or plastic or wood boxes. That is counterintuitive. Unless they are large enough to allow the necessary padding around the carburetors, your carbs are just as likely to get banged up in a metal toolbox as in anything else, and probably more.

Bubble wrap
Use the large bubble. Small bubble wrap is for very lightweight objects. Most people use bubble wrap incorrectly. It should be wrapped around the carburetors, not stuffed between them and the inside of the shipping box. Use it for what it was intended for and works best for. Bubble wrap is also way too expensive to use as stuffing.

Stuffing
The best stuffing is crumpled stiff paper. However, newspaper properly wadded into balls works nearly as well. But it takes a lot of it. Wad it and jam it. When you can shake the taped box left to right and up and down and not feel or hear thumping, you've got it.

Styrofoam
Myself, and others in my business, dislike finding styrofoam--especially peanuts--inside the box. The stuff is difficult to get out of my workshop and even out of my driveway--and my neighbors' trees. Peanuts aren't designed to support irregularly shaped heavy items such as carburetors anyway. Avoid using it please. I did once get a shipment packed with real peanuts. That was interesting, though I don't think it was any better a method.

Insurance
UPS and FedEx both offer $100 of insurance at no extra charge. You can and should add to that. But with FedEx, if you exceed $499, this will make the shipment automatically signature-required. I don't mind, really, but you will when your carrier tells you your carbs were undeliverable because I was away from the shop for a moment. So use signature required advisedly.

Checklist
Please always include the shipping checklist. It's foundational for the good communication that doing your project requires. Print legibly. It can be difficult to tell the correct return shipping address when it is hurriedly written.

Booklets going offshore or overseas
Please be explicit when giving me your shipping address. If offshore, I need to know that because USPS reserves secret, higher rates for offshore destinations. Catalina, California, for example. Or Martha's Vineyard, New York. Also, don't assume I know where in this vast geographical world you are. Remember you are dealing with the typical very and unashamedly un-cosmopolitan American. Don't assume I am familiar with the details of your location about which USPS is extremely particular, to the point that they often refuse to recognize many non-US addresses. Make it plain the parts of your address that are the city and state (or province), especially.

I hope this doesn't sound like grousing. It's not meant to. I really appreciate your business. And I truly enjoy my work. Which includes the inconveniences of shipping--I don't mind that. It is unfortunate however that although the world is rapidly shrinking in the global sense, I have been doing this for a long time and it has become harder than ever to mail and ship between countries than it should be.