Balikbayan box

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Tukaram (Tim)
Posted
Posted
52 minutes ago, hk blues said:

I guess it must depend on what you are buying - it's my observation that most day-to-day stuff here is at worst the same price as I was paying in Hong Kong.  Yes, luxury items are more here but I suspect most OFW are not sending luxury items in all honesty, ex-pats maybe slightly more agreed.  

 

 

It is not the pricing, but the availability. As I said the family in the province is over 2 hours from the nearest grocery store.   The only local option they have is sari-sari stores. Bottled shampoo is a rarity.  For them - they appreciate the BB boxes of toiletries.  Any clothes & purses are just a foreign bonus ha ha.

Here in the city, I can get pretty much anything I need, except my Aqua Velva aftershave :) 

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Rayj
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An 8 pack of Duracell AA batteries cost me U$D equivalent of 325 P.  today at Walmart to bring with me.

Are there Duracell AA batteries , and how much?

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Tukaram (Tim)
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All the batteries I have found here are almost dead when I buy them.  They do not last. I have big multi-packs of AAA & AA sent in the BB boxes. 

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graham59
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I buy rechargeable AAs and AAAs now.

Dearer, but I've had some in use for 10 years now, and still holding a charge.  ('Energizer' brand.)

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JDDavao II
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On 3/3/2019 at 3:56 PM, stevewool said:

We have nearly filled the one box we are sending to the father in law and brother over in the Philippines, it’s funy when you see what goes in , MY Xmas presents, MY old phone, MY deodorant, then it’s ‘ do you still want these’ and on it goes.

We have been shopping for tee shirts , under ware ,socks, even sending flip flops to the Philippines :89:, chocolates, biscuits, washing powder, now it’s down to the last few things, cornbeef and spam lots of them , I will go and get those items myself and I may get a few tins of  Fray Bentos steak pies and puddings.

Ive just been told to get a birthday card to put inside ,his birthday is in April, somehow I think he’s going to get that a little late.

Do any members get a box of your favorits item sent to you that you miss or can’t buy over there on a regular basis 

We used to have a Filipina friend in Seattle send us the things we ordered. She even shopped for us on occasion. She has children - one with special needs - so we felt guilty for adding to her "to do" list.

Then we had another friend in Nevada do the same. He has family here and visits regularly (was born here) so that worked out nice. The trouble is waiting for the box to fill. So now we use ShippingCart.com. No long wait to fill the box, no guilt for asking someone to shop for us, and a pretty good cost for sea shipments. The only problem now is that, thought they claim a 96% on-time rate for air and sea, my last two sea boxes were late and so are the next three coming.

My wife still does the "do you still want these?" thing to me. Sometimes I think she hides my clothing so I forget about them...

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Arizona Kid
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Posted
On 3/5/2019 at 8:07 PM, Tukaram (Tim) said:

We have some OFW family members that send boxes pretty regularly.  Some good food, but a lot of regular toiletries too.  The family out in the province can't get a lot of that stuff. They buy shampoo sachets at sari-sari stores, the nearest actual grocery store is over 2 hours away, by bus.  We live in the city and get pretty much what we want.

I just went back to the US recently for a visit and sent back 2 large BB boxes. Mostly Barbies and Nerf guns ha ha. I bought toys for all the neighbor kids.  The stuff here is either junk, or overpriced (the Nerf here is 3 times the price as in the US).  Bought lots of gifts for the wife too, of course. I got a new tripod for $35, it would be over $100 here. And tons of books for my kids library  (we have no kids but the neighborhood does).

A YouTube subscriber came to our barangay fiesta and brought me some canned chili. It was good.  We can get it at S&R but it is too damn expensive ha ha.  Free is always good. :tiphat:  

I'm going to S&R Alabang on Sun. because S&R Imus ran out of canned Hormel chili with beans. Can't live without it and my son loves it too. P129 per can so not a bad deal. I'll get 4 cases if they have that much. I called 2 days ago to make sure it was in stock. My bro in law will drive us in my car cuz he knows all the shortcuts. :tiphat:

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sonjack2847
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11 hours ago, Arizona Kid said:

Hormel chili with beans. Can't live without it and my son loves it too. P129 per can

That is 2/3  of what it costs here in Dumaguete.

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sonjack2847
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On 3/3/2019 at 3:56 PM, stevewool said:

We have nearly filled the one box we are sending to the father in law and brother over in the Philippines, it’s funy when you see what goes in , MY Xmas presents, MY old phone, MY deodorant, then it’s ‘ do you still want these’ and on it goes.

We have been shopping for tee shirts , under ware ,socks, even sending flip flops to the Philippines :89:, chocolates, biscuits, washing powder, now it’s down to the last few things, cornbeef and spam lots of them , I will go and get those items myself and I may get a few tins of  Fray Bentos steak pies and puddings.

Ive just been told to get a birthday card to put inside ,his birthday is in April, somehow I think he’s going to get that a little late.

Do any members get a box of your favorits item sent to you that you miss or can’t buy over there on a regular basis 

Well, Steve if you decide to stay in the UK this could be a business opportunity for you getting orders from expats and sending it in BB boxes.

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stevewool
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Posted
25 minutes ago, sonjack2847 said:

Well, Steve if you decide to stay in the UK this could be a business opportunity for you getting orders from expats and sending it in BB boxes.

I could always get my daughter to start sending them across when I am not in England.

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Reboot
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Posted
On 3/3/2019 at 2:56 AM, stevewool said:

We have nearly filled the one box we are sending to the father in law and brother over in the Philippines, it’s funy when you see what goes in , MY Xmas presents, MY old phone, MY deodorant, then it’s ‘ do you still want these’ and on it goes.

We have been shopping for tee shirts , under ware ,socks, even sending flip flops to the Philippines :89:, chocolates, biscuits, washing powder, now it’s down to the last few things, cornbeef and spam lots of them , I will go and get those items myself and I may get a few tins of  Fray Bentos steak pies and puddings.

Ive just been told to get a birthday card to put inside ,his birthday is in April, somehow I think he’s going to get that a little late.

Do any members get a box of your favorits item sent to you that you miss or can’t buy over there on a regular basis 

Sounds familiar.

We just shipped one off this week. A few items for when we get there in 3 months. Other things are hand-me-downs for the kids in the family. Even a fish finder/depth sounder/GPS unit for a cousin's pump boat.

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