Does that mean there will be affordable postage to the UK as well?
Nope. Sadly, USPS international mail rates are very high in the USA.
OSH only charge a $1 and put them in an envelope/jiffy bag.
We tried the same service OSH Park use, and we were for some time using those padded envelopes.
The UPS Mail Innovations service is actually several different services. We didn't qualify for the one OSH Park uses. Or more accurately, our lower volume of larger packages doesn't qualify for the very low rates.
We did use the service we could get, but I'm sad to say it went rather badly. Many of the packages took over 5 weeks. The service we could get affordably didn't provide access to tracking after it left a facility somewhere in California, so during those 5 weeks all available info would appear as if the package had been lost in some warehouse in central California. Most people did get their packages eventually, but the process was so painful and the complaints would pile up, and we were helpless to do anything. I hope you can understand how that really took a toll on Robin and me.
We also were using those padded envelops long ago, but stopped a few years ago after the release of Teensy 3.5 and 3.6. Even with the older boards, occasionally someone would get a damaged package and we would have to send a replacement. For international shipping where 2-3 weeks is the norm, waiting another few weeks for a replacement was really painful, even if the loss wasn't that big on a financial scale. But our experience in 2017 once we were shipping boards with BGA chips went from just a few occasional painful episodes to many more Teensy boards apparently damaged in shipping.
To be honest, Robin & I have a pretty low tolerance for lost, delayed and damaged packages. It affects us on a personal level when someone's ability to achieve their project is compromised. I'm sure larger businesses would look at the situation purely in financial terms, whether costs saved increased sales and covered the expense of replacing damaged goods. Of course we look at that stuff too. I'm acutely aware of many smaller maker-oriented businesses that have come and gone over the years, usually because they failed to sustain a viable business model. But we care about a lot more than just money.
I know Laen at OSH Park. He really does care about facilitating people's projects. But the shipping specifics work out very differently for bare circuit boards. There are no surface mount parts to break off. If the PCB bends or get pressed by a heavy weight, damage is very unlikely. The end customer experience and ability to resolve problems are also completely different. People receiving OSH Park packages know how to diagnose & solve a technical issue because it a PCB they personally designed. They also ship 3 copies, so if a problem happens there's usually a good chance at least 1 will survive and be usable. The situation with Teensy is different, where people depend on it working "out of the box" to give them a good starting point on their project. The padded envelopes work well for OSH Park's bare PCB product, but they just aren't as good a fit for Teensy.
Of course that doesn't make the exorbitant USPS international mail rates any less painful.
UPS recently told us about another new international service which looks more promising. Robin & I are a little skeptical, but we're planning to give it a test run "soon". But the reality for this pandemic is we've been running short-staffed to comply with safe social distancing guidelines. That's why I've not manage to develop nearly as much software this year. It puts a real damper on almost all efforts to improve things when we're struggling just to keep up with demand and stay in business. I realistically do not anticipate we'll manage to offer any other shipping services until after the pandemic eases up.
So this Friday, sorry, really affordable shipping is going to be US only. Then again, the discount will be really nice, so USPS shipping might seem worthwhile if you buy 3 or 4 or 5 boards? But first check the
distributor list. It might be worthwhile to just order from Pimoromi, Cool Components, PiHut or Hobbytronics once shipping and likely VAT/import fees are considered.
