LetterAgent
Mail physical letters by just asking your AI assistant.
Yes, you can ship skis: the standard method is a padded ski bag inside a long box, with the bindings wrapped and the tips and tails braced so nothing shifts. Skis trigger length surcharges, so measure length plus girth before buying the label. One honest note: LetterAgent shipping labels are Canada-only Xpresspost capped at 5 kg, so a ski setup needs a regular carrier.
| Packing step | How | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Protect the bases | Put the skis base-to-base with a layer of cardboard or foam between them | Bases scratch each other in transit |
| Wrap the bindings | Bubble wrap or foam around each binding, taped snug | Bindings are the most damage-prone part and the most expensive to replace |
| Brace tips and tails | Crumpled paper or foam blocks at both ends inside the bag | Stops the skis sliding and punching through the ends |
| Bag, then box | Padded ski bag inside a long double-wall box | The bag handles abrasion; the box handles crushing and gives a clean label surface |
Usually not. Bindings are mounted and adjusted to your boots, and remounting costs money and risks the screw holes. The exception is a binding you know is already damaged or a demo setup you are shipping for service, where the shop asked for the ski flat. For a normal shipment, leave them on and protect them: wrap each binding individually so the two skis' bindings cannot bang against each other, which is how most binding damage happens.
Back the DIN setting off? No. Leave the release settings exactly as your shop set them. The forces in a parcel van are nothing like a ski turn, and fiddling with DIN without a testing device creates a safety problem at the other end.
Carriers price long parcels by length plus girth, and skis are the textbook case. A 175 cm ski in a bag and box can easily cross into oversize territory, where the surcharge can rival the base rate. Measure the finished, sealed package (length plus twice the width plus twice the height) and check it against the carrier's oversize threshold before you buy the label. Understating the length is the fastest route to a postage adjustment, because the laser scanners in sorting facilities do not negotiate.
Consolidate when you can: a double ski bag holding two pairs ships for little more than a single, since the length is the same and the weight difference is modest. Poles go in the same bag, tips down, with the baskets protected. Boots are better in a separate smaller box; they are dense and make the ski package heavier and more expensive.
Ship-to-resort is common and works well if you coordinate. Call the resort or condo first and ask where guest parcels go: many have a receiving desk, a ski shop, or a mail room, and some charge a small handling fee per parcel. Address it to the guest name plus "Guest arriving [date]" and the confirmation or unit number. Time it to arrive a day or two before you do, not a week early, since storage space at resort desks is limited and parcels can be returned if nobody claims them.
Keep the tracking number on your phone and check it the morning you travel. If the parcel is stuck, you want to know before you are standing at the rental counter. And photograph the packed skis before sealing: in the rare case of damage, the carrier's claim process goes much faster with packing photos.
Consider it seriously for skis. A decent setup represents real money, and carrier default coverage is modest. Declared-value coverage costs a little extra and requires honest valuation: declare what the setup is actually worth, not the original retail price of five-year-old skis. Note the packaging requirement buried in most policies: if the box arrives intact but the contents are damaged, some carriers deny the claim on the grounds of insufficient packing, which is another reason the bag-in-box method matters.
Ready to ship it? Get a shipping label with LetterAgent: describe it to your AI assistant, approve the exact quoted price, and get your label.
LetterAgent is a working name. Prices include print, postage, and our service fee. US prices in USD, Canadian prices in CAD (Canadian prices exclude applicable sales tax, added at checkout). Currently in private testing.
Need help? Ask your assistant: it can check a job's status any time. If it ever can't handle something: hello@getletteragent.com