Hi all my fellow ambassadors from EMEA, I've got great news! Red Hat facilities department in Brno office finally finished all steps to have Czech Post as another shipping option.
Why did I go for the Czech Post? Because Fedex and DHL (the only two options Red Hat so far allowed) got insanely expensive. Especially packages going outside the EU were really, really expensive. We can no longer afford it with our budget.
Czech Post's Express Mail Service is approx. 3-4 times cheaper than Fedex or DHL and still a reliable service with tracking and reasonable delivery times (usually 6 days outside the EU).
From now on, I'll be using Czech Post as a default option for packages
to EU countries unless it's in a hurry and for all packages outside the EU unless the country is not supported by Czech Post.
The service may not be as comfortable as Fedex or DHL because those two have been mostly excellent. Packages will most likely be delivered by your local postal service whose quality varies country to country. But it will bring significant savings and I'd rather spend money on swag or bringing people to events than giving it to logistic companies.
Our shipping budget is really tight and I'd like to optimize the way it works in EMEA generally. Currently, I sometimes get several requests for swag from the same ambassador or place in one Fedora release cycle. There are many ambassadors in EMEA and sending each one of them several packages a year is not possible budget-wise. Bear in mind that the whole content of the package is usually much cheaper than its shipping, it's especially valid for packages going outside the EU. My plan is to send one package to each location every release cycle with all they need (media, swag, ambassador's polo shirt,...). It requires planning from both me (to have enough of everything when it needs to be sent) from you (to know what you will need for the whole release cycle). We should also leverage situations when we attend various events and can bring stuff there or pick it up there.
Jiri
ambassadors@lists.fedoraproject.org