Shipping stuff across the world.

[jacob]

So it turns out that shipping the book to Europe costs $13. This is what it normally costs to send a book sized object from the US to Europe via US Postal, so it's not even a rip-off.
I was wondering, though, if there were some hacks/tricks to move goods around the world without breaking the bank. For instance, when I send gifts/stuff to friends and family, I always hold off on heavy stuff. This means my typical gifts are something like jewelry or fishing lures.
However! I have some connections (factory import/export business), etc. that once offered that my stuff could get a ride in one of their shipping containers; I could literally send hundreds of pounds for free/very little. It also used to be that one could send packages via "slow-boat" for very little if one was willing to wait 2-3 months for it to arrive.
It seems these days that all mail carriers wants to send everything by air. Is there any way to get around this?

[ktn]

I don't know any way except to look for spare baggage allowance among people who are flying (small items, fast) or spare container space among folks that are relocating (bigger items, slow).
If you have the possibility of free shipping via container, one possibility is to ship a bunch to someone like me in Europe, who could then mail the book individually to other ERErs in Europe. Shipping (Finnish Post) would still work out to €3.40-4.00 per 500g though. :-/
Then there is the other issue of payments. If you still have an account in Denmark/Switzerland, we could pay you for little to nothing thanks to Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA).