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"media mail"), or as a small parcel. All these are international postal standards. 
It is a shame that USPS changed their nomenclature to disguise their increases in rates. 
Royal Mail (UK) and LaPoste (France) followed with idiotic terms like "Chronopost" or "Colissimo". 

Many people do not know that a "letter" is not an envelope, but a postal tariff, as 
agreed by all 193 postal services on earth, members of the Universal Postal Union, 
a United Nations sub-entity with headquarters in Bern, Switzerland.  

USPS calls the letter tariff "First Class Mail International". Internationally a "letter" 
weighs a maximum of 2kg (4.4lbs). USPS, on the outbound allows 4 lbs only. The letter 
has a maximum dimension of 90cm for all 3 sides, that is 35.5". This allows packages of 
11.8" x 11.8" x 11.8"  or  
13.8" x 13.8" x 7.9" 

On the other hand, you may try to find a consolidator, for ex. in the UK, to whom you 
have your purchases sent and who consolidates a parcel every now and then. Make a 
google search (or a search on ebay.co.uk) for "mail forwarding UK". 

For my outbound shipments from the USA to Europe, I use a mom-and-pop service in 
the USA for eBay sellers who wouldn't ship abroad. They charge $5.00 per shipment plus 
actual, lowest USPS rate. 

For larger quantities my first choice is "parcel post".  It is advisable to use all of the 20kg 
(44 lbs) allowed, because "more you add, cheaper it gets", relatively.  I shipped 3 heavy 
parcels to Joel Slotnikoff (bluesworld.com) for his upcoming auction, as a consignment. 

For heavy shipments (lots of records), the best thing you can do when you are overseas 
and want to ship the records home to yourself, you should buy some cheap clothing or fabric 
(for padding), declare the "record/clothing lot" as "personal effects" (that's why you need 
the fabric and clothing) and ship by airfreight as "unaccompanied baggage". You need to 
show your airline ticket at the cargo office. You will get 50% reduction on the basic cargo tariff, 
which makes it much cheaper than the postal parcels. 

Benno