Sorry for starting a new thread

I'd like to buy a manual but don't want to pay shipping & import duty
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Why do things simply when you can complicate them

Rob,

Currently Andy has me handling all manual orders.

So that is the only option at this point.

I have been doing some digging around, looking at copy protected USB Thumb Drives to sell them as an option (no copy, no print) but don't have anything solid as of yet. This option would reduce shipping costs, as I could send it in a much smaller package rather then the US Postal Service supplied boxes.

Any news on buying a manual direct in the UK?
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Why do things simply when you can complicate them

A friend of mine is in the US at the moment. I thought I'd try and get a manual delivered to him to bring back. PayPal won't allow a different delivery address
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Why do things simply when you can complicate them

Rob, I replied to your PM about this. If you can get back to me about what manual you are looking for and the address to your friend in the US, I can get one out before he leaves on the 8th.

As for shipping, I know it's expensive, but it's the cheapest that I can get. I have tried US Postal Service, DHL, UPS, FedEx, etc...

USPS Charges me the following costs:
Domestic Priority Mail: $12.00
International Priority Mail: $50.34 (I have reduced this from $59.00 by using a different sized box, was using medium sized boxes)

Sometimes there is a small difference in shipping charges which I have found depends on destination, but about 90% of the international locations I have shipped manuals to are over the $50.00 price point.

You can go to www.usps.com and check on pricing for international flat rate priority mail costs.

Even their small sized box which I would use for the thumb drives I am looking at is $25.00. Of course the thumb drives are $35 a drive plus about $10.00 in shipping to get to me. Then the licensing cost of the software to actually create the content as so it can't easily be copied, printed, distributed across the internet is another story... I am looking at options still but the technology for decent DRM protection on protected media isn't geared towards the small time person and more geared towards the big time publisher with larger budgets, higher runs to absorb the costs.

On top of that, I know I am working in the shop on my NSR and Aprilia and have tried to use my ipad to view my manual while working. I have gone back to the paper manual as it's much easier to deal with. And trust me, its not like I am a neophyte when it comes to technology and mobile devices. My day job is all around mobile devices and getting data down to the hand held devices. Been working in software development for 23 years now and working specifically with mobile device software development for 14 of those years. If I can use technology in my day to day world and make my life easier, I am all for it, the service manual just hasn't done it for me yet But I will continue to look for reasonable solutions to this dilemma to offer an options.

How about get someone in the UK to print & deliver from your PDF ?

So looking into some options and came up with a decent way to provide a USB Thumb drive that would allow users to view a manual on a Windows PC (not Mac/iOS Tablet/Phone/whatever) from the thumb drive. This doesn't allow copying the manual to anything else, doesn't allow printing the manual, doesn't allow copying content from the manual, etc..

Software is reasonable price, and thumb drives would be something "cool" with an NSR250.net logo.

Cost savings would definitely be gained in shipping (a thumb drive can go in a much smaller box then a full sized manual). Materials would see a slight decrease as would time to make the manual. I could buy thumb drives at the local office supply store, but they wouldn't be unique or branded. Want something that let's you know what this is. Software only works on Windows based PC, so no Mac support and wont work on an iPad (may work on a Windows 8 tablet, but I don't have one of those to test it out).

I could get international shipping down to $10-$15 USD (from $50) which would decrease the overall cost a good amount. Of course you would lose the ability to have a printed manual in front of you (trust me, I have the file and I never use it in the shop, I have a printed manual in front of me all the time, just much easier to deal with).

So if people are interested in a slightly reduced cost of a manual with a greatly reduced cost of shipping, I can look into ordering some thumb drives and purchasing the software to create the secure/protected documents.
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Charles Gallant

My service manual arrived in the post from my friend today. It's just like my Japanese service manual, but in English. I agree that a print is better than pdf.

All we need now is a Spanish version
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Why do things simply when you can complicate them