Kim,

Don't stop shipping internationally, just stop 
listening to your postal workers!

In my business, we ship all over the world. We 
couldn't lose the kind of money you have been 
losing either! But every time I ship out of the 
country, the price I quote to the buyer is 
identical, or within less than a dollar, to the 
price I pay at the post office. 

I use the International rate calculator on the 
USPS site. A quick check on usps.com shows me that 
it is exactly the same as the price you just paid 
to go to the United Kingdom, although far off from 
what you were quoted at the post office. A one 
pound package by air parcel post, insured for a 
hundred dollars comes out to be $18.60. If you 
want a return reciept it is $20.10. Additional 
insurance, as you said, will cost more.

So if you used the International Rate Calculator, 
you would have been right in line, and could have 
had your buyer send that amount of money. The main 
thing is to be sure to have a decent scale, and 
weigh your package. That way, you should be safe 
and the calculator is totally accurate unless you 
have a very strange shaped package. :-)

Kathleen