The size of the box, not the price of the set, is what usually stops a television at the border. A boxed 43-inch TV runs to about 117 inches of length plus girth, and USPS caps its Mexico-bound parcel products at 79 inches combined — read from the Postal Service's own country listing on 2026-08-19. A second number decides the tax bill: import taxes apply once the declared value passes 50 US dollars, and a permit is required past 1,000 US dollars. SMKlog prices the domestic leg to a border forwarder; the leg that actually crosses goes through freight review.
The run to a forwarder near the border prices like any other parcel. The crossing itself is a different job, priced by a person.
A 43-inch TV in its original factory carton, 45 × 28 × 8 in and 35 lb, quoted from Berkeley Heights, NJ 07922 to a forwarder ZIP in Laredo, TX, 78045, on 2026-08-19. Laredo is one of the busiest US-Mexico freight crossings, which is why border-forwarding services tend to cluster there. SMKlog's checkout stops at that ZIP code; whatever happens south of it is a separate arrangement.
| Carrier and service | Price | Estimated transit |
|---|---|---|
| UPS Ground | $98.02 | 5-6 business days |
| UPS Ground Saver | $100.47 | 5 business days |
| FedEx Ground Economy | $124.71 | 5-6 business days |
| UPS 3 Day Select | $166.92 | 5-6 business days |
| FedEx Ground | $174.98 | 5-6 business days |
USPS did not return a rate for this box on this lane and day. UPS Ground was cheapest at $98.02, and every service on the table quoted a five-to-six business day window for a run that covers most of the country, since Laredo sits at the southern tip of Texas rather than close to New Jersey.
USPS's Individual Country Listing for Mexico, read 2026-08-19, dates the rule to March 1, 2019: import taxes, set by Mexico's own customs authority, apply once a shipment's declared value passes 50 US dollars, and Correos de México asks that a commercial invoice travel with anything taxable. Nearly any working flat-screen television clears that line on its own, so treat the tax as a near-certainty rather than an edge case.
The fifty-dollar figure applies to goods generally, not to electronics as a named category. A used TV declared honestly at its resale value is judged the same way as a new one at retail price — both sit well above the line.
The same listing sets a second threshold: an import permit or license is required for merchandise exceeding 1,000 US dollars, and merchandise under that figure does not need one. A budget or mid-range set usually stays under it; a large new premium television can cross it.
Correos de México's own request for a commercial invoice on taxable goods is worth acting on even when a courier rather than the postal service ends up carrying the box, since customs paperwork expectations tend to travel with the value threshold, not the carrier.
Even a television that clears the tax and permit thresholds still has to fit through whichever service carries it. USPS's country listing for Mexico, read 2026-08-19, sets Priority Mail International at a 70 lb weight limit, 42 inches of maximum length, and 79 inches of length plus girth combined; Priority Mail Express International holds the same 70 lb weight and 79-inch combined limit but shortens the maximum length to 36 inches.
| Measurement | This TV carton | Priority Mail Intl to Mexico | Priority Mail Express Intl to Mexico |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weight | 35 lb | 70 lb ceiling | 70 lb ceiling |
| Length + girth | 117 in | 79 in ceiling | 79 in ceiling |
The weight clears both products with plenty of room, unlike the tax and permit thresholds above. The combined-dimension figure is the one that fails: 117 inches against a 79-inch ceiling on either postal product, by close to 40 inches. That gap is the reason a boxed flat-screen set almost never travels as a piece of mail once it crosses this border — it moves with a forwarder or courier pricing oversized freight on its own terms instead.
What SMKlog sells is a domestic parcel label, inside the United States only. No Mexico label comes out of this checkout, and the domestic quote above is not a stand-in for what the border crossing costs.
The run from your address to a US-based forwarder near the border is an ordinary domestic parcel. Two ZIP codes in the calculator return that price in about a minute, the same way the table above was captured.
Once the box leaves US soil the pricing changes hands: a person quotes the crossing, the customs paperwork and the declared value through freight review.
The Census Bureau's Schedule B, in Chapter 85, covers electrical machinery and equipment including television image and sound reproducers, under heading 8528. Read 2026-08-19.
Country conditions, tax thresholds and permit rules are amended without notice, so a listing read today can read differently next month. Re-check the country listing itself on the day the box actually ships rather than relying on this page months later.
The domestic leg, from your address to a forwarder near the border, is an ordinary parcel and prices the same way any boxed television does. The leg that actually crosses into Mexico is not sold on this site as a checkout price; send it through freight review and a person prices it against the destination's own rules.
The USPS Individual Country Listing for Mexico, read 2026-08-19, states import taxes apply to goods with a declared value exceeding 50 US dollars, with Correos de México requesting a commercial invoice accompany such goods. No television-specific rate is published; Mexico's customs authority sets the figure that applies at entry.
Only above a value threshold. The same USPS listing states an import permit or license is required for merchandise exceeding 1,000 US dollars, and that merchandise valued under that figure does not require one. A single flat-screen TV can sit on either side of that line depending on the model and its declared value.
Often not. USPS caps Priority Mail International to Mexico at 70 lb and 79 inches of length plus girth, and Priority Mail Express International at the same 70 lb and 79-inch combined limit with a shorter 36-inch maximum length. Measure a 43-inch set in its factory carton, about 45 x 28 x 8 inches, and the length plus girth already lands near 117 inches, close to 40 over either ceiling. A carton that size takes the postal network off the table, which is why the crossing usually runs through a forwarder or a courier instead.
No. SMKlog's calculator prices United States domestic parcels between two ZIP codes, which covers the run from your address to a forwarder near the border. The leg that leaves the country is priced by a person through freight review, because customs, the destination carrier and the value thresholds all sit outside what a domestic parcel API can see.
Runs SMKlog and its live rate comparisons across USPS, UPS, and FedEx. The guides here are built from the same carrier data the calculator quotes from, with prices captured on the date shown on each page. Based in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey.