Q: I am paying a tremendous shipping fee to mail individual books to America. Besides the package, each book costs NIS 37 to mail! The postage alone is 1/3 of the retail value of the book! In the States there is a book rate. Here there is not. To mail these book within the States it costs $1.87 (about NIS 8). Is there some way I can avoid these high rates?

A: If you are talking about individual books, and time is not critical, the least expensive way to send them is via the post office's surface mail - this is what it sounds like you are doing now.
If time is important, then the post office's EMS (Express Mail Service) is the way to go, although this is much more expensive.
If you have a quantity of books (up to 20 kilos), the Post Office offers a "Book Sack" rate in which they provide the sack, but it is highly
recommended you pack the books in a box for protection. This method will take up to three or more months.
Bottom line, as you have already discovered, there is no inexpensive way to ship small amounts of printed matter overseas. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.