Shipping

[queen of scots]

After 13 years in St Andrews, my husband and I have to leave in the autumn (*sob*) to move to California. We'll be spending 2 or 3 years there so will obviously need to ship some stuff across - primarily clothes, shoes and some books - we're anticipating putting everything else into storage. Ideally I'd rather have my clothes sent across by air as I don't want to be living out of a suitacase for the 8-12 weeks I understand it takes to send things by sea. So - any recommendations? Companies you have experience with? Firms to avoid? Costs involved? All info very welcome!

[orudge]

I used Fast Lane to organise shipping from the UK to Minnesota last year. For the amount of stuff I was sending, it was fairly reasonable (around £300 for 85kg of stuff, sent through DHL by air). It's probably cheaper via ship, but much, much slower. I found them to be cheaper than looking up the likes of UPS, FedEx, DHL, etc, separately.

Of course, depending on just how much stuff you have to send, trying to take as much as you can with your airline baggage allowance and shipping the rest may be more practical, particularly with clothes, etc. You can quite possibly take more than you think - many US airlines allow you to take 2 bags of 23kg or so even in economy class on a transatlantic ticket, and even if they only allow one bag, it's usually just $50 or so for a second bag. Not sure whether British airlines do the same these days. Check your airline's web site to be sure though before you turn up with lots of luggage!

[queen of scots]

Thanks for the advice! Will definitely look into Fast Lane. I'm also going to pack as much as poss in the luggage for the plane too - I'd already been comparing airlines to see which ones had the cheapest excess baggage charges! However, as I'm the kind of person who pays for excess baggage just when I go on holiday (and takes fold up holdalls just because I do so much shopping), I don't think it will be anywhere near enough for me

[Freaker]

If you are happy with sending several "parcels" rather than getting a moving company on the job, check out Pharos Parcel. I used them last year to send a lot of stuff back to Germany for very little money, and their quotes to the US seem rather cheap as well. They have a weight limit, though, so best to call them and check how much you could send in how many parcels.

They use UPS to send the stuff, except they buy freight allowances in bulk and resell them cheaper. That makes it very cheap, but could cause problems should the stuff get lost. Most of the time I believe there is no problem, Yet one of my packages to Germany got lost at first. 30kg arrived all beaten up with only 10kg in it, and UPS trying to get us to sign for it as if nothing ever happened. Given the short time before I was to move to China, locating the remainder and dealing with UPS was a pain, as they kept saying the sender wasn't 'me', but Pharos Parcel, and then having to communicate everything with their office in the UK. In the end it all arrived in time, and Pharos staff were helpful, but still, not an experience I'd like to repeat (next time I'll use thicker boxes!!!) .

Generally, for sending stuff, check weight specifications - one 35 kg package may well cost a fair bit more than getting two 20kg packages (and take significantly longer).

Also, as a general word of advice, pack really, really well and use the thickest boxes you can find. All delivery services expect packages to survive a 1m drop, so if you have 30kg of heavy items (eg books), make sure you use a very stable box or put a few smaller boxes into one bigger one to increase stability.