Shipping household goods to the US
whistlestop01
Hi there
Does anyone know the easiest way of shipping Household goods to the
States? I have a lot of stuff to take and was curious to know what
shipping companies were good to use etc.
If anyone knows it would be much appreciated.
I am a UK citizen.
TIA
Gisela
--
Posted via http://britishexpats.com
Gaylord
> Does anyone know the easiest way of shipping Household goods to the
> States? I have a lot of stuff to take and was curious to know what
> shipping companies were good to use etc.
>
>
>
> If anyone knows it would be much appreciated.
>
Sorry to tag onto this post, but I have to high spec pcs which I would like
to ship as well can anyone recommend someone to move those, I was thinking
of selling and rebuying but the systems are configured just right and It
would take ages to redo them as I want.
Thanks
Simon&Vik
Originally posted by whistlestop01
I have a lot of stuff to takeWell that is the 1st thing you need
to address. I know it's hard, but get rid of stuff. If you have paper
stuff to bring, scan it and bring a CD-ROM. Other stuff, toss, sell,
etc. It is quite expensive to ship stuff over, so your first thing has
got to be to reduce it to as little as possible.
--
~ Simon & Vik ~
Posted via http://britishexpats.com
whistlestop01
Originally posted by Simon&Vik
> Well that is the 1st thing you need to address. I know it's hard, but
> get rid of stuff. If you have paper stuff to bring, scan it and bring
> a CD-ROM. Other stuff, toss, sell, etc. It is quite expensive to
> ship stuff over, so your first thing has got to be to reduce it to as
> little as possible.
i cant as they are mainly gifts for our new house!!! lol so we do need
a shipping company!
thanks
yorkshiregirl
We shipped all our household contents from Yorkshire to Seattle in
August 2003. It was an expensive business!!!
I went through the yellow pages and got several quotes first but it
still cost £4500 for a 20' container. The cheapest quote was £2700 but
that was to fill the container ourselves (they are about 4' off the
ground and we had, amongst other things, a piano) also, they would not
insure anything for breakages if packed by us and we decided to use
people who knew how to pack properly. A few firms said we needed a 40'
container but when our 20' one arrived here it was by no means full. The
most expensive quote was £6800!! There is an option to share conatiners
but if there is a problem at customs with part of the load, your goods
will be delayed as well. Our conatiner took 5 weeks to arrive.
As for packing, most firms will not insure goods which have been not
been packed by them however, if you have anything which cannot be
replaced it may be worth packing things yourself. The reason I say this
is that the people who do the packing use tissue paper or equivalent
but if you pack yourself you can invest in top quality packing
materials which should prevent the items getting damaged in the first
place (but obvioulsy no come back if anything is broken). You can also
insure them separately. A word of caution- I packed all our things
myself and packed the most fragile items first in numbered boxes. When
our container was unloaded, these boxes had been packed first and were
underneath everthing else and the most squashed! Luckily only 2 glasses
were broken.
Finally, whether you pack things yourself or not, keep a detailed
inventory of ALL your things and make sure your inventory is the same as
the shippers and ask for the customs forms before everything is packed
to make sure you don't pack anything which may cause a problem.
Good luck!!
whistlestop01
Originally posted by yorkshiregirl
> Good luck!!
Thank you for such a detailed explanation. Wow what a deal in shipping
goods but it has to be done!
Looks like I need to start getting things sorted asap as I leave on
the 1 March.
Gisela
Simon&Vik
Originally posted by whistlestop01
Looks like I need to start getting things sorted asap as I leave on the
1 March.You're not leaving till March 1?
Wanna trade interview dates? ;)
SidAngelika
Originally posted by whistlestop01
> Hi there
>
> Does anyone know the easiest way of shipping Household goods to the
> States? I have a lot of stuff to take, and was curious to know what
> shipping companies were good to use etc.
>
> If anyone knows it would be much appreciated.
>
> I am a UK citizen.
>
> TIA
>
> Gisela
Whatever you do in shipping... Dont use the slow boat to China..
We shipped some of my wifes German porcelain over, and almost half of it
was damaged from someones carelessness.
The next time when I went over, I hand carried everything over when I
flew back. Some porcelain we had bought when I was there.. I wont
trust anyone to handle anything of value that can be easily broken..
Even if you put "Fragile.. handle with care" I wonder if they can read?
Sorry for venting here, but we didnt have any good luck in shipping over
seas! Good luck!
whistlestop01
Originally posted by Simon&Vik
> You're not leaving till March 1?
> Wanna trade interview dates? ;)
My case was sent mid December and I mailed my forms on the 22 December
so I am sure your interview date will be up soon from what i can see on
your timeline. Tho i didnt receive my packet 3 forms till 2 weeks after
I sent my downloaded ones off.
I wish I could go earlier than that but alas i cant. My fiance has
found an apartment for us to live in and I cant wait to see it!!!
YIPEEEEE :D
whistlestop01
Originally posted by SidAngelika
> Whatever you do in shipping... Dont use the slow boat to China..
> We shipped some of my wifes German porcelain over, and almost half of
> it was damaged from someones carelessness.
>
> The next time when I went over, I hand carried everything over when
> I flew back. Some porcelain we had bought when I was there.. I
> wont trust anyone to handle anything of value that can be easily
> broken.. Even if you put "Fragile.. handle with care" I wonder if
> they can read?
> Sorry for venting here, but we didnt have any good luck in shipping
> over seas! Good luck!
Fortunately most of the stuff isnt breakable. There are 6 glasses mind
but most of it will be ok. PHEW!!!
sibsie
I used GB liners from London to Spain. I can't rate them highly
enough. I'll be using them from Spain to Boston again and got a very
reasonable quote.
whistlestop01
Originally posted by sibsie
> I used GB liners from London to Spain. I can't rate them highly
> enough. I'll be using them from Spain to Boston again and got a very
> reasonable quote.
Thanks! That will be one of the companies I shall call? :)
yorkshiregirl
I think we must have been really lucky as we did have a lot of breakable
(some of which is antique) stuff.
Even if you don't have fragile things you should make sure that any
shipping company you use will "export wrap" your things.
If you decide to get quotes, make sure someone visits you to assess
the amount of things you have rather than you give a guestimate over
the phone.
Simon&Vik
Originally posted by whistlestop01
My case was sent mid December and I mailed my forms on the 22 December
so I am sure your interview date will be up soon from what i can see on
your timeline.Hopefully, but my hubby could come before March 1,
so, ya know, we should trade dates. ;)
Anxious?! Me?!?!?! Never! ;)
whistlestop01
Originally posted by Simon&Vik
> Hopefully, but my hubby could come before March 1, so, ya know, we
> should trade dates. ;)
>
> Anxious?! Me?!?!?! Never! ;)
No can do I'm afraid!!! There's no way I'm going to delay my interview
date as I'm nervous now let alone having to wait even longer. Of course
1 March all depends on if i get approved!! Hope I do!
Good Luck to you anyway
Gisela
Steffi
Just a reminder that when you move most electronics will be useless. ;)
My husband and I got very lucky that way!! My parents moved back to
Europe and left us tons and tons of electronic equipment, such as washer
& dryer, TV, and all kinds of kitchen accessories. Good way to start our
household. :D
Minty
Originally posted by whistlestop01
> Hi there
>
> Does anyone know the easiest way of shipping Household goods to the
> States? I have a lot of stuff to take, and was curious to know what
> shipping companies were good to use etc.
>
> If anyone knows it would be much appreciated.
>
> I am a UK citizen.
>
> TIA
>
> Gisela
I was looking into this recently and came across a firm in the UK
www.shipit.co.uk
Tel. +44(0)117-9828123
Fax. +44(0)117-9822229
Free-phone 0800 3890784
I haven't used them so am not recommending them but they were very
helpful over the phone and responded very promptly with an email. Cost
for a transport of a typical flat, about £2,000
Hope this helps
Minty
Waterpony
Originally posted by Gaylord
> > Does anyone know the easiest way of shipping Household goods to
> the
> > States? I have a lot of stuff to take and was curious to know
> what
> > shipping companies were good to use etc.
> > If anyone knows it would be much appreciated.
>
> Sorry to tag onto this post, but I have to high spec pcs which I
> would like
> to ship as well can anyone recommend someone to move those, I was
> thinking
> of selling and rebuying but the systems are configured just
> right and It
> would take ages to redo them as I want.
>
> Thanks
Hi,
I brought my PC as an additional luggage when I flew to the US...the
cost was $100 per package but it was long ago. Although you probably
know this, please note that you may need to change the power supply if
the one that you have does not support 110 V...fortunately they are not
that expensive...:)
Buendia
Originally posted by Waterpony
> Hi,
>
> I brought my PC as an additional luggage when I flew to the US...the
> cost was $100 per package but it was long ago. Although you probably
> know this, please note that you may need to change the power supply if
> the one that you have does not support 110 V...fortunately they are
> not that expensive...:)
I also was planning to take my PC as luggage. I have the original box,
and have asked the airline about the largest allowable baggage
(dimensions and weight). The box fits within the requirements, so it
won't even be charged as excess bagagge. Which is good because my cat
is the excess baggage - it's a 50 euro fee (on Aerlingus); not sure
about other airlines.
Roland Perry
<member15202@british_expats.com> writes
>Just a reminder that when you move most electronics will be useless. ;)
Quite the reverse. Most will work because many power supplies these days
are 50/60Hz and 110-240v. Even so, a small step-up transformer is
cheaper than chucking all your hi-fi and starting again.
A big problem is DVD players, where it's the region-coding on the media
that will prevent you buying a new player in the USA and playing your
UK-bought movies. TV standards are not an issue as almost all will
accept the output of a SCART to Phono lead (with the three Red/White/
Yellow plugs); but you need to buy the lead in the UK, as the USA
doesn't have SCART!
--
Roland Perry
Alistair
Just a note for anyone with smaller amounts to ship - I am flying to
America on Sunday (on a K1) and I am sending the household stuff I
didn't want to leave behind using a forwarding company, which works out
much cheaper than a shipping company... basically they fill the
containers with several smaller loads, so I get one cubic metre (which
is 24 archive boxes, so a fair amount of space) for £170. I looked in
the yellow pages and found shipping companies, and they wanted at least
£1000, which seemed to be their minimum fee. Searching for forwarding
gave several companies willing to sell me a cubic metre for under £200.
Hope this is of use to someone. I haven't actually used them yet, so
may be a terrible idea, of course!!
Roland Perry
<member18898@british_expats.com> writes
> basically they fill the
>containers with several smaller loads, so I get one cubic metre (which
>is 24 archive boxes, so a fair amount of space) for £170.
Is that delivered to your door in the USA? If so, it seems terrific
value.
--
Roland Perry
whistlestop01
Originally posted by Roland Perry
> <member18898@british_expats.com> writes
> > basically they fill the
>
> value.
> --
> Roland Perry
Sure does!!!! I think I will do some investigating on that and see what
options I have cos I am not bringing a heck of a lot of stuff eg.,
furniture.
Thanks all for your input!
Alistair
Originally posted by Roland Perry
>
> Is that delivered to your door in the USA? If so, it seems terrific
> value.
> --
> Roland Perry
Ah, no. It is delivered to New York, but since I am only a 20 minute
drive away, I figured I could pick it up myself. To have it delivered
to the door would have been significantly more (closer to £500, I think
he guessed). Sorry, should have made that point.
mrpink
Originally posted by Minty
> I was looking into this recently and came across a firm in the UK
> www.shipit.co.uk
>
> Tel. +44(0)117-9828123
> Fax. +44(0)117-9822229
> Free-phone 0800 3890784
>
> I haven't used them so am not recommending them but they were very
> helpful over the phone and responded very promptly with an email.
> Cost for a transport of a typical flat, about £2,000
>
> Hope this helps
>
> Minty
Interesting you say that - I'm using this company to move all my worldly
goods and such this very day! I've got a lot of antique bookbinding
equipment, much of which is victorian cast iron stuff and weighs well
in excess of a ton (although I've stripped it down into more manageable
sizes. The guy with the truck is due here any minute now, so I'll post
again at the end of the day to let you know how it went!
Cheers,
Mr Pink
~and SecretGarden
~~flight booked, counting out time!
Buendia
A tip I just got from the freight forwarding companies I've been
speaking with: if you do customs clearance in the US yourself, you can
save a lot of money (otherwise, you have to pay an agent to do it for
you). So when you're quoted a price, ask what it would be if you do the
customs clearance yourself. Also, you can insure your items for
theft/loss (not damage) and this seems to cost anywhere from 2.5% to 6%
of replacement value. Some places include professional packing, which
you may not need (if, like us, you're sending books and other
unbreakables). I called lots of companies yesterday, will post when I
have some prices...
whistlestop01
Originally posted by Buendia
Thanks would appreciate it!!!!
Buendia
I just got one rate back from a company here in Dublin. These are the
sorts of charges we're looking at for shipping from Dublin to the US:
rate per cubic meter (includes BAF, but I don't know what BAF
is!) - $240
Export bills of lading 65 euro
Pickup from our house here 110 euro
Palletization/shrinkwrap 30 euro
customs clearance 48 euro
and then the big charge (which is only if we want door to door which now
I'm thinking we don't!) - $510 to deliver to our door in Santa Fe
That's just one company's estimate. I'm waiting for more!
sibsie
My quote for door to door, Alicante Spain to Rockport MA is the
following...
2 large sofas
1 large chest of drawers
1 antique desk
2 glass topped tables with stone bases
2 kitchen type bar stools
15 assorted cases of other stuff and mirrors
Including insurance, packing and customs comes to £1800k.
It would probably be cheaper if I were not going from Spain as all my
stuff will get shipped off via Southampton.
My airline (Air France) are also just charging the €50 per cat and I had
the option of having them in the cabin with me if they were under 7k
each. I won't be having them in the cabin as I think they'll settle
easier in the hold where it's nice and quiet. Not only that they're
monster sized cats and talk incessantly so it wouldn't be fair to other
passengers.
When I used BA to fly them from London to Spain I was charged excess
which ended up being really expensive. I can't remember exactly but it
was over £200.
sibsie
Originally posted by mrpink
> Interesting you say that - I'm using this company to move all my
> worldly goods and such this very day! I've got a lot of antique
> bookbinding equipment, much of which is victorian cast iron stuff
> and weighs well in excess of a ton (although I've stripped it down
> into more manageable sizes. The guy with the truck is due here any
> minute now, so I'll post again at the end of the day to let you know
> how it went!
>
> Cheers,
>
> Mr Pink
> ~and SecretGarden
~~flight booked, counting out time! This post makes me so
very sad.:(
Buendia
Originally posted by sibsie
> This post makes me so very sad.:(
I know... it's just horrible! It sounds like the surgery went
well, though...
Makes me think it's ok to pay a little extra and let the freight
company lift/move/palletize/shrinkwrap. And I'll just give up the
control, stay safe...
SecretGarden
Originally posted by Buendia
> I know... it's just horrible! It sounds like the surgery went well,
> though...
>
> Makes me think it's ok to pay a little extra and let the freight
> company lift/move/palletize/shrinkwrap. And I'll just give up the
> control, stay safe...
Hi, saw this and had to comment. Unfortunately the company has some
issues to deal with this morning in the form of a phone call from an
American fiancee' which is going to happen in just a few minutes.......
Mr. P. was assisting because even after being told time and time again,
the company sent ONE man and his WIFE to move the equipment. I have
copies of the booking order in which he describes the equipment in
detail, including how much it weighs and advises that several men
will be needed to lift it, perhaps even a forklift. The ONE man was
four hours late to the site, after being sent to his parents house
rather than the very explicit collection address. This company is
going to have to answer to some things that happened yesterday, even
though Mr. Pink understands that he incurs some level of personal
responsibility for what happened. Movers are paid to move.
Shippers are paid to ship.
I asked his father what he was doing moving the stuff, and his dad said
to me, "Honey, he would have strapped that press onto his back and swum
the Atlantic Ocean yesterday if it meant getting to you as soon as he
could." :(
Someone's going to be getting a phone call soon.
Thanks for your well wishes everyone........now I go into "useful" mode.
Love you all,
~SG
hwarang
Originally posted by yorkshiregirl
> We shipped all our household contents from Yorkshire to Seattle in
> August 2003. It was an expensive business!!!
> I went through the yellow pages and got several quotes first but it
> still cost £4500 for a 20' container. The cheapest quote was £2700
> but that was to fill the container ourselves (they are about 4' off
> the ground and we had, amongst other things, a piano) also, they
> would not insure anything for breakages if packed by us and we
> decided to use people who knew how to pack properly. A few firms said
> we needed a 40' container but when our 20' one arrived here it was by
> no means full. The most expensive quote was £6800!! There is an
> option to share conatiners but if there is a problem at customs with
> part of the load, your goods will be delayed as well. Our conatiner
> took 5 weeks to arrive.
> As for packing, most firms will not insure goods which have been not
> been packed by them however, if you have anything which cannot be
> replaced it may be worth packing things yourself. The reason I say
> this is that the people who do the packing use tissue paper or
> equivalent but if you pack yourself you can invest in top quality
> packing materials which should prevent the items getting damaged in
> the first place (but obvioulsy no come back if anything is broken).
> You can also insure them separately. A word of caution- I packed all
> our things myself and packed the most fragile items first in numbered
> boxes. When our container was unloaded, these boxes had been packed
> first and were underneath everthing else and the most squashed!
> Luckily only 2 glasses were broken.
> Finally, whether you pack things yourself or not, keep a detailed
> inventory of ALL your things and make sure your inventory is the same
> as the shippers and ask for the customs forms before everything is
> packed to make sure you don't pack anything which may cause a problem.
> Good luck!!
Thanks for such good advice - although I don't think we can go home for
a long time, we still wanted to know whether it was worth getting on
with life here in Oz and shipping home everything we will once again
accumulate, or just living off the bare essentials for the next 1200
years, lol (well, 7 years, 9 months and 18 days to be precise) *giggles*
--
HwaRang
Posted via http://britishexpats.com
Buendia
I completely agree you should pursue this!
I know it's alway my inclination to help. I even helped Joe the fix-it
man when he came to the house to put in a cat flap. Helped saw the
hole, helped drill for screws and everything. It's hard for some of us
not to be helping when other people are working.
I'm not a lawyer, but I think what the company did was inexcusable, and
they should bear some of the responsibility!
And I guess what I was trying to say in the last post is that all of us
here in this shipping thread should learn from what happened to Mr. P
(especially those of us that would tend to try and lift/move even when
it's not necessary).
I'm thinking of you both and wishing for his speedy recovery!
sibsie
Originally posted by SecretGarden
even though Mr. Pink understands that he incurs some level of personal
responsibility for what happened. Movers are paid to move. I
wouldn't mention that when you speak to anyone SG. ;)
SirSteveUK
As someone who has 30 years in global shipping, would like to add my two
penn'orth...
For Buendia - BAF is Bunker Adjustment Factor - a variable surcharge
wich shipping lines tack on to their seafreight charges to cater for
fuel price increases
If you use a REMOVALS company for a full container shipment - then they
will deal direct with the shipping lines.
If you use then for a smaller shipment - packing cases, cardboard boxes
etc.. then they will contact a Consolidator, an agent who will be
loading a container with several shipments with the same destination.
(Shipping lines used to consolidate themselves - but VERY rare
nowadays).
BTW - use a removals company who is a member of the British Assoc of
Removers...they are the people who negotiate the rates with the
lines...but the rates are available to anyone..
If you think that you can load the boxes/cases yourself, then you should
deal direct with the Consolidator...who may be listed as a
Shipping/Forwarding Agent in Yellow Pages etc...
I used some cardboard toner cartridge cases - about 5x1.5x1.5 ft - and
they got here to Savannah fine ( as opposed to some glasses which I took
in my flight luggage - one broke !!) - did my own customs clearance -
which just involved taking a packing list to the Customs Office - get a
rubber stamp - and over to the depot where your cases are sitting...just
take along the waybill and any paperwork from customs, pay their charges
and bingo...collect your precious cargo. (Dont necessarily prepay for
home delivery if there's a chance you can collect...the cost will be a
disporportionate part of the total.)
Ok, so the director of the Consolidator I used is an old friend of
mine....LOLOL ...but the carriage of my cases from the port at
Charleston to Savannah depot was included - 5 boxes for under 350
quid...
If you aren't shipping large items of furniture, then it's unlikely you
will need a container to yourself...unless you really are a
collector....
BTW - it's also rare for consolidators to offer a service to any inland
point in USA - except for the REALLY big places like Chicago/Detroit,
etc - where there is probably enough traffic to warrant it....so your
goods would be shipped to the nearest port - then moved inland "IN BOND"
- via a trucker who has been licenced to move cargo inland to a Customs
approved inland depot - WITHOUT Customs Clearance at the port of entry -
goods to be cleared at the inland point.
I should think it would be extremely unlikely that any consolidated
container would be held up because of any problem shipment you happen to
be sharing the container with....
However, your consolidator SHOULD be aware that US Customs have to know
whats going to be in the container BEFORE it leaves the country of
origin - that doesn't mean your shipment will be delayed because of a
rogue consignment - it just means that the rogue wont be loaded into the
container...thats why the packing lists are very important ...most
consolidators will offer a weekly departure to a specific port..and they
wont upset their commercial clients by not shipping the container
because of one shipment...
If you have any specific queries, send me a PM and I will try to give
some advice..
Steve
Reggie Lee
Hi everyone just a note to share with you all, take a look at
futurekiwi.com the only website that shows you how to airfreight
anything from your country to anywhere in the world. Futurekiwi.com
take alook. thanks Reggie Lee
Oh yeah you should consolidate your household effects its the cheapest
way. You can even use your airline ticket to get a discount.
tinker
"Reggie Lee" <geo...@futurekiwi.com> wrote in message
news:7e6b7924.0401...@posting.google.com...