Sending items back to the US

I have packing my sons suitcase for his return to California tomorrow    I will be sending some of my things back with him, including my bike. I still have more things that will need to go back - not a lot, but defiantly more than two suitcases worth. Any idea on what’s the best route to send stuff back to the States?

We'll be moving furniture, not much - but atleast one gigantic bookshelf and one table & chairs... so we'll be going the full-blown movers way. Will probably start getting quotes in the summer.

I know shipping stuff by boat is generally cheaper - but the last time I got stuff via boat it was really water damaged, I know it couldn't have falledn over, but that's what I thought! Will you be making any trips to the US yourself before you move back, so you could fill up more suitcases?

Will you be making any trips to the US yourself before you move back, so you could fill up more suitcases?

You are such a smart girl!!! YES - I am! I will be back before the final move. I have to really think about what I need to move. In addition to house stuff, we've got take another bike and golf clubs too  :-/

I guess whatever doesn't squeeze into a suitcase could then be shipped in a container, but I dont know about those yet - haven't done my research. I don't know if you have to get a certain size or what... I suppose the only way to know is to call different compnaies when you know what you're sending, and ask for quotes? Maybe if it's just a couple of big items it wouldn't be worth the cost of a container...

I know absolutely nothing... so why am I posting?!

I know absolutely nothing... so why am I posting?!

Cause we are in this together girl  

Im moving an entire household back by container and Ive been quoted in person by about 4 companies and online asessment by 2.

Everything is weighed by cubic feet so a 20ft container for sea freight holds about 1,100 cubic feet. That generally holds a very large household of 3 - 4 bedrooms. You can have sole use of a 20ft or 40ft container (however, there are bigger containers) or a grouped consignment of a 20ft container where your consignment is paired with another going to the same country, though not always to the same port.

Sole use is generally a bit more expensive and grouped consignments are less, but it all depends on how large a consignment you have.

On many quotes its been said that my household would be around 500 - 600 cuft which would sit on the line between shared and sole use. The average of the companies quotes for a single family (no kids) 2-3 bed household is around £3000 - £4000 UK to US (VAT cannot be charged on shipments going to a destination outside the EU). This includes professional packing, door to door service, transport and container fees, arrival at port, delivery and unpacking and removal of debris by an affiliated company at your destination.

The price does not include insurance which averages about 3% of the total declared replacement value at destination of all items in the consigment that you wish to insure. There is also a small tax on top of that premium. The price also does not include customs duties (payble on anything new should you declare it - which you shouldnt), and customs examination costs.

About 1 in 20 containers are now being fully examined (x-rayed) by customs and the owner of the consignment is responsible for the cost - about $200. There are administration fees to class your shipment differently if you include booze or firearms in your consignment.

International Removes can handle anything from a few boxes to a whole mansion although most are only interested in taking households. Theres one company that provided information on their Air Freight service which I'll include here:

The company is called PSS International Removals: www.pss.uk.com sales@p-s-s.co.uk Tel 020 8686 7733

This is for air freight arrivals at Houston Airport only:

Arrival at Houston Airport £2.33 per kilo (ex. customs clearance)
Door to Door via Houston Airport £4.40 per kilo

(Door to door rates to USA are + £40 customes clearance fee.)

All air freight rates are plus a UK handling charge of £40 lump sum + £20 NES charge (UK Customes export charge), and are subject to a minimum of 25 kilos. Both rates are based on collection from UK residence.  

Air transit times are approx 7 - 14 days.[/color]


Also you could contact airlines like BA, Virgin and Delta to get quotes on their Cargo programs. You can have your shipment sent on your flight with you or have it go unaccompanied. Large items must be able to fit within the cargo doors and there are weight restrictions for commercial aircraft cargo, however for a few boxes you might be able to get a good rate. You just have to pack it, deliver it to cargo, and pick it up at the destination. BA once gave me a quote for their cargo and were very friendly - you can get a quote from them by calling. The numbers are on the BA website.

I made a post eariler with links to some of the web sites of companies I have been quoted by. Currently Im undecided between PSS and Sterling. PSS offer 4 weeks free UK-side warehouse storage but Sterlings quote, though a bit more expensive, included crating of china in wooden boxes. Just dont know yet.

Sarah

PS: Sara, what happened to your boat shipment? Did they say why it was damp? Did you use an accredited removal company?

Well it was only one box, a medium-sized packing box, but it was heavy as... something that's very heavy... so it got sent to me by boat, my parents sent it. It got delivered with no notes or anything on it to explain the wetness, and I can't for the life of me remember who they sent it with (it was a year and a half ago)...

Also - I have NO idea what we're going to do about shipping now.

We will be shipping mostly boxes with clothes and effects, the only pieces of furniture we really want to take are our couch & a huge oak bookcase.

Everything else can be left behind since I've already got them in the States in storage. No beds, no tables, no other big furniture, no grills, no lawnmovers, no pets, no TVs, no wardrobes, no dressers....

And it akes me wonder if anyone would do our removal considering how relatively small it would be. I mean, the bookcase is big, but not a container full!

If you do a partial container, does it matter HOW partial it is?
Do you think they'd even give me the time of day?

We're going to the states in July and will be bringing suitcases FULL of stuff to leave there. My mom & dad will be here in March, and they will do the same. So we'll be able to get rid of 4 suitcases, but we're not moving until January so it's not like we can give them anything important...

BAH. Shipping is, so far, the only thing David & I disagree about in this whole situation.
He says "stuff it, leave the bookcase".

I say "you're a dork. it's gorgeous, it's antique, and it's the only thing you've ever bought yourself and the *only* thing you got from your divorce!" He is really emotionally attached to this bookcase! He'd regret leaving it here for the rest of his life. So would I! It's gorgeous!

But he thinks if we left it behind and used ONLY boxes (which also means leaving our couch behind & having to buy one when we got there).. it would be loads and loads cheaper. I dunno.

Because the bookcase is of great sentimental value you should take it. no questions. if you dont have much by way of boxes you could seriously consider shipping it by air freight or cargo with a commercial airline (provided with the airline you could get the shipment to the airport and take it away on arrival). You could send all of your other belongings in trunks but I think boxes would also be fine - just use tri-walled boxes. You can buy some from places like A1Boxes online.

Youd have to contact a removal company and find out what they think about partial shipments etc. If they give you a quote of 200cuft then they should be able to fit you in with another shipment with a volume of 900cuft at most. I dont see any reason why they wouldnt give you the time of day. I think its mostly people that have maybe 5 boxes that they really dont care to much about unless the owner wants the boxes to go by air. But youd have to call and found out. Try PSS, the company that I mentioned before, as they can talk to you about both scenarios.

About the sofa - find out what a comperable one in the states costs. If it costs $1000 see if you can sell your UK sofa for £550. That way youre not loosing money on having it shipped. You'll surely notice the added cost for shipping the sofa in a consignment under 600 cuft so selling yours might well save you a few hundred pounds in shipping costs.

Thanks loads, MarsBar.
David is all for selling our couch (it's only about 2 months old) - that's probably the way we'll go actually, assuming we can actually sell it.
Shipping is really the thing I'm stressing out about most, but it looks like I'll just need to call around, explain our situation, and get specific quotes.
We will be starting the paperwork process in July now (we're moving it up a bit just in case the holidays and the new visa/passport thing in the US slows our process up) - but still planning on moving in January... so we're thinking of getting shipping quotes this summer.

We're also planning on a lot of eBay!

Ebay is how we're going to get rid of a lot of our things too. Fingers crossed that someone wants our stuff!

So far with the holidays I havent found any hold up with moving or visa issues, though we have skirted the holidays pretty well. Visa interview was in Oct and we wont move for a few months yet. Never can hurt to try and avoid complications though.

You'll have about 6 months to use the visa from the day it was issued. Martin and I will be cutting it very fine I think but if looks like we wont manage to make the move completely by the date his visa expires we'll just take a trip to the US so he can use his visa and "activate" his status, if you will. Then we'll return after a few days and resume the move.

If you start your process in July you'll probably get your visa around the same time we did - Octoberish. So it you'd have to use it by Aprilish.

You shouldnt worry about the passport thing unless your hubby doesnt have a machine readable passport in which case you should get one. Biometric passports are only required for visa-free travel from visa-waiver countries, as I understand it. If he has a machine readable passport and a visa he'll be fine.

You'll have about 6 months to use the visa from the day it was issued.

I could be wrong but my nifty friend Andy from the American Embassy told me that from the date it was issued (and they put into that little brown envelope that is sealed and cannot be opened by your or anyone else until you're in the the U.S. by an official U.S. immigration officer to activate it at the airport) is a total of ninety days or 3 months.    Which frankly doesn't leave me a whole lot of time to find a house in NY between flying back in fourth and stuff and gettingmy stuff.  Once the activation has taken effect your spouse cannot leave the country for a full year unless of course it's for business.  And if that's the case you need a notarized letter from the company stating so.  My friend and her husband went through this already.  

I just started a new thread asking about the same question Yvonne... I'm confused.

I just started a new thread asking about the same question Yvonne... I'm confused.

You and me both!!