How many boxes???
 

I am trying to figure out the best and cheapest way to have my 'stuff' sent to Canada. By stuff I mean: photo albums,paperwork, sentimental nic nacs, toys we can't part with, clothes, and general belongings. I do not plan to send any furniture or kitchen supplies, or anything that can be replaced easily when there.

I have searched this forum and just called a couple of the companies reccomended (Anglo Pacific and Cargobookers) to try and get an idea of where to start with this. I have got off the phone feeling even more confused!

What I can't get my head around is what I need to tell them with regards to the amount of stuff I want to send. I just cannot seem to visualise in my head how many boxes I will need in order to get a quote. Anglo pacific said their boxes are 48x43x61 cm and cargobookers said their's are 50x50x50 cm.

The stuff will be going from the Midlands to London, Ontario. I'm a Canadian citizen, if that makes any difference.

Can anyone please help me on this? I would like to hear from the people who just shipped over 'stuff'. How many boxes did you need in order to accomodate your stuff? How should I go about getting a good quote. i am afraid that because I feel so thick about all of this, they are going to try to rip me off. Already I had conflicting info. AP told me door to door service is no problem, whereas CB told me that I would have to pick the stuff up in Toronto.

Anyways, I just need to get quotes at this stage but I can't seem to figure out what to say to them. I explained I was having trouble imagining how many boxes to the girl on the phone. I asked if she had any idea of the average amount of boxes people in my situation used and she said she had no idea and I must give her a figure in order for her to work out a quote.

I feel so thick! Any help would be gratefully received.

Kellie

Re: How many boxes???
 

Can you get hold of an old cardboard box with roughly the dimensions listed to give yourself a rough idea?

Re: How many boxes???
 

Funny that you say that, it is what I just did!! It did help but, short of packing my stuff to see how many boxes it fills, I'm still unsure about how many boxes I should be thinking about. I am guessing 15-20, but would love to hear from someone who has been through this

I just had a quote for door to door service from excess baggage, who I thought would be good based on threads on here. For 15 boxes (51x41x61) he quoted £945 plus some delivery and collection charges for the boxes, which confused me! Add to that insurance (have not even got there yet!) and it seems alot more expensive than I thought.

Cargobookers have quoted me £322.52 for 20 boxes (50x50x50) door to port (Toronto). She also mentioned some kind of handling charge at the Port which she 'guessed may be in the region of £150.

I am feeling so confused by this!!

I will keep searching this forum for tips and hope to get more replies.

Kellie

Re: How many boxes???
 

Kellie,

Have PM'ed you.

Re: How many boxes???
 

We just picked up hubby's boxes that were shipped through cargobookers
we had 9 boxes clothes, CD's, books and papers, pictures and small stuff. shipped from London to Vancouver BC it cost us $500 at point of shipping and another $260 at point of destination. We shipped by sea not by air as it is cheaper it took 7 weeks to arrive.

Island Girl

Re: How many boxes???
 

Hey Kellie

We had Anglo Pacific and the lovely lady from the Manchester office (Annette) just walked around my home with me and I just told her what we were taking, ie that, and that and that..................and she worked it out from there. She looked at how many CD's we had, books we were taking, how many cupboards full of crockery etc, and was experienced enough to estimate the boxes we would need from that...................and she wasn't far out on the cubic feet either. We owed a little more when it was all boxed up, but not much. We had a part-container.

Don't stress about it, honestly, they should do all the maths for you !

Re: How many boxes???
 

Kellie

I know what you mean. All I have is a set of golf clubs, bike, pannier * 2, snowboard equipment, clothes, CDS and a poker set. I don't know what my box requirements are until I can get them in the same room.

I seen shipping boxes for golf clubs, but how do you ship a bike??

How are you planning to list your clothing? Apparently listing shoes and boots can cause trouble at customs. Again any advice would be most welcome.

I will watch this thread with interest.

Thank you

Re: How many boxes???
 

Anglo Pacific made no mention of coming around to my house to give me an estimate. Maybe I will ask them to do it. Do they charge you to do that?

Can I ask, what was your cubic feet in the end? And what did it end up costing?

Re: How many boxes???
 

I think I heard this on another thread. Is it true? If so, why? Have other people had any trouble with sending/listing clothes or shoes?

Re: How many boxes???
 

I was asked if I had shoes, and having been clued up here I smiled sweetly and said "Yes but I scrubbed the soles with disinfectant before packing them". Ahem. Honest I did ;)

Re: How many boxes???
 

:) Ok, now I'm getting even more curious.....what is the deal with clothes and shoes?

Kellie

Re: How many boxes???
 

Nothing with clothes, they think foot and mouth can be transmitted by the shoes of a city dweller who only ever pounded pavement between Starbucks and the salon ;)

Re: How many boxes???
 

Should I be seriously considering not sending my shoes? Can it actually cause a problem with the shipment?

Re: How many boxes???
 

Depends.
Are you sending them yourself or via a shipping agent?
If the first then possibly
if the second then HIGHLY unlikely.

Re: How many boxes???
 

No, send them! You could *actually* scrub the soles with a mild disinfectant solution, then you can answer truthfully. If you're not bothered and/or are certain that your shoes will not be carrying nasties that will cause the downfall of Canadian agriculture, then don't. Up to you.

Our customs officer was lovely, I'm pretty certain that if I'd said I hadn't scrubbed the shoe soles, it would not have made a difference. Sounded like he was just reading from a script. I just didn't want to take the chance. I did own up to a bottle of whisky I was planning on hiding so I felt my fibs cancelled each other out ;)