Hi everyone, it's been a while since I was on here, but when I was last on here I was looking at shipping companies. We've gone with White's as they seemed to be the most highly recommended. So, in just over a week they're coming to load up their vans and ship it all off!
The question I have is ......... has anyone on here had anything go missing whilst it's been in transit from the UK to Canada?
The reason for my question is because I'm a photo junkie and I have LOTS of photos that are pre-digital - all mostly of my kids when the were born and onwards! As you can imagine, if they go missing, I'll freak out! I was going to take photos of the photos and put them on a small external hard drive, but time has flown and I haven't gotten round to it. So, do I try and get a load done this weekend, or just hope and pray that they don't go missing?!!!
Thanks for reading this.

deejay

Yeah, we used a well recommended carrier (Crown) and they managed to lose one of our boxes, so it does happen! Having said that I think most people only experience very slight problems. Price and delays seem to be the main bug-bear.

In our case it wasn't much of value and wasn't worth the insurance excess so we didn't even claim.

Stuff is lost at sea every day.....10,000 Shipping Containers Lost At Sea Each Year...Here's a Look At One - Singularity HUB

Hmmmm..... Thanks for the input guys. Still not sure what to do, re. Photos. At the end of the day, if anything goes missing then there's not a lot I can do about them I guess. 😉

We used Whites, we were there while they loaded up our 40' container, and sealed it front of us, so we knew everything that needed to go in the container, had gone in the container. Then we were there when the seals were broken at the Canada end, so we knew everything would still be in there.
Of course the container might fall off the ship, as Rich points out, or it might be opened by customs, and someone at that point might swipe a box on the off chance that it has your jewelry box in it, but those are rather extreme cases.
Your only other alternative might be to take the photos with you as (excess) baggage on your flight, or send them separately by Fedex/UPS/DHL etc, but even with tracking, there's still a chance that box might go awol.
Be there while the box is loaded on to your container, watch it be sealed, and track the container across the Atlantic.

Thank you..... That actually makes me feel better, especially as you used Whites too. I didn't think of excess baggage either, so will look into that. 😊

You take some of your most precious photos with you in your luggage. I did that. Hedge your bets as it were.

Donkeys years ago , we also used White's based in Portsmouth. Everything arrived in one piece, including the coffee mugs they were using plus dregs. I think they do that for the giggle.

Whites as far as I remember is a franchise.

Still got the negatives? Obviously they take up a lot less space than prints, so you could pack those in the luggage you're taking on the plane. If the prints get lost you can just get new ones made from the negatives

Do you still have the negatives? If you do, buy a couple of those xray proof silvered ziplock type bags, select your most precious negatives and bring them in your hand luggage - explaining at the airport that they contain negatives so hopefully they don't put them through the xray machine!



Edited to say - apologies to sunshinedust! I just saw that you posted the same answer.. unfortunately, I hadn't read down that far!

Like the general gist of the thread, it's unlikely and you've done your due diligence to choose a professional mover, but it can happen and is a risk that is sometimes outside of their control.

Do you have access to a scanner (or know someone who does and would be willing to scan them in for you?). Alternatively some photo labs (like Tesco and Asda) offer this sort of service which might be of help?

Thank you to the last two who commented....... I found a load of negatives boxed in the roof 😊
I also do have a scanner, but you wouldn't believe how many photos I have, so it would take ages. I've decided to take photos of the photos that mean the most, and then put them on a portable disk drive.
I'm also now thinking I'm worrying to much! 😉

Baggage X-ray Scanning Effects on Film

Processed film is ok in security X-ray machines according to the advice from Kodak above. I'm carrying the negatives of my daughter's baby picture in my carry-on, wouldn't want to miss those... Scanning by a company is expensive, I've found.

A old poster had their sealed container broken into in Canada en route from port to delivery and a guitar collection was stolen amongst other things, if you have something precious (hand)luggage is the only way to go.

Thanks for your comments everyone! Hopefully everything will arrive safely in Canada and we'll experience no mishaps! I found a box in our loft and I had tons of negatives going back to pre-digital photos, so they're now in a large shoebox which will be packed in my suitcase! I've also got a small external drive which has all my digital photos on, so that'll go in my hand luggage! Also some very special photos will go in my suitcase! So hopefully I'm pretty much covered where my photos are concerned! Not that I'm OCD about them at all!! Come Tuesday I'll just have to forget about it all and hope to see everything intact at the other end!
Thanks again everyone.

Hope all the packing went well! We're gearing up for the same next week!