Jay Bird

Well I've been pretty quiet on here these past few weeks ( we fly Home on June 29th).......lots to sort out, not least of which is a shipping company. We had several quotes, but only one company sent a rep to do a "walk through"; he was a pleasant jovial fellow who seemed to know what he was talking about....and although the quote seemed a bit on the high side, we thought it was genuine enough. So everything's going well; we're ahead with our packing and I'm rapidly disappearing behind a wall of boxes, but whilst rummaging in my huge folder of Important Papers I came across the paperwork from when our worldly goods were shipped over here back in 2004. Here begins the cautionary part of this tale.......
Fred, who did the walk through........okay, I know you want who the company is........ it's Tippett-Richardson (or Tippett & Rippit as a friend of mine called it yesterday!) had estimated 435 cubic feet. Well I don't know about you but I have difficulty visualising how much space our Stuff will need, so accepted it............until, that is, I found these papers yesterday and discovered that we had shipped over 215 cubic feet. Well, okay, I can hear you all saying, you're taking back more than your brought over......no, we're not! If anything it is either the same (roughly) or slightly less as we're leaving some of the stuff we brought.
So what I want to know from Fred this morning, when I phone him, is where the heck does he get another 220 cubic feet from! And this is why I'm posting this.....just because your shippers are.....well, shippers, does not make them, shall we say.....accurate in their estimations!
I shall give you updates...........

Elaine B.

Sounds like a pretty inaccurate estimate FWIW we were told by the shipper that they would adjust the quote to reflect the actual volume once everything is packed.

Jay Bird

Hi Elaine.....how's it all going for you? I saw you've had an offer....great news!

I just spoke to Fred at T-R, who immediately said he only gave a "rough estimate and have to cube it up"!! What on earth does "cube it up" mean? Double it, maybe! Strange that Robinson's quote (back in 2004) was only 15 cubic feet out.....and that was based on a walk-through.
Anyhow, Fred has agreed to come back in a few days when we've only got the last minute things left, for which we can allow another 3 cu ft. Phew...almost parted with nearly $5500! Now we know what we're looking at volume-wise, we reckon that what we get from selling stuff here will just about cover the shipping costs!

Elaine B.

Glad you got that sorted.

As for our sale we are waiting for the buyers to waive the conditions of financing and building inspection (the deadline is tomorrow). They are doing the inspection tomorrow morning so I'll be sitting here with my stomach in knots for another day.

mumof4

as far as I understand "cube it up" means they measure it exactly at the warehouse after packing..... how about getting another quote, I got about 3 visual quotes and 4 internet quotes and they all came up with the same cubic feet.... another quote would help you
good luck

Jay Bird

Hi, and thanks for your suggestion......I have six online quotes, and have spoken to at least three shipping companies. However I cannot get anyone, other than Tippett-Richardson, to actually do a "walk-through"...or visual.......apparently we are

*Too far away from civiliation
*Of no interest to overseas shippers because we're not taking the full contents of the house
*Don't need a walk-through....they are clever enough to guess

or a combination of the above.

Fred, the guy from T-R is coming back on Wednesday to have a re-think.

Re the interpretation of "cube it up"......there was no mention of a refund if it transpired the volume works out less than originally quoted. as we have to hand over a cheque to the removal men, on the day, it's think it's doubtful we would get a refund. I think it actually means....."I thought of a number and doubled it"!

LizaJane

i have just had a quote from allied pickfords (they come in and assess) for door door 40ft xtr high container (59 cubic metres) from NZ to UK is approx (NZ)$20,000 plus insurance!!

LizaJane

1 cubic metre = 1m x 1m x 1m

Jay Bird

Yes, thank you for that. I don't wish to sound snotty, but I know how to calculate cubic measurements.....my problem is that I cannot visualise 200 cubic feet, which is why I wanted a "walk through". I now have 27 boxes packed, and have done a rough calculation based on my measuring each stack, then adding those together. I have, roughly, 58 cubic feet and not much more to pack! 435 cu ft? I don't think so.

You'd think after doing this transAtlantic hop three times already I'd be able to "see" the volume in my head, but we've done it differently each time.......this IS the last!

LizaJane

I didn't mean to be condescending, sorry, just doing the same, trying to visualise the amount and clarify it spacially, was suppose to be part of my post before hand.

In that post, you will see we have been quoted on 59 cubic mtrs (OH wants to get down to a 20ft container which is 28 cubic mtrs, LOL), so decisions have to be made as to what to do, maybe I dind't explain my self very well apologises.

Are you packing all your stuff yourself and just getting 'Fred' to ship? What about insurance? As far as I'm concerned it is all working out very expensive!

Goodluck with sorting out.

Jay Bird

Hi LizaJane.....no worries, as they say.
Yep, we're doing the packing and Fred is Tippett-Richardson's local "walk through" guy; our stuff will go in a shared container.
We had a full container load when we went back to the UK in the late 80's and found a lot of the stuff we took was of no use.....too big or too ugly for UK houses. Since then we have been really strict about what goes with us. I tell you, if Mr Oldbag stands still long enough he'll have a For sale sign slapped on him! We have never bothered with insurance when shipping stuff because you're only covered if the whole load is lost, which IMO is not likely unless the ship goes down. I know it does happen, but so far we've been okay, and I always keep all important papers and one or two tinytiny sentimental things in my hand luggage.

Hope it all goes well for you

needasmack

I used to work in importing and exporting for al types of shipping, ltl, roro, full cont, etc.

Sometimes in the industry when shippers are doing LTL (which is what you are doing in sharing a container) will Skid up your stuff. If your stuff is not deemed stackable in side the container - you will be charged for the space above it. When i used to ship giftware - we often had that problem because our stuff either had to be on the top part of the container - or we paid extra. Skids are usually cling wrapped per consinger. So if jo bloggs and you and mr.bean shared a container depending how each person pod fit would depend on the price you paid.

Good luck tho

Jay Bird

Interesting.....thanks for that. What does LTL mean, please?

needasmack

LTL = less than load ( anything from 1 box to a part container )

:-)

Jay Bird

Ah - thanks again! We'll see what Fred from T-R comes up with tomorrow; I know a part container can work out more expensive, and takes longer to ship than a full container, but I did feel his original guesstimate was a bit off.