Half or Shared container advice Florida to UK
 

Hi, I am considering moving back to the UK from Orlando and have a small amount of furniture to ship (one 3 seater sofa, an office chair, a couple of small shelves and 3 stools) plus about 30 X 3 cubic feet boxes of stuff and a few flat screen TV's - I reckon this should be less than half a 20ft container . . . has anyone had any quotes recently for a similar amount of stuff from USA to UK (sea freight door to door) and if so, approx how much do you think it might end up costing me? Thanks!

Re: Half or Shared container advice Florida to UK
 

Given that a US three-seat sofa is unlikely to fit in most British homes, I would flog your furniture on Craigslist for whatever you can get for it, plus save on shipping the furniture, then put that all towards size appropriate new furniture back in the UK.

Re: Half or Shared container advice Florida to UK
 

Thanks and meanwhile, back to my original question :)

Re: Half or Shared container advice Florida to UK
 

Not me.

Re: Half or Shared container advice Florida to UK
 

Hello - I am going the other way - UK to USA and I currently have around a third of a container worth of stuff sitting in a warehouse awaiting shipping - cost around £2000.
I have also had a quote for a full container to follow later - that is around £5500.


I have shopped around a lot and my overall quote for both shipments has varied between £19,000 and £6,000 (from a company I later discovered has shocking online reviews so I didn't end up using them).


Hope that helps


melly

Re: Half or Shared container advice Florida to UK
 

Thanks, that sounds very expensive to me, the actual cost of a container should be a lot less but I think many of these companies justify high quotes because of other related services like packing, loading, unloading etc - was this just door to door transportation or were they also doing packing?

Re: Half or Shared container advice Florida to UK
 

Hello, yes that also includes packing. It doesn't include insurance (usually around 3% of value) or any fees at customs e.g. if your shipment is pulled for x-ray or whatever they do.
melly

Re: Half or Shared container advice Florida to UK
 

It's not a matter of "justifying high quotes", the reality is that the majority of the cost (not what you pay, the cost to the shipping company of providing the service) of a transatlantic door-to-door shipment is in getting the shipment to the port and then getting it from the port to its destination.

Of these costs there are likely two main components: the cost of packing the boxes and loading the container (plus unloading and unpacking at the other end), and the cost of driving the shipment to and from the port.

In fact the cost of collecting a loaded container from/near the origin and driving it to the port and then collecting the container and delivering it to its destination, meaning two road journeys, with semi/artic truck plus driver, likely costs more than the ship owner charges for carrying the container between ports.

Re: Half or Shared container advice Florida to UK
 

I went half on a container from UK to US.
6 months later regretted shipping half the crap we did.
Furniture, doesnt really work unless it's valuble or has an extreem family connection ect.

Re: Half or Shared container advice Florida to UK
 

Why do they need to justify anything?

Re: Half or Shared container advice Florida to UK
 

In addition to this, you often find that insurance of your shipment is often dependent on it being "professionally" packed. Of course, it's do-able to do it all yourself and find insurance, but it will add to the complexity of doing a "pack yourself" move. Others (like me) find it so stressful that we are willing and (fortunately) able to pay for the full service including insurance.

Re: Half or Shared container advice Florida to UK
 

It's the 'professional packing' part that I find to be total BS and a way of them making up any price they want. I had 'professional packing' when I moved from the UK to the US, it was a bunch of utter morons on both ends, the packers and the unloaders. While it's true that trucking cost to and from the ports is needed, in my opinion the personal packing services are a scam designed to play on homeowners sentimentality about their precious belongings. If you remove this from the equation, pack everything yourself, do your own manifest and have everything ready in the garage, then put everything in the container yourself one must surely get a more realistic rate. I think that the personal packing is essentially a valet service? When they say things like 'you have to use our packing service' or they won't insure you, I translate that to 'WE SAY you must use our expensive valet services which will probably double the actual real transportation price'?

Re: Half or Shared container advice Florida to UK
 

[QUOTE=megalaser;12386115], in my opinion the personal packing services are a scam designed to play on homeowners sentimentality about their precious belongings. /QUOTE]

This did make me laugh from someone who wants to take a sofa and tv back to the UK....

Shared Shipping Containers | UPakWeShip

like it says on the packet.

Re: Half or Shared container advice Florida to UK
 

I find the fixation with the sofa interesting, it's not that unusual to own one is it? Thanks for the link, much appreciated.


[QUOTE=petitefrancaise;12386329]

Re: Half or Shared container advice Florida to UK
 

It's not a fixation. If someone else is paying, then I'd throw everything in the container. If I were paying, then I'd keep the really important personal stuff and sell the rest, save the shipping costs and treat myself to new back in the UK.