gglondon

Hey..

I'm looking into options to move my stuff (boxes+ some furniture) from London to CA. A lady told me today that self packing was *not* allowed anymore because of security reasons on the US side. So this company would have to do the packing.

Can somebody confirm this?

Thanks!

Duncan Roberts

Well, I would doubt that the shipping company will let you load up the container but I've not heard you can't pack the stuff you want to go into the container. Did she by any chance work for a shipping company?

MsElui

it may be her companys rules but its not the law. get another quote!

gglondon

I'll be sharing a container. The lady from the removal company indeed told me
that they must to pack everything for me. (Because of new security rules in the US).

Just another greedy person?

Also, for ~ 10 m3 (e.g. ~350 cubic feet), any idea how much that would cost me?

crg

I'd say she's full of it. They probably don't want to guess who broke the item if something is damaged. Was the Tiffany lamp busted before or after it went into the box? Was it broke because you packed it wrong? Was it broke because they hit it with a fork lift? If they pack it, they would know.

I'd get another quote.

sambapink

I was told the same thing - I let them pack my stuff.. happy to! Also if they pack your stuff then if anything does get damaged/broken then its clearly their doing - otherwise they could say you packed it wrongly etc.. and not reimburse you.

The Horticulturalist

I thought that self packing was allowed, but I may be wrong on that.

If it is allowed, you are more likely to be searched by customs at the US end which will result in delays and up to several hundred $$$ cost which you will be liable for.

Manc

ok so if the shipping company tells you, "they have to pack it"

and the Customs dog finds 2 kilo's of heroin in your stuff



who goes to jail?

M-S ON THE MOVE

Hi
We are self packing in 2weeks, I've had 4 quotes and not one of them told me self packing wasn't allowed.
I suggest you try elsewhere.

Razdaman101

Was told that self packing isn't advised as it voids the insurance. Basically she said "you can do it but if it breaks its your fault!"

To be honest i wouldn't want to self pack anyway, it just seems like too much hard work. we've got a full 20 footer. But on a small ish amount like you have maybe it won't be so bad.

I can see the point that if you self pack, it is basically going to guarantee an inspection with added cost. Maybe its a cheaper to get them to pack and lower the chances of extra charges from custom. (no guarantee that you won't be checked but chances are probably lowered.)

notacrime

I agree, there's no US law that disallows self-packing. You should shop around a bit more.

That said I've found that quotes are not terribly different for self-packing vs. full service. I'm shipping 200cf in August Edinburgh -> San Francisco and quotes are in the £1500 range for full service, and around the same for self packing.

When I moved from San Francisco to Edinburgh I self-packed and it was significantly cheaper (US $1500 for 200 cf.) What I did there was called LCL (less than container load) in the shipping business. It means that I was paying for a place in a container, and that my stuff had to be packaged and wrapped in such a way that it could be lifted by a forklift and placed in the container. I found a moving company that was OK with doing this packaging and wrapping for me at their depot. They were used to doing antiques not personal possessions.

For the Edinburgh -> SF move I haven't been able to find a good LCL price anywhere, in fact the quotes have come in slightly more expensive. If you want to explore doing it this way though you can google for LCL, less than container, and liftvan. If you find someone in the UK who can do this please let me know!

What moving companies are selling you when you have less than a container's worth of stuff is referred to as 'groupage'. Some companies allow you to self-pack for groupage, but many require that you take their full-service package if you are going to ship groupage, it makes it easier for everyone, (and they know exactly what's in your shipment.)

For self-packing you will probably only have the opportunity to insure for total loss of each package, and not for damage. For full service you will be insured for damage and loss. This means insurance for full service is more expensive (3% of value, as opposed to 1.5% of value.)

LCL is usually faster than groupage, because they don't have to wait until they have a container full of moving boxes going to the same place, they just hand over the pallet or liftvan to a consolidator. I've been quoted 9 - 12 weeks for groupage, but it was 5 weeks LCL SF->Edinburgh.

goatherder

Hi

A friend (works for US customs) told me that if you do self pack the entire container will be inspected throughly at the point of entry and you and your container budies will wear the cost - most probably you because everyone else got the removalists to pack.

Custom inspections are not cheap and the removalists on this side will not release your stuff until you pay it.

I paid for them to pack it (ok I'm lazy as well)

Goat.