Hey Eagle_Eye,

What have you found out?

I am also currently living in Kent and looking to move to the US (west coast, San Francisco). I would potentially be interested in splitting the cost of e.g. a shipping container, if that was practical/economical.

cheers!

We're moving in August and am only shipping a handful of boxes of books and clothes etc. We are prepared for a long delivery time if we can save some money on the fee. A lot of the air freight companies seem to charge for a week or overnight delivery and it seems quite pricey.

Any ideas for cost effective way of shipping a relatively small amount, not worrying about if it takes three months to get there?

(I have read previous threads and wiki's)

Hi.

Having been looking recently for similar (to the east coast) and the two options I seemed to get from various companies (some found via that wiki http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Shipping_Via_Airfreight) was either to fill in the online quotes and see if you can follow the cubic volume/weight costings to give you a rough idea.

Or better still, box up your stuff even roughly and measure all the boxes and contact them and say I have 5 boxes measuring xxx how much to ship. This is easy if you are just shipping dvd's, books, plates, utensils, etc like I am.
If you are shipping furniture etc a local firm will often send someone round to quote you before they turn up to pack it (professionally).

For what it's worth I have found this forum invaluable for advice. The only feedback being that not everyone, myself included, knows all the terminology. e.g. I read the previous page and had to pause to think what an OP was.
One time I was given (helpful) advice about some notes in a form to look at but I thought they were taking the piss as I'd asked for some simple advice and the answer just looked like gobbledygook to me!

Will your things have to go into storage when they first arrive in the US?
If so - best check on where they'll be stored and the rental charges. (That was something I had to do for 9 months before I bought my house over here.)
You might also want to find out the name of the shipping companys receiving agent at this end - and then Google them to check their credentials. That's very important - find out whether they will be unpacking and setting everything up according to your instructions. (If you have a grand piano that's going up to a 4th floor - well best know ahead of time how that will be dealt with.....)
Good luck - it's exciting!

If it's just a few boxes, ship it in regular mail by surface mail, it'll be the cheapest option and take anything from 6-10 weeks.

If you've got large boxes, you can look for pallet shipping services, where they come with a pallet, load up the boxes and shrink wrap plastic around it all and then take it away and ship it surface mail. Looking at similar time frame.

[QUOTE=Bob;9982610]If it's just a few boxes, ship it in regular mail by surface mail, it'll be the cheapest option and take anything from 6-10 weeks.

QUOTE]

Only before the end of this month though, as UK postage prices are going through the roof, comparatively.

I've got to say that having been in the shipping industry most of my life, I learned long ago that peoples experiences with shipping companies (and especially removal companies) are completely varied. One persons good experience can be countered by anothers bad one

All you can do is check they are registered with the national associations (Like BAR) and make sure you get the right insurance (get a certificate before you ship, and make sure it is an Insurance company certificate, not the removal company).

For small groupage shipments I always found BOX Consolidators very good. They have offices in the UK and USA

Surface mail will always be the cheapest if it is offered though.

You don't have that option from the US.