Shipping books from England to Florida

[jj80 0]

Hey ya'll. I am moving from England back to Florida and I am a teacher, so I have tons of books that I need to send back to Florida. I was thinking of paying for an extra suitcase (my fiance' is coming for a month as well) but since books are so heavy, I feel that may be a waste. I also read that British Airways doesnt have cargo sent from Gatwick, which is where I am leaving from. Does anyone have any experience or advice with this?!

[Lillen Faith 5]

Hey ya'll. I am moving from England back to Florida and I am a teacher, so I have tons of books that I need to send back to Florida. I was thinking of paying for an extra suitcase (my fiance' is coming for a month as well) but since books are so heavy, I feel that may be a waste. I also read that British Airways doesnt have cargo sent from Gatwick, which is where I am leaving from. Does anyone have any experience or advice with this?!

Divide the load...you bring back some and then your fiance can bring others later. You can also ship them by sea. I did that!

[jj80 0]

Divide the load...you bring back some and then your fiance can bring others later. You can also ship them by sea. I did that!

Do you remember who you used to ship by sea?

[Lillen Faith 5]

Do you remember who you used to ship by sea?

I used the local post office and they arranged it for me.

[Ippsy Pippsy 31]

If you books ship by sea, did you have any problems with mildew growth? I would think the high moisture would be bad. I'm curious, as I'm looking at container shipping someday.

[Lucy and David 0]

Im also trying to find out how will be best to ship my personal belongings including close to 1000 books to the US. I think using the post office will be really expensive as I posted one book to the US last week as a gift and it cost me almost as much as the price of the book to post.

I have been looking into lots of different shipping companies and it is so hard to get a straight answer out of them. Theres hidden costs, insurance etc etc and they want to know how many boxes you want to send and what they weigh but I wont have this information until I actually pack the boxes and most companies want to provide the boxes as part of the service so its just a vicious circle lol. They do all however seem to offer mositure resistant packaging for things like books to protect them during the journey. I also plan to line the boxes with bin liners as back up because I am paranoid.

Anyway its looking like its gonna cost a small fortune no matter which company I use so I'm going to have to suck it up and just pick one which seems to offer a fair price and has good testomonials on their websites ☺

[Ippsy Pippsy 31]

I have been looking into lots of different shipping companies and it is so hard to get a straight answer out of them. Theres hidden costs, insurance etc etc and they want to know how many boxes you want to send and what they weigh but I wont have this information until I actually pack the boxes and most companies want to provide the boxes as part of the service so its just a vicious circle lol. They do all however seem to offer mositure resistant packaging for things like books to protect them during the journey. I also plan to line the boxes with bin liners as back up because I am paranoid.

Anyway its looking like its gonna cost a small fortune no matter which company I use so I'm going to have to suck it up and just pick one which seems to offer a fair price and has good testomonials on their websites ☺

It sounds like you're looking at a half container maybe a full one. If you put it like that to them, do they give your estimate differently? I'm really curious as to what "moisture resistant packaging" turns out to be. I'd toss in some dessisacant (sp) too just in case. I'm also really curious as to how it turns out for you, since I'm looking at doing the same thing in the reverse someday...

[scotinmass 588]

I had about 200 books before I moved. I had read all of them so it seemed silly keeping them all but I did want to keep some of them. I took some with me in a suitcase and the rest I left at my mother's house and brought some more back every time I visited. Having books in your case uses up your weight allowance quickly so I put as much as I could get into my carry on.

Now I have a kindle and rarely read a real book. I could have a few thousand books on it and carry it in one hand! I wish I'd had one years ago.

[tanithw 5]

I looked into this & have discovered that with the exception of a few rare (expensive) books - it's much cheaper to bin them and then buy new ones from amazon in the US

[erynaught 43]

Had a half-container shipped from Charleston, SC to Rotterdam Netherlands for $500 and whatever could be stuffed in it that wasn't some sort of regulated item (pressurized gas container, firearms, etc.) Took 3 months for delivery though.

[Ippsy Pippsy 31]

I looked into this & have discovered that with the exception of a few rare (expensive) books - it's much cheaper to bin them and then buy new ones from amazon in the US

While there are plenty of books that can be bought used cheaply, if someone has a well-cultivated collection I can't see this applying. Figure that the average price of a textbook in the USA is $100+. Sure, put on Kindle everything you don't care about having physically. Um, but maybe not Kindle, maybe a format you can actually copy to whatever the next thing you want to read books on is? Remember, you don't really own Kindle books, and odds are they are DRMed and can't be copied to another non-Amazon device.

Buying non-English books in the USA cheaply? HA HA HA HA

Even UK imports are going to cost you, somebody is still paying for shipping. You might be able to sell for a profit anything that you've imported! (First edition UK science fiction books would apply here. Often they have different covers than the US version.)

Books that you have notes in? Not replaceable.

Books that you want a particular edition of? It could take you a long time to reassemble your collection...

Know your books! You can look at current prices on http://abebooks.com. Don't forget to include shipping (even domestic). If something is out of print, who knows how cheaply you can get it for. Look at "How to Avoid Huge Ships" on amazon. It's selling used for $300. #######? Why? This is not something I'd want to rebuy for more than $5! (Funny reviews btw, and actually a good book if you sail through shipping lines.)

So "rebuy everything" could be stunningly bad advice. "Slim down" is probably good advice though... Anything you can fit in your carry on is something that won't get lost in shipping!

Had a half-container shipped from Charleston, SC to Rotterdam Netherlands for $500 and whatever could be stuffed in it that wasn't some sort of regulated item (pressurized gas container, firearms, etc.) Took 3 months for delivery though.

What kind of stuff did you have in it? Did you have any problems with wood furniture cracking? Any paper or textiles? Any moisture issues? Did it smell funny when you got it?

Edited March 5, 2013 by Ippsy Pippsy

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

We have a long-running thread in the UK forum about shipping: http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/128548-yes-its-another-shipping-thread/

It may have started five years ago but people do still post info in it. I used Excess Baggage (as have many in the UK forum) and was very happy with the sea freight service I used from London to Connecticut. Zero damage to anything, including books, LPs and vintage stereo equipment.

[tanithw 5]

The value of books is a major consideration.

The books that I will be 're-buying' in the US will mostly be novels, I will be bringing my expensive books in 2 suitcases & a carry on. I've already priced up the cost of replacing a hundred or so faves. But I'm shipping a large dog and cannot afford to ship thousands of books