Shipping Companies

[Rubycon 0]

Well hello all

I'm sure this has been discussed before, elsewhere, but I (and probably other soon-to-be interviewees) would appreciate any thoughts or experiences you might have on shipping personal effects between the UK and US. Which companies would you recommend?

I'm guessing people fall into two camps:

1. You shipped your entire house contents.

2. You sorted and threw away everything that wasn't essential, and shipped just a few boxes as "excess baggage".

I'm going to fall into the latter camp. I've spent months getting rid of loads of stuff on ebay, and I'm only going to ship 'bloke essentials': books, DVDs, CDs, clothes, and a few other items. I'm hoping that its only going to be 3-4 boxes. I need to do this as cheaply as possible. I don't mind waiting a few weeks for my stuff to turn up.

Thoughts please! After browsing some sites, Seven Seas seem to offer the best price for what I'm looking for...

[*julez* 124]

I'm not sure who to recommend, but in reading your question, the name Seven Seas rang a bell and I found this thread from not too long ago:

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=72296

I know this has come up a few times in this forum. I'd recommend a quick search and maybe you can find a thread with some good recommendations.

Good luck with the move!

[TracyTN 237]

My fiance used to work for Astro Air in High Wycombe, so he's going to use them for the stuff he is shipping.

http://www.astro-air.co.uk/

I believe I've read some horror stories about Seven Seas (search the 'Moving here and your new life in America' forum).

[featherB 1]

Yeah, was going to say... Seven Seas was one of the companies I considered using, and after reading various horror stories about them, I am SO glad I didn't.

I shipped a few boxes with Excess Baggage on the recommendation of a few people here, and had no problems at all. They delivered a load of boxes & packing materials (well, bubble wrap & packing tape) to my house, only needed 24 hours notice to pick up the boxes when I was ready, and my stuff all arrived here in one piece sooner than I was expecting. Result! I'd recommend them, definitely.

[Muuuuah 0]

I used Seven Seas and had no problems at all with them, they were cheap and delivered exactly when they said they would.

[Mags 112]

Another excessbaggage graduate here!

[elmcitymaven 9,712]

We're going with Excess Baggage after quite a few recommendations from the kind folk on this site. We're also in the latter camp -- I pruned down my possessions two years ago when I split from my ex, and I will never regret telling him to keep all the furniture!

[Dan&Tiffany 0]

Also - if you don't have a tremendous amount...I did speak with the rep at the desk with BA when I was checking in this morning about baggage. Dan wanted to ask how much extra bags were to ship. It is 80pounds if done online and somewhere near 120 GBP if done at the airport counter. She also suggested looking into the airline's cargo prices. Haven't done so yet, but I am going to check on it. Dan' won't have all that much, so may be worthwhile. I'll let you know what I find out, though.

[Widge 0]

Another Excessbaggage.com groupie here can't recommend them highly enough!

My best tip : to reduce weight and vlume incredibly remove all CD's from plastic covers and buy some thin plastic slip covers (online) for shipping really makes a big difference (and hubby bought me a 500 CD changer my first Christmas so never regretted not having them )

[NealandCari 0]

Neal doesn't have a ton of stuff either, luckily. The main thing is his massive CD collection. Since a lot of his family is coming over for the wedding, we were thinking of asking some of them to carry an extra suitcase of his stuff with them and that way we can avoid shipping too much. Who knows if that will work though.

[tonyeck 0]

I used transglobalexpress.co.uk and they have been fantastic. I shipped 3 Big boxes with a total weight of 56kg. For 2 day air freight it cost me 215 quid