ABF U-Pack Tips

[MandE 0]

Hey all,

I know that U-Pack is a favorite among VJ folks moving their stuff from Canada to the US.

I know the website provides a lot of detail on how to pack and stuff, but does anyone have any person tips to share about loading the trailer?

Anyone have a shipment arrive that was damaged?

Do you recommend that tie off as much as possible?

I'll be loading the trailer on Monday, and I'm a little nervous about things moving around and stuff.

Also, I'm filling out Form 3299 for customs. Any tips on how to fill out the second page? There is a fourth column that asks to describe foriegn items that were bought in the US. Can I just leave this blank if it doesn't apply to me?

Thanks everyone!

[thermophile 0]

Pack it as tight as you can-there's no shocks on the trailers so everything is going to get pretty rattled. I tied off our cube twice, once in the middle and once when it was full which seemed to be enough. I used a couple of our ropes for hiking so fairly small gage (about as big around as your index finger) and about 20 meters long and just threaded it back and forth to make a mesh- tightening as much as possible. The one big thing that I should have done different was made a wall with our boxes and thrown the odd shaped and squishy stuff behind it rather than have that stuff as the last thing we put in the cube. if they had opened the cube at the border stuff would have fallen out.

the only things that got broken were a few cheap Ikea candle holders that the dear hubby just tossed in a box with out wrapping them in anything, so I don't really blame ABF for that. we didn't put any electronics in the cube-all of that was in the car with us.

[trailmix 77]

My Sister and her family used them from Calgary to Omaha in June. Their stuff ended up with some oil on it and the bulk head was down.

Apparently they used part of the truck to carry tires, which is not allowed - but it happened.

As for the bulk head being down, the guy at the Calgary depot told them not to worry about tying things in too securely, the BH would hold them in etc etc - which didn't happen of course.

Anyway, no major damage done and they sent them like $200 within 2 weeks for the trouble.

For part 2 which doesn't apply to you, I would just put n/a, but that's just an opinion

Edited November 30, 2007 by trailmix

[Chica Yeyé 41]

We did have some damage, but not due to UPack (they were fabulous), but courtesy of the morons I hired to load our stuff.

UPack is reliable and fair in price - you will be fine.

Get some tarps and ties and the like to secure your stuff.

Good luck with the move!!!!!