Using Amtrak to ship boxes cross country (local moving company, truck, cheapest)

[ms.teach]

Thinking about shipping a few boxes and possibly a bicycle cross country. Who has done this before? What are some things I should know? What type of boxes did you use? About how much did it cost? Words of advice?

Thanks!

[notnamed]

We made our cross country moving using Amtrak to ship a lot of boxes.
https://www.amtrak.com/express-shipping
How I moved across the country with Amtrak - Transitized

This is how it went for us:
Boxed everything up in the small heavy duty Lowe's moving boxes.
Drove to Cincinnati's Union Terminal after hours(for that location was the only time they accepted shipments as it was also a museum and such)
Went and chatted with the guy on duty who gave us a couple carts to load up the shipment.
He weighed and processed each package then they were set out to be palletized.
We then took off on our cross country drive to Portland. The train beat us there by a day. But they hold the shipment for 72hrs before they start charging you for storage.
Got there, got keys to our place then went down to the Portland terminal and got our boxes.
They all got dirty, but were in great shape otherwise.

Was the cheapest shipping option by far. I see they say that bikes must be boxed and that they may have said boxes available but to call ahead. Also you cannot ship electronics with them so those need to go with you or be shipped in another way.

[Atlanta_BD]

Originally Posted by notnamed

We made our cross country moving using Amtrak to ship a lot of boxes.
https://www.amtrak.com/express-shipping
How I moved across the country with Amtrak - Transitized

This is how it went for us:
Boxed everything up in the small heavy duty Lowe's moving boxes.
Drove to Cincinnati's Union Terminal after hours(for that location was the only time they accepted shipments as it was also a museum and such)
Went and chatted with the guy on duty who gave us a couple carts to load up the shipment.
He weighed and processed each package then they were set out to be palletized.
We then took off on our cross country drive to Portland. The train beat us there by a day. But they hold the shipment for 72hrs before they start charging you for storage.
Got there, got keys to our place then went down to the Portland terminal and got our boxes.
They all got dirty, but were in great shape otherwise.

Was the cheapest shipping option by far. I see they say that bikes must be boxed and that they may have said boxes available but to call ahead. Also you cannot ship electronics with them so those need to go with you or be shipped in another way.

What was the cost?

[notnamed]

Forget specifics, it was around $150 per 250lbs.

From the article:
"The initial 100 pounds is just over $60, and then each subsequent pound is around $0.57."

[Southern Star]

We have a foam bed that folds up to just a few inches over the three feet that Amtrak allows for their small packages. The other dimensions are well within the size guidelines but the width misses by several inches. According to what I read on their website, I would have to put this foam thing on a pallet. Am I incorrect? Please advise.

[manekeniko]

I live on Long Island, NY and would have to utilize a local moving company to get my stuff to Amtrak as there's no station here. This is a lot of extra trouble versus a POD or moving truck. My move will be cross-country.

I heard that Amtrak is cheaper. Would the savings be worth it?

Also, if I were doing it this way I'd probably choose an Amtrak station in NJ as the departure station. Good idea?