is it possible to have my things shipped to me before I even have an address?

[ethnicappalachian]

Personal belongings like clothes, electronics, musical instruments, etc. Nothing like furniture or appliances. Or maybe I could have a hitch installed on my car and rent a small trailer cargo? How about those rooftop storage cargo, are they good for storing things?

Originally Posted by CatzPaw

Just how much stuff are we talking about here?

[twingles]

Quality rooftop carriers are expensive (Thule probably gonna run $500+ and can't be installed on all vehicles). We bought a cheap soft sided one for a quick trip and if it rains, the interior will get wet. The hard sided ones can be locked, but not sure I'd want to store expensive items up there for any length of time, particularly instruments which may not cope well with changes in climate.

Instead of using PODS, which can be expensive to store, rent a storage unit in LA. These places are cropping up like cockroaches everywhere, and many will give you one month free or for a dollar. Your movers can offload the stuff right into the unit for you, then you can unload it at your leisure when you are ready. My sister and parents both put their stuff in storage when they moved here to NC. Think it was less than $50/month. This was furnishings for a full house. You can get a really small one for your stuff.

[boxus]

A POD tyoe thing you can have it held at the destination. You can ship via Fedex and have them hold at location, then you go to the store and get your stuff.

[Coldjensens]

If you ship ia greyhound, they will hold it at the receiving station for a period of time. Ask or look it up. not sure if it is a few days or a month.

[Vinny536]

Originally Posted by ethnicappalachian

Personal belongings like clothes, electronics, musical instruments, etc. Nothing like furniture or appliances. Or maybe I could have a hitch installed on my car and rent a small trailer cargo? How about those rooftop storage cargo, are they good for storing things?

What kind of car?

This kinda sounds like a lot of stuff to pay postage on. The trailer is the route I would go, assuming you're car can tow a reasonable trailer.

If your car can't tow a trailer or you have no interest in ever towing again check the price of buying a hitch and renting a trailer vs renting the smallest truck Uhaul, penske, etc. will allow you to tow a car dolly with.

I'm assuming hitch, install and wiring will be a couple hundred bucks. Might be cheaper to go with the rental truck. It'll drink more gas but after 12 moves in my life, trust me, you have a lot more stuff than you think!



And most importantly with a trailer, SLOW DOWN! Especially if you've never towed before. On the highway you'll start to feel confident, right up until the trailer that's wider than your car creeps over the white line, hits the rumble strips and snaps you out of your bubble of comfort.

I saw a family w/ a uhaul trailer behind a KIA SUV do 3 donuts on I-40 then shoot off the interstate, through a fence, across a frontage road and into a ditch backwards because of this exact scenario. I was in a loaded 26' penske box truck towing a car as they passed me around 80MPH. She was going WAY too fast. If they started their spin 50 feet sooner I have no doubt they would have been too close for me to slow down and their kids would probably be dead. That box truck would have not been able to slow down fast enough, it was everything I could do to prevent hitting them as it was.

The driver was really scared and upset, as she should have been after such an incident. But they crashed in front of a former firefighter and my former paramedic now RN wife and fortunately none of them were hurt. They shouldn't buy any lotto tickets, they used up all their combined luck right then!