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Those who have made the move to big island, which was more cost effective, container or pallets? Logistics of getting a container delivered, we load, picked up, shipped, stored, delivered and unloaded is daunting and costly. We have a 3 bdrm house to pack up and i am wondering is it worth it to bring lots of big ticket items or just take the irreplaceables and truly start over. Moving from central valley, CA.
There have been discussions here about what items to bring and what to leave behind. You can do a forum search and read the varying shipping opinions that people have used, including USPS.
We used a container to ship over furniture, tools, lawn equipment, clothes, and other household items. Matson delivered the container to our house, we hired Mayflower to load the container, Matson picked up the container and shipped it to our house on the BI, and we hired local guys to unload it. Both Matson and Pasha are very easy to deal with, and they have very helpful information on their websites.
Of course, if you are doing a smaller load, you may not want or need the expense of a container.
My advice is to get rid of everything except carry-on luggage and a few checked bags. You can mail important documents etc that won't fit in your luggage. Give your sentimental items to familiy members. Don't bring them here where the mold, salt, or insects will destroy them. Tell your family it's in case you change your mind and come back. Your house here will probably be smaller than what you are used to so all your big furniture or stuff may not fit into it. It will be cheaper to get new stuff here than transporting and eventually replacing your old stuff that is not suited to this climate.
Most people won't heed this advice and will opt for pallets or a container. If you go the container route, ask for one that is for sale. That way you have the option of purchasing it after it gets here. And request a high cube. You may not wind up living in a place with a garage and with a smaller house you will need a way to keep all that stuff that you regret bringing over dry and secure. We could have sold our container for $1000 more than we paid for it but we opted to keep it to store and protect our farm supplies and tools etc. The high cubes are more valuable because they meet the height requirements for a permittable structure. The 20 foot containers cost less to ship here but have the same resale value as the 40' containers. Most of the 20' containers for sale on the island are actually 40' containers that have been cut in half and fitted with a roll up door. It doesn't cost you anything to request a container for sale because the sale is optional, but it gives you an opportunity to use it or sell it after you get here for a profit.
Storing a container in Hilo at the Matson yard will bankrupt you in no time. So if it takes you awhile to find a place to live you need a plan on what to do with your stuff. We were able to store our container at the HNL terminal for a fraction of the cost Matson wanted. You may want to consider storing it on the mainland and then getting it sent over later. Make sure you pack a couple of big tubs of dessicant in with your stuff so you don't get "container rain". We put a tub every 10 feet or so and our stuff arrived dry and mold free after months of storage. Figure 3 tubs for a 20' and 4-6 for a 40 footer. It was pouring down rain when we were packing our container so everything went in wet. But came out dry.
If you like your car, it probably makes sense to ship it over. Just make sure that if its something unusual like a speciality hybrid or an electric car that it can be repaired on the island or don't bring it. I've seen a few electric cars on the road that need to be shipped to another island for repairs. Buying used cars here is more complicated than on the mainland so factor in the value of avoiding frustration when making this decision. Also, if your car is leased or you are making payments on it, you may not legally be allowed to bring it. Depends on the finance company.
We moved with very little and I simply can't think of a thing we miss. We took the documents one step further...scanned and shredded every possible thing we could (of course there are a few things you still need originals of but not that much!) and scanned and destroyed boxes and boxes of photo albums...that was a big chore but they won't be destroyed by the climate and, as a bonus, we actually look at them now...before they just sat in boxes. Another bonus is that they look better scanned than in print, and wait, there's more! You can e-mail them to people who will get such a kick out of them.
We brought what we needed for the first few weeks in two suitcases each, and sent the rest via USPS parcel post (media mail for books/dvds). It all came in perfect shape. When I think really hard about what we brought and what we didn't, we made good decisions to leave most behind (sold, gifted, donated, tossed) and start fresh.
Our 3 bedroom house is 1,086 square feet and is fairly typical sized for a three bedroom. Is that comparable in square feet to the 3 bedroom you are moving out of?
There is a high volume of folks moving to and from the islands, so replacing furniture and basic household items from garage sales, yard sales and Craig's List is easy. Also, is the stuff worth moving twice? The percentage of folks who move here for a year or two and then leave is rather high. If there is someplace to stash your stuff on the mainland for a year or two, that will let you find out if Hawaii is a good fit for you.
We spent time on the mainland for work, and took almost nothing when we moved there. Upon return, we had acquired an amazing amount of work tools, car and bike parts, machine shop equipment, etc. Heavy stuff. Stuff we knew we could not replace back home for the same prices we'd been able to accumulate it. We did the math, and realized we'd loose money if we sold the items on the mainland, and tried to replace them in Hawaii. So we decided, based upon the weight, that we'd ship everything via Matson. As such, we then committed to bringing everything we could fit into the container (since it is flat rate). For us, it was practically money in the bank to bring those tools home.
My point is that you'll need to assess just what it is you have, and do some math on the price of selling vs the price of buying it again, here in Hawaii. Then compare to the cost of shipping everything. Find out which give you the best outcome, based upon your own individual circumstance.
If everything you have is easily replaced, then moving light might work well.
We spent time on the mainland for work, and took almost nothing when we moved there. Upon return, we had acquired an amazing amount of work tools, car and bike parts, machine shop equipment, etc. Heavy stuff. Stuff we knew we could not replace back home for the same prices we'd been able to accumulate it. We did the math, and realized we'd loose money if we sold the items on the mainland, and tried to replace them in Hawaii. So we decided, based upon the weight, that we'd ship everything via Matson. As such, we then committed to bringing everything we could fit into the container (since it is flat rate). For us, it was practically money in the bank to bring those tools home.
My point is that you'll need to assess just what it is you have, and do some math on the price of selling vs the price of buying it again, here in Hawaii. Then compare to the cost of shipping everything. Find out which give you the best outcome, based upon your own individual circumstance.
More awesome advice.
Pretty much everything we mailed was tools, after figuring cost of shipping (size and weight) vs. replacement. They were well worth the postage. Still...for our math, a container or even pallets would have been a poor financial decision.
You just need to get some quotes from shipping companies and do some math.
We spent time on the mainland for work, and took almost nothing when we moved there. Upon return, we had acquired an amazing amount of work tools, car and bike parts, machine shop equipment, etc. Heavy stuff. Stuff we knew we could not replace back home for the same prices we'd been able to accumulate it. We did the math, and realized we'd loose money if we sold the items on the mainland, and tried to replace them in Hawaii. So we decided, based upon the weight, that we'd ship everything via Matson. As such, we then committed to bringing everything we could fit into the container (since it is flat rate). For us, it was practically money in the bank to bring those tools home.
I agree - this sell everything and replicate it in Hawaii can be a very expensive proposition. Do you have nice cookware, china, pool table, electronics, piano, Ethan Allen furniture, nice bedroom sets, nice living room furniture (this thing where people buy couches on craigslist, ewwww), artwork, dining sets - taking a loss on all of that stuff and trying to repurchase that in Hawaii can cause serious damage to your pocktbook - worse case, bring it to Hawaii and sell the stuff here in Hawaii - you'll likely to do better since a lot of the nice stuff is scare here or very expensive.
I would make a case buying new things you need in a state like Oregon with no sales tax and everything is so cheap is cheaper to ship from there than to try to buy in Hawaii.
And all this stuff about disintegrating doesn't apply if you have air conditioning/dehumidifer.
And there you have it... two diametrically opposing views about moving to Hawai'i. As with everything else, different strokes for different folks!
I suggest you take the time to assess your own personal attitudes toward "stuff." If you have a lot of expensive and precious things, and you feel that material possessions are important to your feelings of self-worth, then shipping a container full of your stuff will pretty much be a matter of finding the company you want to do business with. On the other hand, if you have a zen-like detachment from "ownership" and material goods, then arriving with only a few suitcases and a carry-on is a great way to get a fresh start in a new environment.
But let's be honest... most of us are in the middle somewhere between those extremes. And most of us, in moving to Hawai'i, are also undergoing a lifestyle change to some degree, so I think the question really becomes: "What will serve you best in the future you are living into?"
After consideration, if the answer isn't clear, I suggest you take a little time to perform an inventory of your possessions, as well as a review of your attitudes. Seriously, get as present as you can to all the stuff you have, and how you feel about it. All of it. Even the stuff in the garage and the storage unit and in the backs of the closets and under the beds. Then sort that inventory into three parts, in what I call the Burning House Triage... 1) Items you would fight to save from losing in a house on fire, 2) Items you'd just let burn (seriously, like "Who cares?"), and 3) Everything else.
By now, if you're like most people, you've cut the big pile into three smaller lists that you can now relabel 1) Things to move, 2) Things to not move, and 3) Things to look at more closely.
Then, for list #3, consider your own personality and preferences... if you are OK buying used furniture, and you enjoy looking for bargains, plan to get rid of more and move less, because it's relatively easy to replace whatever you left behind if you're flexible, and why move stuff you'll just have to get rid of to fit into a smaller place? There are so many people leaving the islands, all the time, without their stuff, that pretty much everything you can think of is available at garage sales and thrift shops sooner or later. Seriously, a friend bought a brand new washer and dryer, still in the cartons, from a couple who had already given up on Hawai'i and were on a quick turnaround back to the mainland.
And also consider where you are moving to, and what the social parameters are there. Most people moving from the mainland to the islands move to smaller places. Island style, on average, is much less formal than mainland style, no matter what your financial bracket might be. And island style in general reflects the realities of active lives of sun and sand and high humidity and less concern with appearances. If you're moving to a condo in Honolulu, yes, there's a more urban vibe, but since you posted this in the Big Island forum I'm guessing you're probably on a different track. If "Ethan Allen" reminds you of the Green Mountain Boys, but you can't remember what their #1 hit song was, you'll probably be quite delighted at the quality of what you can find to buy inexpensively, with a little patience at Big Island garage sales.
But on the other hand, if you are someone who stresses over finding just the right piece to fit next to the whatever, and you won't rest until you find it, and it has to be perfect, then go ahead and ship it all, and if you're lucky, some of it will actually wind up OK in your new home.
A couple of specific details that come to mind...
Plan to buy new mattresses in Hawai'i, unless you have fairly new and expensive mattresses that you're willing to pay a lot to move. Mattresses are one item you should never buy used, and an 8 year old mattress is generally at the end of its useful life anyway. So just bite the bullet and plan to buy this item new.
Don't move used major appliances like refrigerators, washers, dryers. A lot of them arrive DOA, because they get such a beating internally from things banging around inside on a long ocean cruise. New appliances in factory packing have a lot of internal packing to prevent such damage, but yours won't. And refrigerators past their warranty period are bad bets anyway. If it's over 7 years old you won't want it in Hawai'i anyway, due to the high cost of electricity.
Don't move anything that is susceptible to high humidity or mold. Your Great-Aunt's family heirloom glass front china cabinet not only might be too big to fit in your new, downsized home, but it could start peeling and falling apart in the tropical climate. Keep in mind that a lot of homes in Hawai'i have no AC, and for those that do have it, the cost of operation is prohibitively expensive, so a great many people forego regular use of Air Conditioning.
Shipping a few things on pallets can be less expensive than renting a whole container, yes, if you are shipping a much smaller total volume. But keep in mind that those pallets are placed inside containers to be shipped, so their proportional cost per cubic foot is higher, due to the extra handling, brokerage costs, etc. The same thing is true of the various PODs and cubes on the market. You should get quotes from the main shippers, because supply and demand has a lot to do with pricing, but as a talking point a 20' ISO container from California to Hawai'i might run $3,000, while a single pallet (4 x 4 1/2 x 6') could be $400-500. Maybe more, maybe less, but that's the approximate size of the breadbox.
Last edited by OpenD; 03-25-2013 at 01:58 AM..
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