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I have talked with various moving companies (relocators). Some tell me that all items shipped to Kauai (Hawaii in general) must be packed by the movers because self-packed boxes, etc are a "red flag" to customs???? I am moving from Arizona to Kauai....State to State....not International! Does anyone have answers to this and any moving/shipping companies that you might recommend. I am moving there in six weeks...need help really soon!!!! Thanks so much for any help.
CUSTOMS? What type of second rate mover are you using. Remind them that Hawaii is one of the 50 states of the United States of America!
The only thing Hawaii has that most people on the mainland do not deal with regularly is agricultural. They inspect for invasive species and prohibited plant and animals. But who packed it has absolutely nothing to do with AG inspection. They will open your packed box just as easily, or as often as they will open a professionally packed item.
PacificFlights.....Frankly I agree with you....the relocator company is called "True North" and is located in Seattle! I was given their name by a family who just moved from Oahu to Phoenix. The other two companies I contacted, who promised the moon....turned out to have "F" ratings with the BBB. I just want my "stuff" there in preferably unbroken and undamaged condition. Thanks for your input...hopefully someone who has recently moved to the islands from the mainland will have a recommendation.
About a year ago I helped one of my good friends pack up his house to move to HI. A shipping company dropped of a huge container at his house. We packed everything into the container, and then they came to pick it up. This was one of the huge industrial type shipping containers. I dont recall Customs being involved.
About a year ago I helped one of my good friends pack up his house to move to HI. A shipping company dropped of a huge container at his house. We packed everything into the container, and then they came to pick it up. This was one of the huge industrial type shipping containers. I dont recall Customs being involved.
Yeah, that's how it was for us too. We hired a moving company to load the container, they wrapped our furniture in padded paper and packed it, and our boxes (which we had packed ourselves, over a period of months) into the container. We chose to hire them for their brawn and expertise; we could have elected to load the container ourselves. Matson (actually the local company that Matson used to transport the container to our house and from our house to the port) gave us a "seal" to put on the container after it was packed, and I THINK we also put our own lock on it (not sure of that, I can't remember). It would have cost a HUGELY larger amount to have the movers actually pack the boxes, and my husband actually labeled the ones he packed VERY specifically - that was SO helpful when looking for something on the other end. (Me, I just put "bedroom" or "kitchen" on them, and then found I had to look through 15 boxes to find the cheese grater. Glad THAT period of my life is over!)
We also chose to pay Royal Hawaiian movers to unload it at our new house in Hawaii. Again, we could have done it ourselves but they are so fast!
What 1200RT is talking about is what Matson or Horizon offers. You can go to their websites and get a lot of valuable info on moving to Hawaii.
Are you planing on using a moving company or are you comfortable doing it yourself?
Matson and Horizon will arraneg to have one of their containers (on a trailer) brought to your house. You have a certain number of days to load it and they pick it up. They transport it to Hawaii on their ships and deliver it to your home. You have a certain number of days to unload.
Many moving companies will pack and load your stuff in their trucks, but they will have to unload and pack it back into Matson's or Horizons container anyway.
If you don't have lot of stuff, many people in the southwest rent a uhaul and drive to CA where they load it into one of those company container. Some say they save money because they are not paying for the container to make a roundtrip from CA to their home. The rental truck cost is less than the intermodel rates for transporting that container.
There are many post about people relocating, with the good and bad moving expereinces mentioned.
and to add, just like Sweetbeet said, you can have Matson or Horizon deliver the container and hire a local company just to load or uunload it. get quotes on diffrent ways to compare.
PacificFlights.....thank you, thank you....I am on my way to the Matson site. Bless all of you for your help....I am not a spring chicken and I am also moving my 94 year old aunt with me...all of your help and experience is invaluable to me and I have no interest in "re-inventing the wheel".
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