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We have been considering some jobs in Hawaii, and I'm currently gathering as much information as I can so we know better what to expect if we make the move:
Earlier in our marriage, we sold off just about everything and moved to South Korea for a year while my husband applied to grad schools. Because of this, the prospect of making big changes and moving overseas may not be as daunting to us as it may be to others (such is the hope - lol). Hawaii would be easier than South Korea in some ways - one being that we could potentially have "free shipping" deals from U.S.-based online stores.
I've been trying to figure out what sites ship at low cost or free to Hawaii. I heard that drugstore.com might have some deals - and that amazon.com might, but I'd like to know how to find out for sure what would ship for free/cheap or not.... I've considered asking a friend of mine in Hawaii to give me her address so I can test it out on various sites, but I'm hoping that you could give me better direction on what sites ship at low/no cost to Hawaii, etc.
Any advice or help on this would be much appreciated! Thanks a bunch!
Awesome! Thanks so much! Have you used the shiptohawaii service? If so, do you tend to ship several things to them for one lump shipment (I noticed the $200 minimum thing)? Would that be good for perhaps a furniture purchase or something else that is large?
Alas, I only found out about the service from co-workers this week. I was on the mainland last week for vacation and had parts shipped there and brought them back on the plane. Sorry, I don't have more info on them.
The thought of shipping furniture...krikey. If you find a good source, I'll bet others that visit here would like to know it. It took us a while to find the right furniture, doesn't help that there aren't many stores here and we are picky. Ashley Furniture is one of the few games in town that has reasonable prices.
I was looking at Ashley furniture earlier today. We're probably just going to sell all our furniture here - so that's been something on my mind. The site didn't show any prices. About how much does a hide-a-bed couch run over there?
Because there are people coming and going all the time, craigslist actually has some decent stuff come up on it. We got our reclining leather couch on Craigslist for a steal.
Costco has furniture too. A Queen bed set is about $600. Not the most comfortable bed, but it works for a while.
Ashley Furniture has decent sales every now and then. When they are getting in the new supply of furniture, they blow out the 'old' stuff. Usually see advertisements for this.
Amazon is great for shipping via the Prime service but don't purchase things breakable as the fee for shipping back may greatly exceed the credit Amazon gives you.
Another line of thought would be to live as much as possible on what's already here or produced here. Sustainability and all that, you know. Which also works for the frugality factor as well. Which ties in nicely with the increased average cost of living and lower average paychecks. Most houses in Hawaii are much smaller than their counterparts on the mainland so it doesn't take as much stuff to fill them up.
Folks move back to the mainland (or where ever else) all the time and in fairly significant numbers so there is always furniture and appliances showing up at garage sales and Craig's List. There are also consignment centers here and there with furniture. You can also put a "wanted" ad in Craig's List, too.
However, not everything can be found and some stuff generally does get shipped in from the mainland. If it is small stuff, a lot of folks like Amazon Prime. For the larger stuff, freight forwarders on the West Coast might be an option. If you ship a pallet full of something, ocean freight is about the least expensive option to get it here. Ocean freight is best for heavy dense stuff since they charge by volume and not weight. For light fluffy stuff, other methods might be better since they charge by weight more than volume. Although the post office now has different prices if the box is bigger than 12" in any dimension.
You can compare prices via the different shipper's online websites, although usually the least expensive is the U.S. Post Office.
Folks will also hui together to get stuff shipped over. We are part of a food co-op that ships bulk and health foods from Oregon. A dozen families order at the same time and we will get one or two pallets full of stuff sent via ocean freight and picked up in Hilo with pickup trucks and vans.
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