Looking For Advice on Shipping From Oahu to Mainland--Thinking of Moving (Hilo: insurance, assess)

[saddle]

I am considering moving to the mainland from Oahu.

What is the least expensive way to ship my belongings?
I don't have anything large, like furniture. The biggest thing
I have is my desktop computer & printer. The rest of my stuff
is clothing, some kitchen items, & mostly books, newsletters,
dvds, & papers.

Would it be better to ship by mail, by freight forwarder, freight
consolidator, as checked luggage on my flight, or what?

If I use a forwarder or consolidator, any suggestions on how
to pick the right one? There are a lot of them listed in the
phone book to check out.

Thanks.

[whtviper1]

If you have elite status on an airline, checked bags is a good option.

For instance, if you are gold or higher on United, you get 3 bags at 70lbs free.

Otherwise, USPS is competitive for shipping.

[HiloDiver]

You owe it to yourself to personally assess your belongings and get quotes for the different options.

For us, moving via USPS was the real option. We sent things we absolutely positively had to have immediately and didn't want to lug on the plane via priority mail (mostly kitchen stuff), and brought two big checked bags each. We sent the rest of our belongings USPS parcel post and media mail. The media mail arrived at the same time that parcel post did. It took about 4-5 weeks from the Caribbean to Hilo, which we considered to be fabulous. We had prepared to be without our things for 12 weeks and we were just so delighted!

Note: be sure to inventory absolutely everything in every box, put your address inside each box, and insure the contents. We received absolutely everything, and the very few broken items were due to our packing them improperly. Our losses were negligible. I've heard of other people shipping items uninsured and having some boxes never arrive. We felt the insurance was worth it.

[from nv]

If you know where you're moving to on the mainland, my suggestion would be to get a UPS mailbox and have your items shipped to their location. They'll sign for your packages, and keep them until you arrive for pickup. You can go online and find their number, contact them, and have everything set up, without even having to be there. Then when you arrive on the mainland, you'll just have to show your ID. We've done this several times when we've moved and it works perfectly. Hope this helps.

Oh, and you don't have to ship UPS for them to sign for your packages. You can still ship USPS, Fedex, etc. It just gives you a physical address for your shipments.

[hunterseat]

We flew here to HI via Alaskan Airlines and with that company, checked bags were $20 ea up to 50#. I think we could have taken 3 each. We just downsized to nearly nothing.