wanderingoregonian
3rd February 2007, 10:11 AM
As promised here is my report on my self-shipping experience. We picked up our stuff yesterday – only damage was to the boxes and one pallet – the goods were fine!
I was in a unique situation as most of my belongings were already boxed as part of a previous move. There seems to be lots of information here on shipping containers (lots of stuff) and just carrying stuff on the plane (very little stuff), but not much on people like us who fall in the middle. We didn't see the need for paying for extra's... we were happy to do the work of packing, hauling, and organizing our goods at the other end in order to save money. We also wanted our good to arrive all at once and wouldn't have a residential address till we arrive, so we opted not to mail our boxes with the USPS, UPS, etc.
I imagine this type of self pack shipping would primarily interest people who have a small amount of stuff, who would otherwise be looking at mailing the items (USPS, UPS, etc), or people with a extra boxes after they fill their container. This seems like a bad way to go if you have lots of breakables, instruments, things that can't handle heat, nice furniture, etc. I think this also would have been tricky if I was not comfortable with communicating in English to people not used to dealing directly with customers. That said, I had a wonderful experience aside from moments of panic when I read a bad story about Upakweship on the web. I am not trying to imply that those stories were not true, and am just going to describe what we experienced and how it worked well for our particular situation.
What I shipped
90 cubic feet or 2.5 cubic meets of personal goods. This was a total of 36 parcels made up of boxes, suitcases, and plastic storage tubs (e.g., rubbermaid rectangular boxes). Included were books, files, work related papers, clothes, shoes, camping gear, computer equipment, sheets and kitchen wears. Fragile things were packed vertically (e.g., plates) and I used strong boxes with lots of bubble wrap. I taped all my plastic tubs very well so the lids could not pop off. AFter all my moves, I feel as though I'm a semi-professional mover - particularly with this set of goods :roll
What I left at home
I opted not to bring more delicate things and irreplaceable sentimental items in the hopes that they can be transported during flights on future flights, either by ourselves or friends and family visiting us. These included my violin, guitar, sewing machine, framed mirrors, and our printed photographs. I brought digital copies of what I could, though my grand scanning project only tackled about 10% of all our film photos. I have trusted free storage in my family and friends to allow me to do this.
I also left my bicycle, kitchen appliances, and tools until I could figure out whether it made sense to bring them here or not. I got rid of my computer monitor, car, microwave and furniture. I pared down my kitchen wears, books, clothes, and files leaving several boxes of stuff I couldn't completely get rid of in a friend's barn.
The Process
I contacted Upakweship and got a quote. It was approximately $9 per cubic foot with a 100 cubic foot minimum (Portland, OR to Wellington). It seemed like a fairly small shop, and I suspect that if my main contact person was out no one was going to return my call till she returned. I never waited more than 3 days for a reply. My questions were always answered. Pretty no frills though.
I was emailed a set of forms, contract, and instructions to complete an inventory. Included was:
MAF/customs form (as an FYI of the information needed on this end)
Warehouse receipt (where I would list the number of boxes,to be signed by warehouse person)
a shipping number
By phone I scheduled a drop off date, which I easily changed several times. There was no fee for this, but I think I missed one boat, which delayed my shipment by a few weeks (but I really didn't want to ship my goods until all the immigration paperwork was sorted).
Friends and I drove our goods to the warehouse. The folks there gave me two wood pallets. I loaded my goods on them. They offered to shrink wrap the goods to the pallet. I didn't know to ask for pallets or the shrink wrap – while I think that is standard practice you DEFINETELY want this done. I had the forklift driver sign my warehouse receipt. Its even better if they wrap it before they use the forklift, in my case they forklifted the stuff over the the wrap and that gave my boxes a change to shift more than I wanted.
Then my first needless moment of panic. The whole wearhouse thing felt dodgey to me, and I worried if this was some kind of scam... so I called the warehouse folks who verified that my shipping number was a real one and then kindly gave me the phone number of the company my goods were being handed over to. I called them (Carotrans), and they explained they frequently contract with the Deliver USA (Upak's sister company) and everything looked legit to them. I tried to relax...
On a couple occasions I contacted Upakweship to get updates on the location of my goods and ETA's without problem.
Once in New Zealand, I emailed Upak again and was given a date that my goods were expected as well as the contact details of the company handling my goods here – Mainfreight. If I didn't hear from them, I was to call them. A day after the date, I called Mainfrieght who told me my goods were in Wellington and to go get MAF and Customs cleared. Turns out they were in Auckland, but this didn't change the process.
I made this more complicated than I needed, partially as I didn't know the process. This is a streamlined way to do it:
Gather these documents
a bill of landing (in my case from Carotrans – Los Angeles)
notice of Sea Arrival (in my case from Mainfrieght – Auckland/wellington) which has information about the size of the shipment, what ship it was on etc.
passports
inventory list
your draft of the MAF form (http://www.customs.govt.nz/library/form/nzcs+forms/nzcs+218.asp)
Take all of this first to the MAF office, in Wellington this is on Hinemoa off Waterloo Quay between the stadium and the harbour. It is only a short walk from the train station, but a map and patiences helps as its a bit tricky to find. We didn't need an appointment, and it is probably easier to just show up than try to figure which office to call. Fill in the official MAF form, answer their questions, show your paperwork, and if all goes get a stamped paper. We weren't required to have an inspection so I can't give any info on that process.
Then take all the paperwork plus the MAF stamped paper to customs office. In Wellington the MAF agent actually gave us a map to customs. It was on Whitmore Street. The customs officer asked us some questions, made copies of our paperwork, and in the end faxed the needed permissions directly to Mainfreight.
After a few conversations with Mainfreight, I got an email from them saying that customs had released my goods and I could pick up them up. I went to their Wellignton office in the same area as MAF (Hinemoa street), paid my port fees ($250) and got another piece of paper to take to the warehouse, picked up a rental truck (handy rentals - $113 could have been less but we were picking up some trademe purchases that day too), drove to Seaview (near Lower Hutt) and picked up our goods at Mainfrieghts warehouse. The guys there even used their forklift to place our pallets directly in our truck saving us a ton of lifting and time. And then to our new apartment to start unloading.
Total costs
US 900 (shipping), US 250 insurance, NZ 250 port fees, NZ 113 rental truck (could have been more like 80).
Time
We dropped off our goods Dec 5 and picked them up Feb 3. This could have been faster if I hadn't just missed the boat out of LA and I hadn't spent a week accidentally faxing forms to the wrong number (some poor office had a pile of my forms!). I also wasn't rushing things as I didn't want to get my goods until after we had keys to our new apartment. My goods were only at sea from Dec 24 to Jan 9, plus another day or two each side for land transport between Portland – LA and Auckland-Wellington. Below deck storage had been requested, I assume by Upak. You also may need 1-2 work days off to do all this, we aren't working 5 days a week so that helped.
Upakweship appears to just organize all the contracts between the various shipping people, who did not seem to be set up to deal with customers directly. I ended up talking to all the various in-between players during moments of panic – none of them knew the name upakweship and sounded confused by a nonbusiness person calling them up, which makes me think it would have been beyond me to organize the contracts without knowing what to ask for. There wasn't a lot of customer service between me and Upak, but I have the sense that good companies were used and I very happy with how things turned out. I had all the information to do what I needed, and was content to do my own work – probably would have had to do 80% of it anyways, particularly the customs/MAF bit.
Prologue
I put this at the end, because it probably only applies to a few people. Before our move to NZ we first moved within the States and used Door-to-Door shipping. They bring a small wooden crate to your door and you have 2 days to load it up. I think it was approximately 5x7x8 feet. They they pick up the crate and either can deliver it to your next residence, or for slightly less money you can pick it up at the warehouse/port. In 2006, from the east coast to the west coast this was approximately $1500. very convenient and the customer service was quite good.
I was in a unique situation as most of my belongings were already boxed as part of a previous move. There seems to be lots of information here on shipping containers (lots of stuff) and just carrying stuff on the plane (very little stuff), but not much on people like us who fall in the middle. We didn't see the need for paying for extra's... we were happy to do the work of packing, hauling, and organizing our goods at the other end in order to save money. We also wanted our good to arrive all at once and wouldn't have a residential address till we arrive, so we opted not to mail our boxes with the USPS, UPS, etc.
I imagine this type of self pack shipping would primarily interest people who have a small amount of stuff, who would otherwise be looking at mailing the items (USPS, UPS, etc), or people with a extra boxes after they fill their container. This seems like a bad way to go if you have lots of breakables, instruments, things that can't handle heat, nice furniture, etc. I think this also would have been tricky if I was not comfortable with communicating in English to people not used to dealing directly with customers. That said, I had a wonderful experience aside from moments of panic when I read a bad story about Upakweship on the web. I am not trying to imply that those stories were not true, and am just going to describe what we experienced and how it worked well for our particular situation.
What I shipped
90 cubic feet or 2.5 cubic meets of personal goods. This was a total of 36 parcels made up of boxes, suitcases, and plastic storage tubs (e.g., rubbermaid rectangular boxes). Included were books, files, work related papers, clothes, shoes, camping gear, computer equipment, sheets and kitchen wears. Fragile things were packed vertically (e.g., plates) and I used strong boxes with lots of bubble wrap. I taped all my plastic tubs very well so the lids could not pop off. AFter all my moves, I feel as though I'm a semi-professional mover - particularly with this set of goods :roll
What I left at home
I opted not to bring more delicate things and irreplaceable sentimental items in the hopes that they can be transported during flights on future flights, either by ourselves or friends and family visiting us. These included my violin, guitar, sewing machine, framed mirrors, and our printed photographs. I brought digital copies of what I could, though my grand scanning project only tackled about 10% of all our film photos. I have trusted free storage in my family and friends to allow me to do this.
I also left my bicycle, kitchen appliances, and tools until I could figure out whether it made sense to bring them here or not. I got rid of my computer monitor, car, microwave and furniture. I pared down my kitchen wears, books, clothes, and files leaving several boxes of stuff I couldn't completely get rid of in a friend's barn.
The Process
I contacted Upakweship and got a quote. It was approximately $9 per cubic foot with a 100 cubic foot minimum (Portland, OR to Wellington). It seemed like a fairly small shop, and I suspect that if my main contact person was out no one was going to return my call till she returned. I never waited more than 3 days for a reply. My questions were always answered. Pretty no frills though.
I was emailed a set of forms, contract, and instructions to complete an inventory. Included was:
MAF/customs form (as an FYI of the information needed on this end)
Warehouse receipt (where I would list the number of boxes,to be signed by warehouse person)
a shipping number
By phone I scheduled a drop off date, which I easily changed several times. There was no fee for this, but I think I missed one boat, which delayed my shipment by a few weeks (but I really didn't want to ship my goods until all the immigration paperwork was sorted).
Friends and I drove our goods to the warehouse. The folks there gave me two wood pallets. I loaded my goods on them. They offered to shrink wrap the goods to the pallet. I didn't know to ask for pallets or the shrink wrap – while I think that is standard practice you DEFINETELY want this done. I had the forklift driver sign my warehouse receipt. Its even better if they wrap it before they use the forklift, in my case they forklifted the stuff over the the wrap and that gave my boxes a change to shift more than I wanted.
Then my first needless moment of panic. The whole wearhouse thing felt dodgey to me, and I worried if this was some kind of scam... so I called the warehouse folks who verified that my shipping number was a real one and then kindly gave me the phone number of the company my goods were being handed over to. I called them (Carotrans), and they explained they frequently contract with the Deliver USA (Upak's sister company) and everything looked legit to them. I tried to relax...
On a couple occasions I contacted Upakweship to get updates on the location of my goods and ETA's without problem.
Once in New Zealand, I emailed Upak again and was given a date that my goods were expected as well as the contact details of the company handling my goods here – Mainfreight. If I didn't hear from them, I was to call them. A day after the date, I called Mainfrieght who told me my goods were in Wellington and to go get MAF and Customs cleared. Turns out they were in Auckland, but this didn't change the process.
I made this more complicated than I needed, partially as I didn't know the process. This is a streamlined way to do it:
Gather these documents
a bill of landing (in my case from Carotrans – Los Angeles)
notice of Sea Arrival (in my case from Mainfrieght – Auckland/wellington) which has information about the size of the shipment, what ship it was on etc.
passports
inventory list
your draft of the MAF form (http://www.customs.govt.nz/library/form/nzcs+forms/nzcs+218.asp)
Take all of this first to the MAF office, in Wellington this is on Hinemoa off Waterloo Quay between the stadium and the harbour. It is only a short walk from the train station, but a map and patiences helps as its a bit tricky to find. We didn't need an appointment, and it is probably easier to just show up than try to figure which office to call. Fill in the official MAF form, answer their questions, show your paperwork, and if all goes get a stamped paper. We weren't required to have an inspection so I can't give any info on that process.
Then take all the paperwork plus the MAF stamped paper to customs office. In Wellington the MAF agent actually gave us a map to customs. It was on Whitmore Street. The customs officer asked us some questions, made copies of our paperwork, and in the end faxed the needed permissions directly to Mainfreight.
After a few conversations with Mainfreight, I got an email from them saying that customs had released my goods and I could pick up them up. I went to their Wellignton office in the same area as MAF (Hinemoa street), paid my port fees ($250) and got another piece of paper to take to the warehouse, picked up a rental truck (handy rentals - $113 could have been less but we were picking up some trademe purchases that day too), drove to Seaview (near Lower Hutt) and picked up our goods at Mainfrieghts warehouse. The guys there even used their forklift to place our pallets directly in our truck saving us a ton of lifting and time. And then to our new apartment to start unloading.
Total costs
US 900 (shipping), US 250 insurance, NZ 250 port fees, NZ 113 rental truck (could have been more like 80).
Time
We dropped off our goods Dec 5 and picked them up Feb 3. This could have been faster if I hadn't just missed the boat out of LA and I hadn't spent a week accidentally faxing forms to the wrong number (some poor office had a pile of my forms!). I also wasn't rushing things as I didn't want to get my goods until after we had keys to our new apartment. My goods were only at sea from Dec 24 to Jan 9, plus another day or two each side for land transport between Portland – LA and Auckland-Wellington. Below deck storage had been requested, I assume by Upak. You also may need 1-2 work days off to do all this, we aren't working 5 days a week so that helped.
Upakweship appears to just organize all the contracts between the various shipping people, who did not seem to be set up to deal with customers directly. I ended up talking to all the various in-between players during moments of panic – none of them knew the name upakweship and sounded confused by a nonbusiness person calling them up, which makes me think it would have been beyond me to organize the contracts without knowing what to ask for. There wasn't a lot of customer service between me and Upak, but I have the sense that good companies were used and I very happy with how things turned out. I had all the information to do what I needed, and was content to do my own work – probably would have had to do 80% of it anyways, particularly the customs/MAF bit.
Prologue
I put this at the end, because it probably only applies to a few people. Before our move to NZ we first moved within the States and used Door-to-Door shipping. They bring a small wooden crate to your door and you have 2 days to load it up. I think it was approximately 5x7x8 feet. They they pick up the crate and either can deliver it to your next residence, or for slightly less money you can pick it up at the warehouse/port. In 2006, from the east coast to the west coast this was approximately $1500. very convenient and the customer service was quite good.