I need to send about five medium sized boxes and a bicycle back to the U.S. Anyone found the cheapest way to do that?
For boxes, I’ve found the Taiwan postal service to be pretty cheap. Cost me less than 50 bucks to send a few heavy ones with books and things (by sea).
Bike? I would disassemble some parts, make it compact (e.g. turn the fork around to make the handlebars stick out less, deflate tires, take off saddle), go to a bike shop, and get a cardboard bike box they throw out, and then fly home with it. If it’s a cheap bike you don’t care about, then I would ship it. If it’s a real nice bike, I suggest getting a hardcase.
Yeah, you can fly back with the bike in a box. My brother is a BMXer, that’s what he did with his BMX when he went to work in England. Did the same thing when he returned to South Africa.
Another poster asked a similar question before, and it does seem like the Taiwanese postal service has pretty reasonable rates for large parcels to international destinations.