What about items too large for the post office to accept it? I mean like furnitures, equipments (like machine tools). I did some research and it seems you are charged by volume and not weight, so if that’s true I can simply make a crate around the large item and simply pack everything else in with it. My stuff won’t take up more than a few cubic meter (definitely enough to move in one trip with a van) but there are things that I need and want to take with me in case I move to another country and I want to figure out what are the costs for them. I can’t find any rate information online, they only included a form where they will get back to you later on.
It would also come in handy later too if I bought some lumber overseas and I am not in a big hurry to get them…
From what I’ve read, hiring partial amounts of a container is horribly expensive, especially compared to hiring an entire container.
When we moved from England to NZ we were rather partial to a campervan we owned. We loaded it up to the gunwales, drove it to the shipping company and they just drove it inside a container. We picked it up from the docks on the other end and drove it home.
Estimate the total volume, or make a list of the items, and call around the international moving companies, who will fall over themselves to give you a quote. They all do practically the same thing but with huge differences in price. Ask about low-season prices, including what day of the week for pick-up and delivery. Mention you will pack yourself, and that this is a private, not a company, move. Then get back in touch asking for a far cheaper price; they will negotiate.
And think hard about whether you want the insurance or not. If you really feel there is a chance of the boat sinking, go directly to an insurance company yourself rather than going for the rate quoted by the movers.
One last thing: work out the cost per cubic foot and then decide if some items would just be cheaper to sell here and buy there as opposed to paying for shipping.
A couple years back we hired a shipper to move our household from Singapore to Taipei. We are a family w/ 2 kids, and had a modest household of furniture filling a full container. We paid about US$4k, perhaps a bit less. We didn’t buy insurance, and the service included packing and unpacking at origin and destination. Insurance is a big scam, just say no. Shipping always involves risk - embrace it.
Taiwan’s shipping prices are highly reasonable. When I was attending a one week executive course in California last year, I spent a week at a former Taiwan collegue’s place. He mentioned that it was cheaper to ship his high end speakers from Taiwan to California pricewise than it was to ship on land from Oakland to Berkeley.
Yeah…a good freight forwarder should be able to move the household pretty quick and cheap. There is a lot of empty container space right now - has been that way for the last year or so - and they, forwarders, are willing to negotiate.
OP, call around and make your best deal. Packing, pick-up and maybe even delivery to the final address as a package deal.
[quote=“TainanCowboy”]Yeah…a good freight forwarder should be able to move the household pretty quick and cheap. There is a lot of empty container space right now - has been that way for the last year or so - and they, forwarders, are willing to negotiate.
OP, call around and make your best deal. Packing, pick-up and maybe even delivery to the final address as a package deal.[/quote]
Thanks for the advise anyways… I am just looking for a ballpark estimate because I am not moving anytime soon, but when I do move I need to figure out what it will cost to move it, because I have to figure this into any equipment or tool or furniture purchase.
I honestly can’t remember how many boxes we had sent from Taiwan to Vancouver, but I filled a Ford Explorer with them when I went to pick the stuff up (no one else in car). They took care of all paperwork, picked up at our place in Chung Li, and I had to go to their office here to pick. It took about 3 weeks. We paid $35000 in total (give or take $1K). No insurance, as there was nothing vital in there. Aim for low season shipping and shop around.
No prob…you have to think in “space”…square footage/cubic meters/etc. Thats the formula the freight people use for filling the containers.
How many pallets, how high on each pallet…stuff like that.
For those in the business its kind of amazing to watch. They can look at a pile of junk or walk thru a house or bidness and mentally compute it. Amazes me every time I see one of them do it.
But thats how they compute the charges. Its a good time to move as the freight loads are down somewhat and there is a lot of container space available.
I don’t know… with that kind of ballpark, I might as well disassemble the equipments or furniture into postal size and send it seamail. It only cost about 1500NT to send 20Kg of goods (which is their limit) to Europe by seamail. I mean I don’t mind waiting 2 months anyways. I would think that freight would be a little higher… didn’t think it would be 10 times higher.
I don’t know… with that kind of ballpark, I might as well disassemble the equipments or furniture into postal size and send it seamail. It only cost about 1500NT to send 20Kg of goods (which is their limit) to Europe by seamail. I mean I don’t mind waiting 2 months anyways. I would think that freight would be a little higher… didn’t think it would be 10 times higher.[/quote]
You do realize that I’m talking $35000NT? There’s no way we could have had it all done through the post office for that price (aside from the fact that some items were more than 20kg).
Cost me $200,000 yen (roughly $2,000AUD) to move my belongings (Furniture,books, clothes, Mac…etc) from Osaka (Japan) to Melbourne (Australia) in '06…took four weeks. plus I had to pay some sort of tax/entry fee on it. plus I had to pay an immigration office $100AUD to look over it with me. This was because I said there were word products in my belongings. Australia has very strict laws on what it lets in and doesn’t let into the country, on account on the big industries involved in fruit an vegetables, meat exports etc…
Oh…and looking back. Would I ever do it again? No way. Too expensive, and most of the shit you can buy again in the future…What exactly do you wanna ship? Ask yourself…How much does this piece of furniture mean to me? You can send books, clothes etc by post…you can always buy furniture again…
[quote=“digiboy”]Oh…and looking back. Would I ever do it again? No way. Too expensive, and most of the shit you can buy again in the future…What exactly do you wanna ship? Ask yourself…How much does this piece of furniture mean to me? You can send books, clothes etc by post…you can always buy furniture again…
I now only travel with the BARE NECESSITIES…[/quote]
So I mean, it costs 1500nt to ship 20kg by post (using surface mail) and twice that to send two boxes, but it costs like 30,000nt to ship 40kg by sea, I don’t understand the logic here… I mean how to exporters or importers do business if it costs that much to import or export bulk items? there has to be some kind of a packaging service (like that those Philippino workers use to send stuff back home) just for sending stuff by freight and you don’t care if it takes two months to ship it, but too large for the post to accept it. There are things in Taiwan that are too large to post but would cost way too much to replace in Western countries.
I mean I have seen American made products sold in Taiwan for the same price as they sell it in the US, there has to be a reasonable bulk shipping service for large volume or weight in order for them to be selling items like that, otherwise every imported item would be 1000% the price of the good in its home country.
You mentioned Fedex being cheaper, I Fedexed 8 boxes of mostly clothes and shit (yes, literally gobs of shit) from my place near DC to Taipei when I first came here a few years ago. Each box was roughly US$300, I paid $2400 plus customs. Yes customs. They made me itemize every item in those boxes, assign some value to it, and charged me tax on my used clothes! Those fuckers!
Just to give you an idea on Fedex. And Taiwan customs.
