Shipping boxes from U.S.?

[dckiwi]

My family is moving to Hamilton on December 7th!! Anyway, I had planned to ship a bunch of big boxes "surface" post - like the kids' winter clothes, toys, books, etc. But was told that the U.S. Postal Service no longer offers surface international rates so I would have had to pay priority or express rates. Suddenly each box was costing $250 - $550 apiece to ship! We are planning to bring extra luggage to avoid paying this. But does anyone know of a less expensive way to ship small items to NZ from the U.S.? We are not shipping a container. Thanks!

[BkyMonster]

I'm doing a Less than container load (LCL). Haven't figured out which company yet, but there are several that offer LCL rates for self pack. Basically they take your boxes and such, throw them on a pallet, wrap it all up, and charge you for the space your pallet takes in a container. For something like 200cu Ft I have a preliminary estimate of around 1000USD (give or take $300).
If you are not wanting your stuff to take 6-10 weeks (or however long) to arrive and that is your main concern with using a container (rather than size) perhaps you can look into air shipping? I think the term to inquire about is unaccompanied baggage.

Also have a look at http://www.sevenseasworldwide.com/ for shipping assorted smaller things.

Hope that helps some.

[tigerlily]

wanderingoregonian did a small amount with a self packing company- check out this thread-
http://www.enz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=9842

[Park City Partner]

When did USPS stop shipping "surface"!!! Crap.

[tigerlily]

Fairly recently! I was shocked too. They also changed something about media mail, but I forgot what. I discovered the trick to sending things to NZ though, you can use a priority mail flat mailer to send anything you can cram into it for $11 to NZ.

[Park City Partner]

Bummer. Last time I was in the States I bought a whole bunch of stuff and shipped it back via surface...this is going to seriously curtail my US shopping..not to mention my step-mother won't be able to ship me my green tomatillo salsa....oh no.

[tigerlily]

I guess she'll just have to come over for a visit and bring it along!