Is it worth buying more things prior to shipping?

[DPIK]

Hi,

We are in the same boat. Company is paying for our container. So we are taking almost everything bah the kitchen sink.
4 weeks to go before the packers come in the house and box everything up. I think I am going to buy some more bed sheets now that I read some of the mail posted here.

Thanks for all your commends.
PG

[Bozeman]

Wine was mentioned above. In our case, the only thing Customs questioned was our modest collection of fine wine. They wanted evidence that we had not purchased the wine just prior to moving in an attempt to avoid duty. I showed them my own Excel spreadsheet showing purchase dates and locations and they were satisfied.

[movingsiren]

So glad to find this thread. We're in the process of moving over to Auckland and my husband's company is paying for a 40 ft container for us. I'm furiously noting what to take!

[JandM]

Ask about anything that springs to mind.

[Juniper]

What about liquor? People keep giving my husband whiskey and such as presents. And cigars (not cubans). I suppose an opened bottle would be a no-no...

[EnRoute]

Thank you for your replies everyone!
We did make it to New Zealand despite FBI's best efforts (the security clearance took almost 3 months since we were in US on student visas and had to go though FBI directly).

I did do a lot of forum scouting prior to posting these, so hopefully others will find these posts useful.

Some impression of New Zealand: if you shop around some of the 'no name' brands of clothes or household goods are comparable price to the US. Can't comment on the quality yet. Something to keep in mind is the exchange rates and the fact that all prices here include tax. So an item for 9.99 USD is actually roughly the same price as about 15 NZD.
But bringing everything is still a good advice because replacement costs can still quickly add up. And selection is limited, so you might find yourself buying the exact same items you threw away.

One item the stores don't seem to have is coffee filters. But don't worry about not having filters for the coffee makers! There's no coffee makers! Okay, exaggerations aside. We were planning on replacing the drip coffee maker we had back home, but New Zealand has moved to Tassimo style (Nespresso here) machines or they use plungers. There is a wide selection of those and after some shopping we found 2 drip style coffee makers priced at $99 and $130. Both were the fancy programmable type. So those 20 dollar cheap mini pots you get in hotel rooms are an endangered specie (at least in Wellington area). This worked for us because back home we had a programmable one for $60 (which post tax and conversion is about equivalent of 90 NZD) so the cheaper of the two we found worked out perfect. And after paying $4 for 40 coffee filters we discovered that our bland new coffee maker had a built in filter! Thankfully, store had no problem taking them back.

Last issue remaining is the moving company actually delivering shipment. Move Management International has yet to deliver ours. If you read the reviews it seems all these moving companies are a full time job to deal with, so don't know if there are good ones...

[sandgrubber]

Sorry to sound like a prude, but I am not into lying. I declared around $us1500 of new or newish stuff I brought in and ended up paying several hundred dollars customs and taxes. The government of NZ is much more generous about healthcare and a lot of other things than is the US government. I am ok with paying taxes. I think the morality of cheating should be considered as well as how much you might save by loading up on new stuff before making the move.

[jawnbc]

Go to a Japanese discount store (the type where most products are the same price) and they'll have your coffee filters. Though it is a right of residence in NZ to never, ever drink filter coffee again!

Thank you for your replies everyone!
One item the stores don't seem to have is coffee filters. But don't worry about not having filters for the coffee makers! There's no coffee makers! Okay, exaggerations aside. We were planning on replacing the drip coffee maker we had back home, but New Zealand has moved to Tassimo style (Nespresso here) machines or they use plungers. There is a wide selection of those and after some shopping we found 2 drip style coffee makers priced at $99 and $130. Both were the fancy programmable type. .

[rains]

Useful info!!! Marked

[budek]

This is very helpful on what to bring as I am in a dilemma. Please post some more info if you may as I would like to learn more. Thank you.

We plan to fly by late December or early February (this is another dilemma) since tickets are cheaper. No job offers yet.