Must boxes be professionally packed? Does NZ customs regulate this?

[newarrival]

I have just this week received a by-load- around 6cbm. The boxes were all packed by moving company, I wrote a list of what they shipped, but no inventory for every single box. I had expected some of the boxes to be opened for inspection (Christmas decoration, for example) but no, nothing.., no questions were asked about anything... I got a call from the company in Christchurch to let me know that they were dropping my things off and that is what happened.
The boxes are labelled, but very sparsely. I filled in the form for MPI and mentioned the Christmas decoration (wooden things, that have been in the family for 50 years) as well as a fur jacket and a mink blanket (made out of a mink coat and jacket, so actual fur). I was very surprised that there was no inspection at all (not that I wanted to hide anything, just because of the 'title' of some of the goods.)

So- I don't think I would worry about packing boxes yourself as long as you label them properly.

[Juniper]

I have just this week received a by-load- around 6cbm. The boxes were all packed by moving company, I wrote a list of what they shipped, but no inventory for every single box. I had expected some of the boxes to be opened for inspection (Christmas decoration, for example) but no, nothing.., no questions were asked about anything... I got a call from the company in Christchurch to let me know that they were dropping my things off and that is what happened.
The boxes are labelled, but very sparsely. I filled in the form for MPI and mentioned the Christmas decoration (wooden things, that have been in the family for 50 years) as well as a fur jacket and a mink blanket (made out of a mink coat and jacket, so actual fur). I was very surprised that there was no inspection at all (not that I wanted to hide anything, just because of the 'title' of some of the goods.)

So- I don't think I would worry about packing boxes yourself as long as you label them properly.

Thanks for the anecdote, good to know things can actually go smoothly without being totally uptight about an inventory ;-) I think I am going to have friends come help me box up the easy stuff, and have the movers pack my breakables and do most of the inventory for me.

I am also planning to make a file of measurements of my furniture, so we can refer to that when we are looking at rental houses.

[Juniper]

I packed all of my boxes myself and also loaded the container myself.

I numbered each box and provided a detailed inventory of each box.
I put things likely to be inspected in boxes together such as baskets and christmas decorations.
I packed those boxes into the container last, with the bikes, prams, and wagons.

Before they opened my container, they had a list of boxes they wanted to look at, which were the ones I had expected. I didn't need to unload the entire container for inspector.
The MPI inspector looked at those boxes and wheeled items and because it all seemed in order, didn't need to see anything else. She left us to devan the container and load our moving van ourselves. It didn't take long.

I did clean all of my furniture with pinesol. I left the lounge suite behind because it had too many nooks and crannies and not really worth it. She didn't end up inspecting any furniture.

It's a lot of work on the front end but it saved us money.

Nice! I wish I had time and energy for all that :-) We have to get out of our house long before we have a chance to actually get our stuff onto a container ship, so I will just do my best to clean what I can before it goes into storage, and make sure we have good labeling/inventory. I may not get a chance to freshen items up later, we'll have to see...