Since my family moved to Washington State, I am slowly becoming knowledgeable about how to ship things. Items get left behind, or there are some things here that they want there. Or maybe it's gift time. Thus, the shipping begins.
Here is what I've learned:
1. If you can box your things yourself, USPS is about the cheapest. They supply small, medium, and large flat-rate boxes that you can stuff for a flat rate; but, be warned that their idea of small, medium, and large won't match yours. The large box is about the size of a VCR without much room for protective packaging, and the cost of shipping it is $18.75.
2. If you need boxing materials, you may choose between FedEx and UPS. I haven't compared the two yet, largely because there is a UPS store not far from my house, so I take my larger stuff to them. It's more expensive than USPS and no faster in delivery time, but you don't have to worry about the packing. The size of the box, weight, and distance to travel all figure into the cost.
3. Considering the cost of the shipping versus the worth of what is being shipped is a big deal. (It's the same as with storage units. I know people who have paid thousands of dollars for storage to keep things worth much, much less than that.) If you're going to ship something, make sure it's worth your expenditure! Spending $30 to ship something worth $15 makes no sense. Unless it's something unique or really sentimental, chances are the recipient can replace it cheaper than you can send it. Just mail them the money, instead!
4. Just because you shipped it doesn't mean it will arrive, or if it does arrive, will it actually get inside the receiver's home? I have a dear friend who sent a Christmas box to her family in the South. The shipment tracking said that it had been delivered, but the family never got it. Was it delivered to the wrong house? Did someone steal it from the porch? If the shipping company can prove that it was delivered to the right place, there is no recourse. Boxes being stolen from porches is becoming more and more common. Usually, I'm a nervous wreck about things that I've sent, bugging my family until I've heard that they actually got it. I hate that. It makes me look needy. Lord knows, I don't need that, but I simply can't breathe that sigh of relief until I know it got there.
Today, I sent off a shipment of "special" bedding for my granddaughter. I managed to scrape up two zippered plastic bags that used to hold comforters and the like, so I could squish a lot into a smaller space. (It would have been easier had there been someone else here to help me squish!) I got a body pillow, twin-size comforter, two regular pillows, a set of twin sheets plus an extra pillow case, and a soft little throw-blanket into those bags, then I lugged them to the UPS Store. The young man that helped me weighed it all, then measured and measured, and squished and measured again. He managed to cram it all into a box that was probably too small...and the box suffered for it...but at least the cost came to less than I was expecting, and less than the worth of what I was sending (if my family had to replace it). Success!
My shipping days are not over. More to come. But I'm getting better at it!
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