Not taking enough to require a container

[PositivePixie]

So what do you reckon about these movecubes?

IMHO they are only good if you are taking boxes ONLY - if you are taking irregularly shaped stuff, getting into the box to maximise space will be either a massive headache as you spend hours and hours re-arranging it all ala Giant Tetris, or you will lose a % of space with air gaps. A company who are used to packing things to maximise space (or rather, minimise wasted space I guess) will be able to do it a lot better than me (you might be far better at packing things though than me lol) and then I won't be paying for air to be shipping to Oz :)

As a quick price comparison, the second box is about 105 cubit foot, which costs £769.33 for the box, picking it up, shipping it, and delivering it the other side. Do they pack it for that though? If so its not that bad I guess - but for a comparison we have had a quote for 160 cubic foot for £898, them packing everything etc, with Marine Insurance of 1.5% of total value of stuff, so only another £130 for another 55 cubic footage.

The other good thing about them packing it as well is they should put the things that will need inspecting in one place apparently, which speeds up AQIS inspection, which means it costs you less - if you've packed it yourself apparently they are more thorough in their search through things so its going to take longer and cost more :(

But as I say, if you know you only have boxes (2/3 of our move is a huge rocking horse and some oil paintings that are also HUGE), they may be good :)

[basil]

I did see the movecubes on the webby, but didn't know prices - thanks. Would those fees include or exclude all the quarantine, inspection charges do you know? I'm new to all this, so not sure if the full container quotes I see mentioned include/exclude all fees.....just would like to compare eggs with eggs sort of thing.

[2and3]

Thanks for that. Seems to have made things a bit clearer. I think its just that decision to take anything or not. We don't want to take the furniture -it would just be washing machine, the dryer, flat tele and the usual kitchen and kids sort of stuff. But we could perhaps bung the odd extra item - bed frames/drum kit? scooter - whatever we think may be useful sort of stuff - photos,wall pictures - .whatever fits.
Just need to decide to cart our stuff/junk -lol - or start again.

[2and3]

Unless you have to have your cube inspected,have wooden stuff - dirty stuff - soil/tents type thing I did not get the impression there was any other charge. But I could be wrong as I too am just starting to look. Insurance wise - its up to you to cover or not but it only covers for total loss. So I suppose if anything gets damaged then its tough. They also said 50km raidus of a cdb - outside of that the charges seemed steep - can't remember what they were.

[PositivePixie]

Unless you have to have your cube inspected,have wooden stuff - dirty stuff - soil/tents type thing I did not get the impression there was any other charge. But I could be wrong as I too am just starting to look. Insurance wise - its up to you to cover or not but it only covers for total loss. So I suppose if anything gets damaged then its tough. They also said 50km raidus of a cdb - outside of that the charges seemed steep - can't remember what they were.

No, you will be inspected whatever you put in, the minimum charge for everyone is $155, which is about £110, and then it goes up from there depending on how much you have - you will get more inspection if you are taking outdoors things, Christmas decorations, shoes - basically the common things that are dirty or likely to fail inspection (lots of pine cones in those decorations you see).

Also with regards to Insurance - there it two main factors to it. The first is if anything gets damaged they will give you money or replace the damaged item, but the second is for 'total loss' that is if the boat goes down, or your container gets pushed off it - it covers you for the salvage charges that you are liable for a proportion of, if that should happen (ie the costs to recover the boat/container, as they can't leave it in the shipping lanes as it is dangerous). You can either take your shippers insurance, or get your own private insurance (which sometimes can be cheaper, so shop around).

Be aware - 100 cubic foot really is not a huge amount at all......

[2and3]

Yes I have just measured it out in the corner of the utility.....ummmmmmmm decisions...
The only thing is his bloomin tele - he can't seem to let that go - what is it with men??? lol. I know I can easily pick up washers etc and I am all up for gum tree and garage sales.ummm what to do. Might just go for a few boxes.

Regards the insurance they only mentioned the total loss - I thought it was because you packed it yourself. And they 'gave' the impression that the destination charge covered the inspection thingy - unless there was tax to pay on stuff or stuff that needed cleaning etc.

Think my mind is on boxes at the moment - although that would be about the tenth time today I will have changed it.

Is it possible to phone them up the week before you fly and sort it out then?? That way I will have packed flight luggage and seen exactly what was left??? You can have as much luggage on the flight - as many bags/boxes as long as its within the weight?

[2and3]

Oh pixie tell me what to do......

[PositivePixie]

Oh pixie tell me what to do......

lol don't go for that option, as I'm in massive favour of hiring a skip, putting everything in it and taking nowt at the moment the headache I have with movers etc LOL!

I would phone them back and be very specific - ask
1) Does the final amount include the AQIS fee - if they start umming and arhing, get them to state just YES or NO (I would think not because most of the shippers don't have their own bonded warehouses where the goods have to go when they get off the boat, then AQIS come and inspect it, and then it goes to where-ever. The only company we have come across so far that has its own bonded warehouses and therefore can offer AQIS fee as part of the overall moving fee has been Crown).
2) If you have anything that needs treating/confiscated there may well be a fee ontop of that as well (and I've heard weird things about this so it doesn't seem like there are hard and fast rules on it, however if you try and make sure everything is really really clean (with milton and jayes fluid) and DO NOT include any prohibited items, you should be ok for that. I've heard some people get charged for things that are confiscated, and some don't so don't know what the official line is there really.
3) With regards to the insurance, generally if you pack a company will only offer you total loss insurance, which covers you for the salvage thingy I was talking about in my previous waffle - but you don't have to go with their insurance for that, it might be cheaper from somewhere else so have a hunt around.

TBH we are only not taking stuff because a) its 90% ikea etc stuff that is either knackered or just not what we really wanted anyway, but couldn't afford anything else AND b) we are putting it in storage for anything up to 12 months whilst we travel around, so the costs of storage would cancel out any savings of buying it again from Adelaide Ikea from the virtual shopping online we have done, AND it means I get to go shopping for new things once we settle as well (yeah!). If we were settling straight away we would be taking more, like the washing machine, bed, and so on (but still not the knackered sofas or fridge lol).

Yes you can have as much luggage as you want as long as you are within your allowance - no single bag is allowed to be over 32kg anyway, so if you have more than that per person, it will need to be split up at any rate.

I wouldn't personally leave it until the week before, because if they can't come out to you to pick it up that week (ie fully booked) you are a big shafted then.

[janice1uk]

Seven seas do a move cube. Have you had a look at these? From what I see they are like mini containers into which you pack your stuff and it then gets sealed up. So for those with irregular sized items they would be ideal. three different sizes - I have phoned and the cost for size one is £420 with a destination charge of $249 the other side and cube 2 is £570 with a destination charge of $299. No weight limit at all.
Take a look below at the dimensions of our MoveCubes™:

Small:
Height 1.88m Width 1.11m
Length 0.96m Volume 2m³

Medium:
Height 1.88m Width 1.45m
Length 1.11m Volume 3m³

Large:
Height 1.88m Width 1.45m
Length 2.27m Volume 6.20m³




I also just phoned pss and for 3 box's = 51x40x61cm - weight of 30kg it is £175 and then each box after that is only £20. But no good for larger shaped items or heavy stuff for that matter.


So what do you reckon about these movecubes?

i have been emailing and ringing seaven seas for 4 days now to get prices for these and still nobody has returned either my calls or emails. Great customer service.

[basil]

2and3 you sound like you are having the same dilemma as me.

Originally i only wanted to take the bare minimum, just a few boxes. But DH pointed out that when we've moved overseas before having to go out and start from scratch buying furniture, everything down to mop buckets and irons is incredibly stressful and time consuming.....and although you plan to buy 'better than we had' it often doesn't end up that way because you need it all, like yesterday, so panic buy.

I'm not sure I agree with DH still tbh as Pixie describes most of our stuff is ikea and old at that tbh. BUT the big factor for me is that if a container is say £4k to ship, that's equivalent to say $6k aussie as an alternative to buy all, which isn't that much really (I still work to the old 2.5 as being like real money ie $6k is really equivalent to say £2.4k of spending power....and that doesn't go far to replace all we have) IYSWIM. We won't have jobs on arrival so any spending will be converted £'s and so will feel pricey.

Really what i'd like is to take all for about £2000 - that would be luvvly jubbly and if someone else could come and sort this tatt that needs chucking that would be great too :)