Cheapest way to transport stuff to UK

[fruitloop]

I'm looking to leave within the next six months and so I'm investigating the logistics of it all.

What is the cheapest way of shifting stuff back to the UK?

The post office no longer do sea freight, I believe, but they do air freight.

If there was a service that took six months or even a year to arrive that would be no issue. I'm talking about things like books or CDs that can wait, so long as they eventually arrive in one piece.

I also have loads of questions about getting the wife into the UK, settlement visas etc, but, maybe later.

[trubadour]

sheeat! there must be another thread where this question is answered! I can remember reading it? Isn't there a 'moving back home' thread?

[Nuit]

we used these cats when we went Uk to Taiwan. 14 or so cardboard boxes, I fondly remember labelling them all with a black marker pen.
http://www.sevenseasworldwide.com/

I suspect you could find a local (Taiwan) shipping company that would be cheaper.

[trubadour]

I suspect you could find a local (Taiwan) shipping company that would be cheaper.

thanks for the link! what region of pounds/$ are we talking here?

[Nuit]

Ah, I REALLY don't remember. It had to be done, so it was done.
It was discounted, the more boxes that you had. We 'sold' a couple of our boxes to a couple of Taiwanese who were moving (back) to Taiwan but didn't have much stuff.

[Dial]

I'm looking to leave within the next six months and so I'm investigating the logistics of it all.

What is the cheapest way of shifting stuff back to the UK?

The post office no longer do sea freight, I believe, but they do air freight.

If there was a service that took six months or even a year to arrive that would be no issue. I'm talking about things like books or CDs that can wait, so long as they eventually arrive in one piece.

I also have loads of questions about getting the wife into the UK, settlement visas etc, but, maybe later.

I hope you're wrong about this because we've arranged for the PO to come pick up about 10 boxes to be delivered via surface mail to NZ. Not only has no one down at our local PO said you can't do it, they've given us the all the forms to fill out, and arranged a pick-up time and date. Not to mention that the PO website lists both air and surface rates...

I'm quite impressed by the shipping outfit linked to. Reminds me I should invest in some bubble wrap.

[Dial]

Hmm, it looks like we'll need to discuss the issue with them tomorrow. I see on the website that there is, indeed, no surface delivery to NZ, yet that very issue was mentioned - surface or air - in discussing box size with two post office employees.

[fruitloop]

For the record, the shipping all worked out fine. I think it was about $30000 for 10 boxes plus two bikes - can check that and the details of the shipper if anyone sends me a pm.

[Dial]

For the record, the shipping all worked out fine. I think it was about $30000 for 10 boxes plus two bikes - can check that and the details of the shipper if anyone sends me a pm.

Care to share who the shipper was?

Ourselves, we went back to the post office and asked again if they ship surface to NZ. They assured us yes, and it wasn't until we pointed out that there was nothing listed online that they checked and realized their mistake. They then offered us another method that is roughly half way in cost between surface and air - or so they claim. I'm a bit dubious now about the mighty post office, but we'll see. My rough estimate is that it will cost us about 20,000, or so, for 10 boxes ranging in weight from 12-15 kilos.

[finley]

The last I heard, the only UK port that was handling (non-commercial) surface shipments closed down or stopped providing the necessary services, about two years ago I think. However, I do know someone who sent about 60kg of stuff to England (two large boxes) recently and paid about NT$6000, ordinary Post Office air freight, which seemed very reasonable to me.