March 25, 2005

Curious George: Shipping large items. My best pal just bought a great co-op in this wonderful building, that's the good news. The complicated news is, she's like to ship her dining-room table and chairs back to her parents as she doesn't have room for it. Any ideas on how to go about doing that fairly reasonably? They live about 450 miles away.
  • make that "she'd" like to ship. *sigh*
  • Any reason that she doesn't want to rent a van and do it herself? Having moved a couple of years ago, I found that using a moving company I'd trust was pretty expensive, especially for the (relatively) short move I was making (~600 miles). So I went with rental.
  • i'll ask her, poly. my guess is she doesn't have the time it would take, what with moving herself into the new place.
  • I've used these guys in the past for exactly this purpose. They're not cheap, but it beats giving away nice furniture or family heirlooms.
  • Uship.com? An ebay for shipping, they call it, it looks like you make a proposal and various shippers bid on the job. Seems like it could work well, although I have yet to use it. I have a few oversized things that I need to send to Texas from New York so I'll be trying it out in the next few months...
  • Is local storage an option?
  • thanks for suggestions thus far! bobsled, i don't think storage would work. money will be tight for a bit now that she has a mortgage. her parents are now also offering to drive up and "help paint" and take the set back down with them. parents helping to paint. hmmm. don't know if that's a good idea.
  • I thought about suggesting that as well Bobsled, but a quick sugggested $50/mth for storage (5x5 ft) which would add up pretty quickly.
  • quick suggested
    ^ check
  • I painted my parents recently and it really freshened up their appearance. Of course, some people prefer to strip and stain.
  • One word... Catapult.
  • Is this an heirloom or antique piece? If not, has she considered selling the table? It would certainly simplify her life and her parents' life to have it out of the way, along with a little extra cash.
  • yeah, mickey, i suggested that. her parents would like it back because it was their first dining-room table as newlyweds.
  • Debaser626: At last, someone who understands! I've been advocating catapult delivery for the book selling company I work with for months, but they just won't go for it. Hidebound I say. Some friends and I also considered the merits of a catapult-based pet delivery system. One suggestion for the motto was "Guaranteed to be made out of the same things as a dog." It never flew though.
  • She could always look in local papers or sites like craigslist for rideshare offers, and get the items sent this way. Pay half the price of the gas/vehicle rental, and get the table and chairs there without having to make the trip herself. Of course, she could always put an ad up in the rideshare section and see if anyone bites, if she's feeling proactive.
  • After waiting 6 weeks for a dining room table that has now been to more states than I have, I would say just sell everything, unless there is a very good reason not to.