So I'm scheduled to leave for Beijing in less than two weeks and the shipping company hired by my school still has not contacted regarding a packing date for my shipment. I got an email this morning, which said I need to approve the costs before they proceed, but when I looked at the quote, it had me paying over RMB 9,200 (USD $1400+) out-of-pocket!
My school provides 3.5 cbm / RMB 16,900, which I thought was more than enough, but the quote estimated I would need 5.0 cbm. Here's the thing: I'm a single male with NO furniture besides 2 office chairs. I will be shipping like six or seven boxes and two office chairs.
That's it. All my stuff is in a storage unit that's less than 3.5 cbm and I'm probably using 20% of the space.
What is going on!?
Shipping Problems
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vettievette
- Posts: 101
- Joined: Fri Oct 14, 2011 1:31 am
Re: Shipping Problems
[quote="psychris"]So I'm scheduled to leave for Beijing in less than two weeks and the shipping company hired by my school still has not contacted regarding a packing date for my shipment. I got an email this morning, which said I need to approve the costs before they proceed, but when I looked at the quote, it had me paying over RMB 9,200 (USD $1400+) out-of-pocket!
My school provides 3.5 cbm / RMB 16,900, which I thought was more than enough, but the quote estimated I would need 5.0 cbm. Here's the thing: I'm a single male with NO furniture besides 2 office chairs. I will be shipping like six or seven boxes and two office chairs.
That's it. All my stuff is in a storage unit that's less than 3.5 cbm and I'm probably using 20% of the space.
What is going on!?[/quote]
Something doesn't sound right w/ that quote. I would contact whoever is in charge of new faculty at your school to try and work this out.
My school provides 3.5 cbm / RMB 16,900, which I thought was more than enough, but the quote estimated I would need 5.0 cbm. Here's the thing: I'm a single male with NO furniture besides 2 office chairs. I will be shipping like six or seven boxes and two office chairs.
That's it. All my stuff is in a storage unit that's less than 3.5 cbm and I'm probably using 20% of the space.
What is going on!?[/quote]
Something doesn't sound right w/ that quote. I would contact whoever is in charge of new faculty at your school to try and work this out.
Humm
First, how are the chairs packed? I ask because odd shaped items can dramatically increase your volume, its like shipping a christmas tree thats already decorated. Boxes are compact, uniform, and efficient to load, furniture not so much.
Second, It could also be a conservative estimate by the shipper, they want to pad their estimate and collect in advance before they move the stuff. They may not realize how little your transporting, and just guessing how much it will cost. It happens that if a shipment becomes more expensive after it arrives, customers have decided its not worth the expense. If they shipped the chairs and then when you came to pick them up were told it was $1,400 more, you might reason you could just buy new chairs for a lot less, and leave the shipper holding the bag.
You really need to contact your school and the shipper though. You might consider leaving the chairs, or possibly disassembling them for transport. You could always get a couple of inexpensive extra luggage bags, and bring everything on the plane.
Second, It could also be a conservative estimate by the shipper, they want to pad their estimate and collect in advance before they move the stuff. They may not realize how little your transporting, and just guessing how much it will cost. It happens that if a shipment becomes more expensive after it arrives, customers have decided its not worth the expense. If they shipped the chairs and then when you came to pick them up were told it was $1,400 more, you might reason you could just buy new chairs for a lot less, and leave the shipper holding the bag.
You really need to contact your school and the shipper though. You might consider leaving the chairs, or possibly disassembling them for transport. You could always get a couple of inexpensive extra luggage bags, and bring everything on the plane.
Thanks. I did email my school and my shipper, but unfortunately it's Saturday in Beijing. I didn't find this out until Friday at midnight Beijing time. The chairs can be put on top of one another, but they aren't very big to begin with. Certainly not big enough to require an additional 2.5 cbm of space.
I honestly would be fine leaving them.
A surveyor came out a while ago to make an estimate about how much space I would need, and he commented that I was shipping so little that I wouldn't even need a standard shipping container and that they would be able to fit all of my stuff in a large crate.
If they tell me the quote is not a mistake, I wll probably just try to take whatever I need in my checked baggage and grab the rest the next time I come back to the states. I'm not shipping anything that's terribly important, but I thought I could ship SOMETHING with the amount provided.
I honestly would be fine leaving them.
A surveyor came out a while ago to make an estimate about how much space I would need, and he commented that I was shipping so little that I wouldn't even need a standard shipping container and that they would be able to fit all of my stuff in a large crate.
If they tell me the quote is not a mistake, I wll probably just try to take whatever I need in my checked baggage and grab the rest the next time I come back to the states. I'm not shipping anything that's terribly important, but I thought I could ship SOMETHING with the amount provided.
Sorry
I know they can be put on top of one another, but to be blunt thats not how you pack a cargo container. Its all the space around the chairs individually to make it into a quadrangle (square/rectangle) thats the space it takes up in a shippers/packers mind. You basically paying for a lot of empty space to get it into that shape. Leave the chairs and i bet you will be fine and yeah you could easily get 6-10 boxes into a crate, and it would be even easier and faster if you just took it as extra baggage.
Perhaps you need to photograph your stuff and show the school.
I shipped 3cbm from Vancouver to London last year and it cost me less than $1200. Mind you, I packed the boxes and stacked the pallet myself.
If you say you have 1cbm of stuff and they are saying it's 5cbm, then something is not right, particularly if they are charging you $1400 for the extra 1.5cbm.
Having someone come and pack your stuff for you is expensive and they like to pack things individually (where I stuff every hole and fill every space). But even then, it seems unlikely you could turn 1cbm into 5cbm.
I shipped 3cbm from Vancouver to London last year and it cost me less than $1200. Mind you, I packed the boxes and stacked the pallet myself.
If you say you have 1cbm of stuff and they are saying it's 5cbm, then something is not right, particularly if they are charging you $1400 for the extra 1.5cbm.
Having someone come and pack your stuff for you is expensive and they like to pack things individually (where I stuff every hole and fill every space). But even then, it seems unlikely you could turn 1cbm into 5cbm.
Update: I've been in contact with my school and the different branches of the shipping company daily since I first posted this topic. Long story short, I refused to pay any additional costs and asked the shipping company to only pack what I could take with the allowance provided by my school.
The guy from the shipping company said he would tell the U.S. branch to pack things tightly, but there might still be overages and they probably couldn't insure everything if they did not pack to the company's standards. I said that was fine and that I didn't have many fragile things anyhow. Additionally, I told him I approved the proposal, with the exception of overages and restated the fact that I did not want to pay any additional costs.
We'll see what happens.
Oh yeah, I'm leaving August 1 and I was told the earliest packing date they had was August 10, which is awesome. So that's a whole new issue.
The guy from the shipping company said he would tell the U.S. branch to pack things tightly, but there might still be overages and they probably couldn't insure everything if they did not pack to the company's standards. I said that was fine and that I didn't have many fragile things anyhow. Additionally, I told him I approved the proposal, with the exception of overages and restated the fact that I did not want to pay any additional costs.
We'll see what happens.
Oh yeah, I'm leaving August 1 and I was told the earliest packing date they had was August 10, which is awesome. So that's a whole new issue.