Military moving question - sorta curriculum related ...

[5KidzRUs]

Military moving question - sorta curriculum related ...

 

I have heard that there are several ways to send items overseas for a PCS:

 

1> Household Goods - Takes months

2> Unaccompanied baggage - Takes weeks

3> Mail items (Priority Mail) to your CMR box

4> Bring with you as baggage on plane

 

As far as very precious (carry-able) items and curriculum - How would you send them? I read on a blog that movers treat unaccompanied baggage carelessly. Curriculum is expensive and I worry about which way to ship it - I won't need to use it until about two months after we get there.

I don't want my polish pottery or antiques broken either :glare:

 

Thanks in advance for tips and advice!

Edited March 13, 2010 by 5KidzRUs

[ConnieB]

We moved dozens of times with the military....slow arriving is pretty much the worst we had (knock wood). BUT...you have to pack it all CAREFULLY. Precious china dishes were bubble wrapped each piece individually. LOTS of bubble wrap and paper stuffed into the box so that wild shaking by me doesn't make a sound of moving at all. Any sound of movement means more paper stuffing. Means a lot more boxes but we've yet to have one break due to moving...now, kids and husbands breakage we have a lot of, but not due to moving.

 

Curriculum I always sent through the mail....never came up missing.

 

 

 

Good luck!

[Cera]

We have moved oconus twice and haven't had problems with breakage. Just watch the packers and movers carefully to ensure they are doing the job properly and follow the military rules on sealing crates (our movers have balked at going to the trouble each time).

 

The current policy is full replacement so things like curriculum will be replaced if they are damaged in shipment. If you choose to ship through the postal service make sure you request a partial dity move up front, it makes life much easier.

[Jamee]

I would mail the curriculum priority with insurance. THere are APO/FPO flat rate boxes that give you a bit of a discount. For your valuables, wrap them yourself in tons of bubble wrap. Most times, the shippers have to use their boxes, so it might be useless to box them up. Unless you want to bubble wrap and put in shoeboxes or something. The only time we have had issues is when moving from the states, but it's been nothing big. And yes, full replacement value is great and easy to do should you need it.

[Mrs Mungo]

I always ship most of my curricula with unaccompanied baggage. I usually carry a few things for use in between (for example-when moving to Hawaii I carried a unit study on tide pools and one on sharks).

 

I agree with making sure they pack *everything* in a crate at your home and seal it. That's policy and I agree that they will sometimes balk at it. Just call transportation if the movers give you an issue with it.

 

The only time we've had a ton of damage was due to a policy that no longer exists. It used to be that if you were going to a course en route that they wouldn't crate your belongings until you had housing. We wound up with an extreme amount of damage. The top of my desk looked like someone had drug it across a parking lot. The didn't disassemble my bookcases at the house but at the warehouse before crating. Instead of taking the screws out, they intentionally broke them apart. Since then, I insist on crating at my house and we haven't had any problems at all.

 

I will say that when we lived in Germany there was a ship with household goods that sank, crates were dropped in the ocean and one of the warehouses burned down. For those reasons, I wouldn't take any pricey antiques.

[asta]

I mailed my curricula and I'm glad I did. We ended up in a hotel for over 2 months. If I hadn't had it, we would have been hosed.

 

 

a

[Mrs Mungo]

I mailed my curricula and I'm glad I did. We ended up in a hotel for over 2 months. If I hadn't had it, we would have been hosed.

 

 

a

 

Sometimes they will let you get your unaccompanied baggage before your household goods. We were in temporary quarters for a month or two upon moving to Germany and were able to get our hold baggage. I realize that isn't always the case but you can probably find out ahead of time.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

Sometimes they will let you get your unaccompanied baggage before your household goods. We were in temporary quarters for a month or two upon moving to Germany and were able to get our hold baggage. I realize that isn't always the case but you can probably find out ahead of time.

 

On our last move, dh was able to have unaccompanied baggage delivered to a friend's house, since he was living on the ship for the first month.

 

Also, if you're moving around the change of seasons, think about needing coats or shorts/swim gear before your household goods arrive. One of our neighbors was in temp housing for a couple months and ended up without coats as school was starting.

 

You might not have a PO box until you actually arrive. So ask if you can send things to a friend or to your sponsor. One of our big moves, I had ten boxes stacked up in a friend's spare bedroom.

[TravelingChris]

Going there I shipped most in unaccompanying baggage. Bad mistake because A, it didn't get there very soon, and B, we couldn't accept delivery until we had a house since our hotel rooms were tiny, tiny, tiny and we lived there for almost a month.

 

Going back, I shipped priority mail for the things we would be using in the next month to six weeks and I got it very fast.

 

NOw depending on where you are moving, you may get much better movers on the other end. We moved to Belgium and were fortunate enough to get Gosselin. THey were the best movers we have ever had in 23 years of moving. We requested them for the move back and we had zero claims there. They are a very large international company and if you can use them, do.