Help me move from Hawaii to Philadelphia.

December 28, 2009 2:07 PM

I’m hoping the hive mind can help me come up with a good cost-effective plan, so I have good position to negotiate for money for moving.

My company, who originally sent me to Hawaii 3 years ago, wants to relocate me back to Philadelphia. Although Hawaii is wonderful, my wife and I have decided that moving back would be the best thing to do. We’ve agreed on salary, but moving costs will need to be negotiated.

We currently have a 2-bedroom apartment, with beds, couches, desk, etc, nothing that we are emotionally attached to. We also have a 2000 Jetta that’s worth about $5k.

Also it would be fantastic if it were cost effective to drive it myself across the country, as I would love to take a cross-country road trip.

What I am thinking at this point is:
• Sell everything large (car, furniture) via Craigslist.
• Ship everything else via Cargo to west coast
• Buy a new or used car on the west coast
• Load up car and drive to Philly
Is that actually feasible or cost effective, has anyone done something similar?

Other ideas I’m open too, but would like advice/recommendations:
• Shipping everything else all the way to Philly
• Renting a truck and driving it myself

posted by rickim to travel & transportation (6 answers total)

Once you're shipping stuff, why not ship it straight to its destination? Keep put whatever you need for 2 weeks, plus anything really sentimental or valuable. Buy a car on the West Coast, drive to Philly, having adventures en route.
posted by theora55 at 2:34 PM on December 28, 2009 [1 favorite]

I moved to Alaska from the East Coast and mailing all of our (3 person family) "essentials" (no funiture) cost us about $700. Buying a car and driving it cross-country with all of your stuff has some intricacies. Do you actually want a car capable of carrying all your stuff in it once you get to Philly? If not, finding the right one for the trip may not be worth the effort. Factor in the cost of gas and accommodations (including staying somewhere on the west coast while you look for a vehicle and wait for your stuff to arrive) when you compare it to the cost of just shipping it all to Philly. I'm pretty sure USPS will be cheaper, and certainly less time consuming.
posted by stinker at 5:19 PM on December 28, 2009

Stinker-
This is Mrs. Rickim and I appreciate your answer. He would like to purchase an SUV on the west coast hoping that we can fit all of our items in it. I'm pretty sure that we will need to move/mail items to Philly before we embark on our journey.

When you moved, did you ship everything USPS, or did you also use a moving service?
posted by rickim at 6:02 PM on December 28, 2009

I recently did a coast-to-coast move, and shipped a lot of stuff via Amtrak Package Express. Probably cheaper than USPS if you're going to a major city. Much cheaper than a one-way truck rental. You can ship it by cargo to Oakland (I'm assuming), and transfer it yourself (or hire movers for the day) to Amtrak, where they palletize it. They'll store it in Philly for a few days (you'll probably beat it there, it takes about a week).

When I did this (NYC to Seattle) it cost $65 for the first 100 pounds and $0.55/lb after that -- beats hell out of most shipping services. I shipped 400 pounds of books, clothes, and random household stuff for $230, which freed up a lot of space -- the rest came by SUV.
posted by zvs at 8:45 PM on December 28, 2009

Buying a car on short notice sounds like the hardest part of your plan.
posted by zvs at 8:46 PM on December 28, 2009

Oh, sorry... I used USPS. I didn't look into moving services.
posted by stinker at 1:24 PM on January 6, 2010