Moving boxes from the US to Canada

May 15, 2005 10:43 PM

Moving boxes of books and clothes from the US to Canada cheaply - I need to ask about options.

I am need to move most of my personal belongings from the US (Connecticut) to Canada (Toronto), in preparation for a year overseas. I have already resigned myself to the fact that I will have to give up all of my furniture (I purposely only have very cheap), but I would really like to keep my books and clothes and personal things. It would probably be a very full minvan load, or a not very full small cube-van load. Most everything can be boxed.

However, I have many limitations and not much money (every bit I spend is less for my time researching overseas).

My limitations:

* I have a friend who can drive, but no car and no car that can be borrowed
* The driver is a Canadian citizen, and cannot legally drive a US rental car into Canada, so we cannot rent one here and drive up. (Don't ask why, I don't understand, it's a Canadian customs thing.)

I have already checked around -

* Uhaul from CT to Toronto - $750-800 USD

* Renting a minivan in Toronto for 5 days, plus an extra 1000 km for the drive - $545 CND, but then the driver would probably have to spend about $200 extra getting there (he's flying in from the UK to be with me, and had intended to come into NYC to save money and help me pack). The other disadvantage would be a 800km drive alone for someone who hasn't driven on highways in sometime.

Basically, I wanted to ask if anyone knew of any cheaper and possibly easier options than the mini-van rental from Toronto and back again. I've been wondering about mailing the boxes, and have an estimate of $1/pound from US mail (the cheapest so far), but no way to estimate the weight until it's packed. Has anyone packed books lately? Any idea how much they weigh?

Sorry - this is a bit formless. But I thought I might ask because I seem to have run out of options. I hadn't originally planned on spending so much trying to get my things home (where I at least have some free storage). But it may be that I just have to do it.

posted by jb to Travel & Transportation (8 answers total)

Try contacting a freight forwarder. I did a quick Google and there is at least one in New Haven - Atlantic Customs Brokers. I don't know anything about them but it is a place to start. I suspect it would be a bit pricey but you could also contact someone like FedEx Ground.
posted by Carbolic at 1:25 AM on May 16, 2005

I have had this problem without the added issues of crossing borders. You *may* want to try something a little unorthodox, drive your stuff to Buffalo [man with van type situation by using craigslist or even the want ads] and then getting your friend to come from Canada with a canadian rental to fetch you and your things. US Mail is generally not a good way to ship books. If your boxes are filled ONLY with books then a smallish box of books will still weigh in the 20-30 lb range and you can send them Media Mail rate. This rate is not valid if you have anything not a book/cd/video/papers in the boxes however. They rarely check, but if you're busted it's full rate which is significantly higher.

UPS is often cheap for big loads of stuff but you might want to try a shipper like ABF who seems to go to Canada. Their deal works like this: you get a few feet of a trailer truck that you can fill with your junk, then you wall it in there, they use the rest of the truck for something else, and then deliver your stuff. If you go from their terminal to their terminal which are outside most major cities, it's fairly cheap [in the $400-500 range for a x-country US trip IIRC, you use rental trucks on each end for the last few miles]. They tend to mangle stuff like furniture, or they have in the past, but if it's just books and boxes, you may be all set. You do all the packing loading yourself, then you get a window of time when they will show up to deliver your stuff and you have a window of when you have to pick it up.
posted by jessamyn at 4:27 AM on May 16, 2005

Have you considered shipping by train? I know a friend did this a while ago to move a large quantity of heavy things and it was the cheapest. Unfortunately it was intranational (ON to BC) and I have no idea what carrier/freight co/whatever. She used.

Also, is greyhound an option? I've shipped a heavy box (again, intanationally) and it was pretty cheap. I'm afraid I don't remember how much. The box is put on the first bus with space that's going in the right kdirection. Its not the speediest way but its get there eventually.

Sorry, for the sort-of useless post! Good luck with the move!
posted by LunaticFringe at 5:36 AM on May 16, 2005

It probably won't help, but I read a thread on another board about a similar situation. The gist was a person wondering if it might be faster/cheaper to drive from Seattle to Vancouver instead of waiting for a specific flight.

The responses indicated that the rental agencies often had Canadian registered vehicles available that a Canadian driver could rent and drop off in Canada. That got around the Canada Customs problem. The poster was told that you could call ahead to make that arrangement.

I'm not sure that will help as Seattle is much closer to the border than you would probably be. Maybe try calling an outlet near the border, say Plattsburgh or Burlington?
posted by smcniven at 5:59 AM on May 16, 2005

Definitely check Greyhound. You can get quotes on their site; it's not as convenient (they deliver boxes to the nearest Greyhound station, not to a home, so someone will have to pick it up) but they can ship really big/heavy stuff fairly inexpensively.
posted by IshmaelGraves at 6:24 AM on May 16, 2005

MovingScam has a message board that might be helpful. Maybe you could find a reputable moving company to do the job at Citimove.
posted by mlis at 12:02 PM on May 16, 2005

Late entry, but I've actually had to do this myself. I was going from Chicago to Toronto, with a ton of stuff and no car. I ended up taking the Amtrak to Buffalo, and getting picked up by my family there. Amtrak was pretty cheap, they have a limit in terms of how much your boxes can weigh, though, so make sure you check that. They also have a limit on the number of boxes, but you can pay per box too, like $30 or something, check the website. They let me bring my really huge boxes onboard, but I think they said that they were implementing a weight limit with that too. I got off in Buffalo because the train from there to Toronto didn't have a baggage service, but you may be able to find one that does. Overall was pretty ok, the redcaps and the people on the train are super helpful as long as you tip decently, and the train ride was actually pretty fun! Including train ticket, I managed to move myself for something like $300-400 USD.

And books weigh a ton! Go borrow a scale from somebody and weigh them, you'll always be surprised by how much it is!
posted by orangskye at 4:30 PM on May 16, 2005

Based on anecdotal evidence I would definitely do some research before using UPS, and maybe FedEx, DHL, or USPS. Apparently there is some sort of ridiculously high surcharge for the recipient when shipping via UPS from the US to Canada. Google maybe "ups us canada" or some such to check this out, I have no clue where I came across this before. (Sorry, hope that doesn't make this post completely worthless!)

Second jessamyn on craigslist etc. to find someone headed that way who could take some stuff for gas money. Try college bulletin boards and other find-a-ride spots.

Also, if shipping/truck rental is going to be that expensive, maybe an airline flight? Along the same lines as a train, but if you pack your clothes in luggage, and make your book boxes fairly smallish, even with charges for extra baggage, it might work out to be cheaper...
posted by attercoppe at 9:35 AM on May 17, 2005