<p>Does anyone on CC know of an economical way to ship large stuff across country? My D will be moving from one coast to the other in August, flying with her luggage. Is there any way of shipping her books, quilt, and “must haves” that might be cheaper than UPS, USPS, or FedEx? We plan on having her purchase kitchen ware, linens, and such online, but there are many things that she wants from home to her new apartment…</p>
<p>Doesn’t USPS have “book rate” shipping that is slow but cheap for books? They used to, but lately have rejiggered rates for shipping, so not sure now if they still do that.</p>
<p>It sounds like you are not shipping actual furniture – my D1 got a stipend from her company for moving expenses when she started her first job out of college. It was enough to cover a ‘pod’ shipment from our house to her apartment with all her bedroom furniture, bike, artwork, etc. in it. What is your D going to do for actual furniture (unless her apartment is furnished)?</p>
<p>Post Office–send books by media mail rate (used to be called book rate). MUCH cheaper. Sometimes the books show up really fast and other times take nearly forever. Sent three boxes of books to D all on same day at the same time–two were received within 3 days and the third didn’t show up for nearly 6 weeks (3 weeks should be the max). But it’s relatively inexpensive.</p>
<p>How much is it for extra suitcases as baggage on the plane trip? Use space bags and condense the quilt down. Depending on what and weight she has the extra bag fee could be cheaper than mailing.</p>
<p>FedEx ground is actually pretty cheap. You might want to go online and get an estimate, they are pretty accurate if you can guess the weight.</p>
<p>Check if you can ship through your work place with discount for employees. I paid very low shipping cost when my kids moved in. That also benefits my company because the more shipments the carriers handle, the higher the discount the company get.</p>
<p>Are u planning to fly out there to get her started or visit her later? U can can pack her stuff in your luggage, too. She doesn’t need to have everything at once.</p>
<p>We are able to use UPS through my work and get the business discount which is excellent. </p>
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<p>Good point. We fly Southwest a lot, and two bags fly free, which is useful for getting stuff to and from college.</p>
<p>Intparent, 2 years ago I used the USPS book rate to ship D’s books from MA to WA and it was significantly cheaper than any other option. </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.stamps.com/whitepapers/media-mail-rate-guide.pdf”>http://www.stamps.com/whitepapers/media-mail-rate-guide.pdf</a></p>
<p>We used USPS for 4 year’s worth of moving and care packages, with great success.</p>
<p>Large bulky stuff: USPS Parcel Post. Small stuff that’s heavy for its size (books, CDs, school supplies): USPS Flat Rate boxes. I always pay the few pennies extra for tracking. </p>
<p>UPS has a special rate for large quantities of material shipping from one point to another with same addresses. I shipped over 100+ boxes of stuff across the country for about $1000 for my move from NJ to CA. I saved 1000’s by not using movers. OTOH, I did not ship furniture’s, lighting or bulky tools etc. </p>