Hi all,
My son is graduating this year and we’re hoping to ship his things back in boxes. What companies have you used or know of that have good reviews? I’ve looked at collegeboxes and dormroommovers but both don’t seem reputable.
Thanks!
How much stuff are you talking about? How far is the move? Have you considered only having kiddo bring back what fits in luggage and donating/selling the rest? If you and spouse attend graduation and fly an airline with free or low cost luggage, that’s 6 pieces of luggage and you can live out of your carry on.
I brought back pretty much all my stuff every summer and when I was done with school in my two pieces of checked luggage and carry on. Sold the clunker bike. Donated whatever didn’t fit.
Donate, sell, toss the bulk of it. Do you really want all that icky stuff like dorm sheets and towels in your house? 
Ship books via USPS using their book rate - it is the cheapest way. Make sure that only printed materials are in that box! Fly Sourhwest. 2 suitcases travel for free. That did it for us.
This would not be “acceptable” in our family. There are just too many things that could not fit into luggage but DS could not part with.
We used UPS quite often. (I think we actually had to use UPS at the end of every school year when DS was in college and at the beginning of some school years. UPS could help send some large items or an item with an odd shape, but USPS could not. UPS could help box a relatively large item too – but not cheap though.)
But I do not know which company (not sure whether we could use the “Pod”?) we can rely on when we need to ship more. I am interested in knowing other CCer’s experience also.
Don’t know how far your child is traveling, but I just booked my daughter a bus trip on Concord Trailways for a few days to visit friends during spring break and I noticed on their website that one could take up to six checked bags. The first one or two were free, and there was a small reasonable fee per bag for the others. This could be an option for cheaper travel and moving stuff if the distance isn’t too far.
Are you within driving distance of the school? If multiple family members are going to graduation, it might make sense to go in as many cars as possible and transport most of the stuff home in the cars. Or perhaps a family member could make an extra trip to the school a couple of days before graduation and pick up most of it. (We did the latter.)
We flew to graduation with graduate’s siblings on Southwest. Everyone flew back on Southwest with 2 free bags of her stuff.
You will find that if you explain to a student that they will be financially responsible for shipping personal junk home----they suddenly loose all those emotional connections to stuff.
Just did this, across country. Had sturdy boxes delivered from Lowe’s, student got them herself (with the help of a friend with a car) to FedEx. Shipped via FedEx ground (much, much cheaper than UPS or the “college boxes” services, I priced them all out). She had been living in an apartment for 3 years and had accumulated a lot. She had a few days to pack after exams. Throwing it all into a dumpster for landfill was not an option, especially for the nicer items that I had purchased.
We did the flying thing. Three of us flew Southwest. We were VERY clear with DD…if it didn’t fit in those six suitcases…it had to be tossed, sold or,given away.
She shipped on box of books fed ex ground.
I’m going to jump in here and say Fed Ex! I have slowly shipped my dd’s belongings to NYC. I set up an account with Fed Ex and ship 2 day ground. Very reasonable.
FedEx ground. Simple cost effective solution.