Benefits to selecting local shipper ?

fnln510 · Post by **fnln510** » Thu Mar 25, 2010 12:00 am

Hi - A lot of the shipping companies listed on this site have their main offices outside of the city where I live (Chicago). Is it more cost effective to have a local shipper?

One advantage that I see of a local shipper is that the can come to my home and then give an estimate. So far I recieved a couple of estimates by describing my stuff over the phone. Obviously not an accurate way of estimating..... worried about getting last minute surprises.

Any thoughts?

njTohyd2009 · Post by **njTohyd2009** » Thu Mar 25, 2010 12:03 am

I was in NJ and had shiping co from west coast.
They normallyhave an agent inthe areas.
They come, check it and were pretty accurate. Little extra came up, but that is expected as they giv ethe final numbers only after it has left out home.
Be ready to be on top of those packers to make them understand each cubif feet has a $$ value. Else they would just dump.

fnln510 · Post by **fnln510** » Thu Mar 25, 2010 2:13 am

njTohyd2009;272371I was in NJ and had shiping co from west coast.
They normallyhave an agent inthe areas.
They come, check it and were pretty accurate. Little extra came up, but that is expected as they giv ethe final numbers only after it has left out home.
Be ready to be on top of those packers to make them understand each cubif feet has a $$ value. Else they would just dump.

Hi. Thanks for the response. BTW. What made you decide to have the shipper pack your things? Were there time, insurance or other constraints. We were thinking of packing ourselves but a lot of the folks on this board seem to have the shipper do the packing . Are there cons of doing it yourself other than saving time/effort?

mkngtrbl · Post by **mkngtrbl** » Thu Mar 25, 2010 8:37 am

fnln510;272430Hi. Thanks for the response. BTW. What made you decide to have the shipper pack your things? Were there time, insurance or other constraints. We were thinking of packing ourselves but a lot of the folks on this board seem to have the shipper do the packing . Are there cons of doing it yourself other than saving time/effort?

I thjink insurance can be one. Stuff that you pack yourself will not be insured against damages by the shipper. We packed ourselves but I did not have anything crazy expensive in there. Will know more in 4 weeks when the stuff arrives.