Saturday, September 10, 2011

TODOs: Packing ...

Time allocation:
If you have not done it before, just keep one thing in-mind - this one takes time.
 
For several reasons:
  • You need to understand the shipping options and the way it works.
  • The boxes you get should have the items evenly distributed  - all of those books, which tend to be heavy, can't end up in a single box, which would make it too heavy to transport. In the same way, you can easily use those cloths for packing delicate items and use them as cushion.
  • You get an estimate of how much each box holds and how many you might end up with.
LCL versus FCL:
This is one thing that you must understand in-advance. By doing LCL, you are paying by the volume of the items you are shipping. y doing FCL, you have a full container that you can load. It is unlikely that you will need a full container - I have seen/heard friends buying sofa sets at Costco in the last minute since they have a container to fill! However, if your company is paying for it, go for it by all means! To note, companies might pay for the air-fare of the family and may have a cap on how much max amount they pay. If there is a cap, the amount they pay may not reimburse both air-fare and shipping and doing a LCL and ship just what you need might make sense.

Other point to consider is - the space you have in India in the apartments. Unless you go for a penthouse or a villa, the regular 3BHK (yes, BHK is the standard term you need get used to!) apartment won't hold your humongous sectional sofa that you used in US! The European style makes lots of sense for India.
 
Customs:
I need to say I didn't get much 'practical' info from the shipper we used in this area - of course, they gave us the standard documentation about 15% duty, Transfer of residence etc etc but we didn't good information about things like - is it a good idea to use original packing boxes, whether to include all the items to the level of handheld calculator (we needed to keep detailed packing list for our use so that we know where things are once we reach).

One thing you MUST NOT forget is to build the packing list as you package. With over 50 boxes, it will be a nightmare to figure out where that cutting board lies! You may not provide this detailed list to customs but it definitely helps to have it for your use - you may not name each book title in the packing list but do differentiate that Java book from Kid's piano lesson book!


Appreciate your feedback and comments, please leave a comment if you found this post useful (or not!) ...



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