I would think this would be something that could benefit ExpaCity members and AFIP members. Maybe reach out to Amy and Susan to see if they are cool with it.
Thank you for sharing a lot of information. One more question, since you are among the few who seem to have shipped antique furniture and art. What did you do to protect it? Did you have to blanket wrap or crate items yourself before putting them in PODS? I have read that insurance will not cover items that people pack themselves.
Hi Christa, glad I could help fill in some blanks…
First, I will address the insurance. You are correct that insurance will not cover items which are self packed. Although I had done a detailed inventory of everything we packed, we learned that to insure items, we would have had to have photographs of the items before packing, which was too late in our case. We opted to go with the insurance alternative, which covered the total value of the goods inside the container should there be an incident where the container was lost or damaged.
As for packing. I considered hiring the packing out, but decided that I could do a better job of packing while saving a whole lot of money (even with spending several hundred dollars on packing materials). I will admit to being a very thorough packer.
We ultimately only sent one vintage mid-century piece, which along with all of our better furniture got wrapped in furniture blankets (I purchased them by the dozen on Amazon) and then pallet wrap. I cannot emphasize the importance of using pallet wrap. I even went the distance to print out photos of my steel and glass display cabinet with instructions as to where to carry it and attached them to the outside so the movers would know where they should place their hands while handling it.
As for the art… Fortunately the majority of our art is wall art, so I purchased large pieces of cardboard (used for stacking on pallets) from Staples and crafted custom sized cardboard shells after wrapping the art first in foam wrap and adding corner protectors. The smaller pieces of art were wrapped in foam wrap and then boxed in groups. I ended up wrapping over 30 larger pieces individually. It took the better part of a day, but I wanted to feel confident that everything was packed well. We only have a couple of sculpture pieces, which I was grateful to have kept the original packing boxes when we bought them.
All of my blankets and towels were put to use to pad things in boxes or fill in blank spaces, even some clothes got put to use to cushion items in boxes. I also bought fluorescent labels from Amazon, and printed out “Caution Heavy” and “Fragile Glass” in English and Portuguese to add to any boxes where it was appropriate. For inventory, I created a series of numbered labels with blank lines to list what was packed, and simultaneously maintained a spreadsheet on my laptop as I packed.
I did have the privilege of having time to do all of this. I packed over the course of a couple of weeks. I am embarrassed to admit the number of times I have moved (I have lived in six states as an adult), so my packing skills are on point.
Thanks for all the details!
Great blog post!!
I would think this would be something that could benefit ExpaCity members and AFIP members. Maybe reach out to Amy and Susan to see if they are cool with it.
Thank you for sharing a lot of information. One more question, since you are among the few who seem to have shipped antique furniture and art. What did you do to protect it? Did you have to blanket wrap or crate items yourself before putting them in PODS? I have read that insurance will not cover items that people pack themselves.
Hi Christa, glad I could help fill in some blanks…
First, I will address the insurance. You are correct that insurance will not cover items which are self packed. Although I had done a detailed inventory of everything we packed, we learned that to insure items, we would have had to have photographs of the items before packing, which was too late in our case. We opted to go with the insurance alternative, which covered the total value of the goods inside the container should there be an incident where the container was lost or damaged.
As for packing. I considered hiring the packing out, but decided that I could do a better job of packing while saving a whole lot of money (even with spending several hundred dollars on packing materials). I will admit to being a very thorough packer.
We ultimately only sent one vintage mid-century piece, which along with all of our better furniture got wrapped in furniture blankets (I purchased them by the dozen on Amazon) and then pallet wrap. I cannot emphasize the importance of using pallet wrap. I even went the distance to print out photos of my steel and glass display cabinet with instructions as to where to carry it and attached them to the outside so the movers would know where they should place their hands while handling it.
As for the art… Fortunately the majority of our art is wall art, so I purchased large pieces of cardboard (used for stacking on pallets) from Staples and crafted custom sized cardboard shells after wrapping the art first in foam wrap and adding corner protectors. The smaller pieces of art were wrapped in foam wrap and then boxed in groups. I ended up wrapping over 30 larger pieces individually. It took the better part of a day, but I wanted to feel confident that everything was packed well. We only have a couple of sculpture pieces, which I was grateful to have kept the original packing boxes when we bought them.
All of my blankets and towels were put to use to pad things in boxes or fill in blank spaces, even some clothes got put to use to cushion items in boxes. I also bought fluorescent labels from Amazon, and printed out “Caution Heavy” and “Fragile Glass” in English and Portuguese to add to any boxes where it was appropriate. For inventory, I created a series of numbered labels with blank lines to list what was packed, and simultaneously maintained a spreadsheet on my laptop as I packed.
I did have the privilege of having time to do all of this. I packed over the course of a couple of weeks. I am embarrassed to admit the number of times I have moved (I have lived in six states as an adult), so my packing skills are on point.