When the shipping costs more than the cargo

[molested_cow]

As I am preparing to move back home (across the biggest ocean on the planet), I am looking at options to ship my stuffs back. I don't have a lot, a 4x4x4' volume will be good enough. I checked the quotes for ocean freight and so far I have two:

Door-to-door with everything taken care off- $1900
Door to Port with customs fees and destination transportation excluded- $858

So what am I going to ship?
Clothes
Epson V700
random sentimental stuffs that I won't need to survive.
Boxes of documents and photo negatives.
Books.

I doubt they total to be more than $1000. Sentimental value aside, it's just interesting to me how much it costs to ship.

 

[molested_cow]

Actually, I wish someone made a 4x4x4' survival pod that I can just sit in and ship myself over. It's cheaper than flying.

I know you can pay to hitch a ride on ships to travel. That will be an adventure!

 

[c.cloudwalker]

Since we have no idea where you are and where you are going, it is hard to judge if the price is fair. But, have you gotten more than a few quotes? I moved port-to-door from the east coast (port of Charleston) to the greater suburbs of Paris just last year and there were huge differences in the quotes I got. What I paid wouldn't tell you much because I had half a container worth...

But I had a second shipment sent to me a couple months later, same port-to-door deal, and it cost me about $800 for approximately 9 cubic feet/1000 lbs.

For that second shipment, some companies were trying to tell me to buy a shipping crate. The price of that darn thing alone would have cost me just about as much as what I ended up paying...

Make sure and spend the time comparison shopping.

 

[c.cloudwalker]

I know you can pay to hitch a ride on ships to travel. That will be an adventure!

I liked the idea of sailing so I looked into this but flying was quite a bit cheaper

 

[molested_cow]

Just read up on cargo ship cruising. Apparently it cost about $100 per day, which to me seems too much. It's not like you are going to get any kind of service other than food. So a trip from US to Asia can take weeks. That will cost a lot!

I am moving from S.Florida to Taiwan. Right now my plan is to do a road trip to Seattle and fly out from there.