Shipping Questions

We have used USPS, but to get the cheaper rates, you need to ship 4 to 5 weeks in advance, parcel post.

We have used Econocaribe for the carrier, and Flemming as the reciever. I think they are connected in some way.

We sold furniture and cars, then shipped USPS. USPS was roughly about a dollar a pound. (50 rubbermaid tub was about $50.00) Do a search on this site about shipping companies - I know Tropical and Flemming have been mentioned. Vehicles and furniture are Much more expensive on STX than the states - you'd save alot by shipping it down, but check that your furniture would be okay (wood items don't always do well due to high humidity & termites.)

Hello Dante,

Lee Fleming that is mentioned in the above posts - you can visit his website at http://www.managedfreight.com/ for more information.

--Islander

Thank you

For shipping a few boxes, the U.S. Postal Service is usually the best bet financially. For large furnishings, you probably want to either buy or rent a shipping container (20 or 40 foot in length). You can pack this full of everything you want to bring with you and ship it down on a barge through Tropical Shipping or another one of the carriers that services the USVI. Since you are already in Florida, you won't have as high of costs to get the container to the shipping port as those who live in more remote parts of the U.S. mainland.

We do have furniture stores on St. Croix. Some of the prices can be high and some of the furniture isn't very comfortable. There are usually things that work, though, if you decide not to ship your belongings here. If you are outfitting a whole household, a few of the shops will make you a good volume discount deal. Also keep in mind that many houses are sold FURNISHED.

You may want to buy a furnishsed house and then only ship personal items, artwork, clothing, etc. You will find you need and use less "stuff" in the islands than you have acquired in life on the mainland.

Amen to that, Alexandra...I will reiterate, my advice to everyone is to sell it all unless you absolutely cannot live without it...and once you get here, you'll be looking around going, "what WAS I thinking?" LOL! We brought LOTS of stuff to STX, and we have one bedroom that is now fondly referred to as the Storage Room...full of stuff we thought we needed and now realize we don't. Probably never did. Surely don't now - we've been here 3 months and haven't unpacked it, so it must not be too important.

If you are an outdoors type person, you will find you want less and less to take care of - eats up too much beach time! Our apartment is lovely on the inside and way too labor intensive...one thing I would recommend, whether you buy on island or off, is lots of storage pieces - armoires or dressers or bookcases or what have you - island houses aren't big into closets for the most part. Thus the birth of The Storage Room. 'Course, if you dump off a lot of clothing that you won't need down here anyway, you may do just fine! Not sure why I felt compelled to bring my Arkansas Razorback sweatshirt collection now...

Read all of the posts on moving costs, preparation, etc. If the read gives you a headache, the move will give you a migraine. But good luck and let us know when you are here!

Hi Dante,

My husband and I moved from Key West, Florida to St. Thomas on August 1. We shipped 31 boxes USPS ranging in weight from 29 lbs to 50 lbs. The cost was about $700.00. 30 of the boxes arrived withing 3 weeks of shipping. One box took about 7 weeks. Just a few broken glasses and dishes. One mistake we did make in shipping was when we shipped the printer down for our computer, we forgot to take out the printer cartridges and they exploded during shipping and the ink went all through the printer, and of course that was the only box we shipped priority. Glad they have Office Max here.

Nancy