Another week has almost gone. It's 9/11, I have about 2 weeks before I will take off. My stuffs to return to Hong Kong are still sitting in the dinning room, in boxes and numbered, but not sealed. I am still debating on which shipper to choose. There are a few options, all have pros and cons. Turned out even the ocean freight, it will only take about 4 weeks or 25-35 days to get to Hong Kong. I really prefer door-to-door service, so that they come to pick up my stuffs, get it shipped, and deliver to my home in Hong Kong. Nobody needs to do anything, no fuss. Se perfecto! But life is never that easy, door-to-door service is much more expensive than the amount of money I wanted to spend on shipping. So, I will have to consider door-to-port service, and by the time my stuffs get to Hong Kong, I can either ask a friend to drive me there to pick up my stuffs up or just rent a van (with driver) for pickup (which is not too expensive in HK if I remember correctly, but geez, that was like 8 years ago at least, so who knows how much it costs now).
Apart from the type of service, there is another issue, I won't be back to HK until Dec 8 myself, even if I ship the stuffs by ocean, it will get there before me. If it is door-to-door service, it will be fine, my family will receive the stuffs for me. But if it is door-to-port service, it is be better for me to be there to clear the customs myself (as I was told) since it's all my personal belonging. If that is the case, my stuffs will either have to be stored here in the US for a month and half to 2 months before shipping out, or store at the warehouse in HK, which is quite expensive. I do not want to leave troubles to my roommate, so I think I will just let the shipper charge me storage fee. So, I am really down to a few choices:
1. Shannon Express, seems to be more well-estabished since mid-90s, the person who corresponds with me is very clear and helpful. The ocean freight (US$470) and insurance (US$100) are not the cheapest, but so far their shipping procedure seems to be the clearest and they only charge US$45/month to store my stuffs, which I thought it is quite reasonable. Combining all (shipping+insurance+storage), I would be charged US$660 to my stuffs to HK port, then I need to pick them up after I get back.
2. Prime Shipping, they have given the cheapest quote, ocean freight+insurance US$460. Not sure if they do storage. But I have serious doubt about this company. Not even because they responded me with a gmail email address, ok maybe it's a small company and they use free email account to do business. But I actually walked down to this company's office, it's a in residential building, no sign, all the windows are covered with blinds. So, I don't know, I don't feel comfortable with that.
3. MHX Int'l, the quote they give me is comparable to the above 2, for shipping+insurance (US$460). But this is not including pick up, storage or anything, I need to find a way to get my stuffs to their warehouse in the suburb. AND...they have already sent me like 5 different lengthy shipping documents that I need to fill. That's like, oh geez, can you be more complicated? Anyway, I have sent them back an email to see if they do pick up and see if their HK agent might be able to do custom clearance and delivery. I am waiting on their response.
The other quotes I got are all over US$900-US$1400. So, I won't even consider those. If no. 3 above does not give me a response by Monday, I probably will go ahead and use the first shipper.
