shipping boxes

the cheapest way is by book-rate regular mail..........takes about 3 weeks

USPS and if sent other than Priority, it will take over 6 weeks.

FedEx and UPS treat the VI as an international destination. Very expensive.

Another option to look at is using a freight forwarder such as VI Cargo. You ship your items to Florida and then they are loaded on a boat. If they arrive in Florida by Tuesday of any given week you will be able to pick them up in STX on the following Wed.

The post office is the simplest and often cheapest though.

Jim

OK! Post office it is. And I will bring enough clothes for six (6!!!) weeks.

Thanks guys, you are super helpful!

Kimberly

I have shipped via UPS from areas of the states to the VI Cargo office in Miami, then ship via them to STX. UPS in the states is cheap, easy paperwork and all. Then VI cargo does their thing...which was then about $1 per cubic foot plus any paperwork.
There are no customs or duties on used personal or household items. They will have to clear customs in the VI.
If you go via the USPS book rate, make sure there is a book in each box...would not like to lie to the US Gov!
Anything via post office is not customs inspected.

When you use media rate with USPS, you can't have ANYTHING else in the box technically speaking. Not even a note saying, "here is your book"! Crazy, huh? Not that I think they go digging through packages, but I figure just mind my p's and q's whenever it's not essential to do otherwise. 🙂

Kimberly

Onika

Thats not true

I shipped 4 boxes, two computer, two of "other things" I shipped the computer box's priority and I got them in 4-5 days. The regular parcel post mail I sent (large boxes) took two weeks and arrived safely.

Letahl is right. If you use "book rate" which is cheaper than parcel post you can only have "media" in the box. Media includes books, cd's, tapes, etc. The only thing is the post office told me that unbound papers are not bookrate....for example you couldn't dump your file cabinet contents into a box and ship it book rate. Ok, well I guess you could but you would be lying and if they checked......who knows what would happen. I know about all of this very intimately because I shipped about 50 plastic rubbermaid tubs via USPS to St. Croix. There are very specific measurements and weight requirements you have to adhere too. Make sure you get the measurements and weight limitation before you pack everything up and take it down to the post office. The cost was about 35 to 60 bucks a box depending on how heavy I packed it and whether is was "media rate" or not. Now looking back I wish I wouldn't have sent all that stuff because I unpacked very little of it and the rest sits in a storage unit and is basically forgotten. Oh, and this is a very very important point. From the time I started shipping items to the time I actually got to St. Croix our P.O. Box changed. You cannot forward parcel post or book rate free of charge. They forwarded boxes from the old PO Box to the new PO Box. When I picked up the boxes that were forwarded, I had to pay again. So I payed double for many of my boxes I sent. I paid full price when I sent them then I paid full price again when I picked them up from the post office. If you send things priority mail you pay more out of the gate but they forward for free.

Moral of the story. USPS is probably best to ship stuff in boxes. If you want to use parcel post or media rate...DO NOT change your address while you are still receiving your boxes from stateside unless you don't mind paying shipping charges twice on the same boxes.

Would strongly recommend the Post office. You don't have to deal with customs. And Deffinately recommend shipping the 3-4 day route and get insurance.