Shipping Household Items vs. Buying in STT

All the items you mentioned are priced comparable to what you see in the states.
So how much would you spend on additional baggage fees lugging all that stuff to and from the airport? That's if the carrier will allow crock pots and small appliances on an aircraft.
RE: Boston bombings! Hello! McFly-anybody home?

All the items you mentioned are priced comparable to what you see in the states.
So how much would you spend on additional baggage fees lugging all that stuff to and from the airport? That's if the carrier will allow crock pots and small appliances on an aircraft.
RE: Boston bombings! Hello! McFly-anybody home?

I have your car towed all the way over here McFly and all you have for me is light beer?!!?

Crock pots and pressure cookers are two different animals : )

Do not ship them. They are priced comparably. Depends on your camping equipment. We didn't bring ours but in retrospect may have shipped it. The less you ship, the better IMO. Realizing now how much less we need here

All the items you mentioned are priced comparable to what you see in the states.
So how much would you spend on additional baggage fees lugging all that stuff to and from the airport? That's if the carrier will allow crock pots and small appliances on an aircraft.
RE: Boston bombings! Hello! McFly-anybody home?

I have your car towed all the way over here McFly and all you have for me is light beer?!!?

Crock pots and pressure cookers are two different animals : )

Yeah because there's no way you could make a bomb with a crock pot.

It depends. We just spent a few hours looking for a programmable crock pot. Cost you More, Kmart, Home Depot. No choice, other than lower spec options that cost 20 - 30% more (at least) than you would pay state side. If you want a particular item, try and take it with you. However, if you plan to live here permanently, better just to suck it up and live with higher prices and less choice, any other attitude will do your head in. We travel regularly and fill our baggage allowance every time. Max out your luggage allowance with low volume, high value items (a Mr Coffee doesn't count). You can find most of the basic items here. My advice, if your shipping cost is more than 25% of what you can buy it for state-side, then don't bother unless it's something unusual. Camping equipment might fall into that category, I don't know anywhere selling quality gear (but then again, I'm not sure what you'd do with it here). Final comment, Kmart west is best for household goods imo, Home Depot is awesome for DIY on an island the size of STX.

we shipped all household stuff but only 2 pieces of furniture. we had a small load of stuff and it wasnt that much.

Unless those incidentals really has some intrinsic value other than monetary, I would buy what you need on Island. Now if I were a master chef and had things like Kitchen Aid stand mixers and such that would be different. The Islands aren't like they were back in the early 70's when you had very limited resources and places to buy from like Kmart. I also wouldn't move the house down until you have been there awhile and really intend on making the Island your home.

mike

Thanks for the input, everyone! I think we'll plan on maxing out our luggage allowance and then buy the bare necessities in STT.

Check the airlines for good dates with good deals on first class. Delta flights on Sat. can be really good. You get 3 checked bags each, plus the usual carry on and personal bag. All together 8 bags, and your checked bags can be 70 lb each instead of 50.

If you catch a good deal, it can be cheaper, or, at least, in the same ballpark as coach, plus luggage fees.

I recently started moving into my new 2nd home on STT and learned a lot about what's worth shipping and not.

Worth shipping- anything small and heavy that you can squeeze into USPS Priority Mail medium or large flat rate boxes that's special to you like your flatware, knives, tools and specialty items. $13 & $18.

Not worth shipping- anything bulky, even if light- way, way too expensive to ship yourself. All carriers have huge surcharges for large sizes.
Only thing you can ship that's somewhat larger at a decent price are items bought from Amazon. I bought a coffeemaker, cookware set and lamps that I really wanted from them and shipping was $30. It was worth the extra cost to me because I could not get those particular items on island and I wanted only those (and I got warehouse deals!). But I bought dishes, microwave, toaster oven, light fixtures and all furniture on island.
So if you're open to whatever you can get, get it on island.

I stuff as much as I can into a large checked and carryon going down, and then put my small bag into the big empty bag when I go back to mainland. Delta economy 1st checked bag is $25 for up to 70 lbs. Worth it. (When I'm done furnishing the place, I'll probably just leave the big bag in STT.)

I bring batteries. They are expensive on island and can always get good buys on them on mainland.

PriceSmart membership is only $15/yr and totally pays for itself. Sometimes they have absolute steals on things! Conversely some items are terribly priced (electronics). But Kmart's TVs are priced well. I find that's the case in every store on STT, so just shop around. There are some fantastic buys to be had.