best way to send items to STX?

Anything that is sent in can be inspected by customs. Usually things sent by a commercial site - Amazon - for example, is not inspected, but it can be.

the USPS service is easier and more user-friendly by far than UPS. UPS and Fed-Ex consider the USVI to be a foreign location and their rates are higher accordingly.

Most anything you send that is a used item shouldn't cost anything for customs when you ship it here, even if you send a large shipment via container or pallet on a barge out of Florida. Expensive, NEW items may wind up subject to customs duties when they arrive. How you label the shipment has a lot to do with how customs handles it and if you get charged taxes or not on what reaches the island. There are many threads on this topic if you use the Search feature.

I agree with Alexandra. As a former owner of a shipping store, USPS is the most affordable and practical. If the item has any value, sentimental or monetarily, I would recommend the minimum of a delivery confirmation. The cost is around .64. .... at most, insure high value items. Please remember though, if you insure, you must be ready to demonstrate (prove) the value in the event of loss.

We shipped over 50 boxes through the USPS when we moved here… all items arrived safe and sound… some delayed…. But all arrived.

Yeah... I second that motion...
USPS is the most reasonable... but if you can afford it OR need it ASAP, send it Priority it will get here in a week or two... Express takes about a week... and if you send it regular one box took around two months... However there were the occational on time delivery too...

Hey Caribbean Time... I never made a claim when they were late... I was just happy the the stuff got here... and didn't want to rock the boat... so many companies refuse to ship here and I didn't want, lil ol me to make it worst... plus the job paid for almost all of it...

Everything got here... but of like say about 15ish boxes... one small plate was broken and one of the handles of my pans was smashed... one dvd case was cracked... but the last two could be argued on my part of not putting enough padding... but some items do show up with some pretty decent battle scars... so don't buy the cheap tape... get the banded one... and don't cut corners with the padding... a few that I did not package myself before leaving were barely holding together... I say it was devine intervention that they made it without opening...

As for the tracking #... that is almost a must, from what I am told... one of the guys where I have my mail box advised me to NEVER send anything without a tracking #... "because without one they are more suseptable to getting lost in the Puerto Rico Zone"

I insured a few of the more expensive items too and had an itemized list of items that were inside, had I had time I would have taken pic's but thats just me...

Now I did use UPS for two high end/ very fragile items... the job was paying me back and I felt better in the long run, so it really didn't matter in the end and my mom answered all the custom questions right, too... but in general USPS ask much fewer questions...

Another option is VI Cargo and Crowley, I have not used either but hear good things... and there's Tropical but from what I hear they are more suseptable to the "Puerto Rico Zone"...

Use enough good tape, enough padding, a tracking #, and last but not least stong boxes!!!!!!!!! ( I used mostly copy paper boxes and beer boxes)

Hope for the best, plan for the worst, and a lil praying never hurts...
Good Luck