Singapore Expats

I have seen threads over the years on people's experience with moving companies (for moves out of Singapore) specifically to the US.

As this information tends to develop over time, information in older threads may not be up-to-date.

The forum has some good information on moving to Aus but I reckon that some companies specialize in certain countries more than others, and, as the US is huge, there is the domestic component of the move.

Can anyone please post their moving company experiences?

So far am familiar with:
Crown
Allied Pickfords
Santa Fe
Collins
Asian Tigers (ruling out based on JR8's post here http://forum.singaporeexpats.com/viewtopic.php?t=109420

Thanks to Strong eagle for his reply, that is one for Allied Pickfords - is there any other feedback on other carries to the US?

Overall, Allied Pickford's service was pretty good, and Allied vanlines in Houston were good on the other end. We had to watch out for two things, both in Singapore.

a) When packing one or two of the crew had a tendency to want to wrap a whole drawer full of stuff and stick it in a box rather than wrapping the contents.

b) We had a firm price quote based on their estimated volume of shipping. When packed, they tried to jack up the price saying we had to pay for the empty space in the vans. We prevailed but had we known how they priced it we would have probably shipped additional furniture.

Thanks for that update, very good to know. Am currently debating whether to ship or sell furniture.

Not sure if they do this, but want to see about variable quotations - with and without certain large items.

Has anyone used or heard of people using DHL or FedEx to move certain items? Such as 30kg containers of books, papers or clothes.

I have heard that this could be a cheaper alternative to using one of the Big Five moving/shipping company for sea freight.

Unless that 30 kg is a gold bar that fits in your pocket, FedEx/DHL/UPS cost out the wazoo... they base their charges on volume and weight... consider forking out in excess of S$1500 for that package.

NorrinRadd wrote:Has anyone used or heard of people using DHL or FedEx to move certain items? Such as 30kg containers of books, papers or clothes.

I have heard that this could be a cheaper alternative to using one of the Big Five moving/shipping company for sea freight.

Assuming you are talking about air freight, I have looked into those because I am considering moving 30kg via air freight to Canada for my next move out of Singapore. Also by Allied. It is cheaper than DHL/FedEx in general but it all depends on your volumetric weight so you could be looking between marginal couple of hundreds to the north of $1000. It takes 7 working days or more depending on the customs of destination country.

Related question - do any of the used furniture places take away furniture without charging, what is the best way to get rid of furniture cheaply that is still good?

NorrinRadd wrote:Related question - do any of the used furniture places take away furniture without charging, what is the best way to get rid of furniture cheaply that is still good?

I'm currently using Carousell for this situation because no used furniture company would want to take them (even for free) without charging delivery fee. I could still get my worth of money AND have them pick it up from my place. So far, sold my fan, a floor lamp, bottles of alcohol (new ones) and some appliances that I don't need where I'm heading to.

I highly recommend that. But be prepared to deal with typical Asian problem of low-balling or backing out. Honestly I think it is manageable because Carousell works on buyer/seller review system (no such thing as anonymous buyer/seller) so you can give negative rating to that buyer if s/he try to pull sneaky moves on you. Be firm on your price - do not allow room for negotiation from indicated price because you don't want to set precedence for back-and-forth.

Good luck!

the lynx wrote:Assuming you are talking about air freight, I have looked into those because I am considering moving 30kg via air freight to Canada for my next move out of Singapore. Also by Allied. It is cheaper than DHL/FedEx in general but it all depends on your volumetric weight so you could be looking between marginal couple of hundreds to the north of $1000. It takes 7 working days or more depending on the customs of destination country.

Approximately what does Allied charge?

If I move back home to USA, I'm going to have some stuff that's too much for airline luggage ... maybe 2 or 3 moving boxes worth stuff. No furniture or anything. Just accumulated small items.

Would be looking for most cost effective way to get that stuff home.

NorrinRadd wrote:Has anyone used or heard of people using DHL or FedEx to move certain items? Such as 30kg containers of books, papers or clothes.

I have heard that this could be a cheaper alternative to using one of the Big Five moving/shipping company for sea freight.

If you're not in a rush to get the items, Singpost has an economy option to ship up to 30 kg to the USA for S$253:

http://www.speedpost.com.sg/images/pdf/ ... e_2015.pdf

For an additional $140 it can go by air & arrive in 10-14 working days.