For those moving for programs this fall, any tips?

[ktel]

Go for it. I did this a year ago and had absolutely no trouble at all. (From my hometown in B.C., I'd been travelling for two weeks out East. In the process, I'd acquired, uh, 21 books, some clothes, and a new pair of shoes. All that wasn't going to fit in my one suitcase; so I went to the nearest post-office and bought a nice big packing-box, put in the less-fragile things, and duct-taped the heck out of it. Worked just fine!

Good to know, that makes me very confident I will have little to no problems with my box

[mandarin.orange]

For those shipping stuff: how did you arrange for receiving the shipments if you're not there yet?

If sent to a local P.O., you might be able to label it "hold for arrival," so long as the window of time it's being stored at the PO is relatively short (e.g. 1-2 weeks). Long-distance backpackers do it all the time for their re-supply. Perhaps call the PO you'd use ahead of time to ask about proper labeling, policies, etc.

I am fortunate in that I'm originally from the state where I'll be attending school, so I've been sending my stuff to my parents and know they'll take care of my boxes.

[blackshirt]

For those shipping stuff: how did you arrange for receiving the shipments if you're not there yet?

You might want to get everything all packed and then drop it off with friends/family in your current city (ones with a car, since it's probably a bunch of heavy boxes). That way, when you arrive in your new city and either check into grad housing or sign a lease on your own apartment, you can call to give them the OK to ship it.

[Eisenmann]

How do I ship stuff to NYC if I don't have a doorman? Will they just leave it in front of my door?

[GardeningGrad]

How do I ship stuff to NYC if I don't have a doorman? Will they just leave it in front of my door?

Someone suggested to me that I ship stuff to my department/new office, if having it delivered at my new house wouldn't work. You could also ask your landlord for suggestions, or ask the departmental secretary for ideas of friendly people who could store what you ship until you arrive.

[Golden Monkey]

What sorts of rates did you get for FedEx Home? How much stuff (weight, or # boxes) are you looking to transport? I believe I tried to get quotes at one point this spring from both FedEx and UPS, and other bulk freighting possibilities. I concluded that USPS was by far the cheapest option, if using parcel post, and have been shipping stuff to my folks' house via them. It's run me about $450 so far for almost 20 boxes with just over 300 lbs of stuff. About $25/box, including insurance.

Sorry, didn't see your question until now. When I moved out here in 2006, I remember that I compared Fedex Home, UPS, and USPS, and for whatever reasons (cost was the most important, but there were others too,) I picked Fedex home. I think a lot of it at the time had to do with the fact that they penalized you less for going overweight, or something like that. Also, there was a convenience factor. Using the website, it was really easy to weigh/measure my packages at home, print out a shipping label, and then drop them off at Kinko's over a matter of days without waiting in line at all. This time, it's slightly more complicated, because I don't own a car anymore.

[Reid]

For those shipping stuff: how did you arrange for receiving the shipments if you're not there yet?

Don't know if this has been answered definitely yet, but here's what I found. I just talked with USPS and if you ship via "click and ship" you can specify that a package should be held. They will hold it for 14 days max. I think this is what I'm going to do. Good luck!