h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Does anyone have any experience of sending large, heavy items abroad? Presumably some sort of removals/freight firm will be required.

Any advice about tried & tested companies, dos & don'ts much appreciated.

This might not help much, but if it's heavy but will fit in a big car, then it could work out well to send a taxi - if you can find a really skint bloke who'll do it on the cheap.

My dad has delivered (and collected) abroad, and charges something silly like £1 a mile, plus tolls, tunnel, and meals.

Jeez, you can get a one ton pallet delivered from Scotland to Lyon, France for a couple of hundred quid...

Go for the big haulier firms (Eddie Stobard, Norbert Dentressangle etc.) If you can get whatever you want delivered securely on a forklift pallet it might well be cheaper (You can usually nick pallets from Industrial estates )

Remembering to talk to them when you book to make sure that a) the vehicle they send to pick the goods up has a lift and a pallet truck onboard and b) It's small enough to get to you...

Another point to take account of is that your cargo will be 'groupage'... I.e.: they're not sending a truck across Europe just for you...

What'll happen is that your goods will get picked up from your house, moved to a central transport hub where it'll be offloaded and sit their waiting for a truck going to the central transport hub for the destination country... Once it arrives in that country it'll be off-loaded again and will wait for a truck going in your general direction... Takes a little longer that way but it's _far_ cheaper.

Just make sure you're talking to everyone so nobody tries to get a container lorry down a single track, dead-end road to deliver or pick up the goods!

I like the taxi idea, but this is UK to Japan, so probably not so pratical!

Would a haulier do the packing & take sufficient care of delicate items? The basis of the goods is a full size synthesiser keyboard, but there'll be some other items as well.

get quotes from the biggies, then, (the three-lettered-courier firms) and make sure that they'll do all the paperwork for you

Can't you send it by airmail? or is there a size limit

UK to Japan by seafreight is around 6 weeks - but longer for private goods because of consolidating shipments into containers etc.

It's both weight & size that prevent me using conventiona mail services.
I wonder if I should look at removal services - someone who'll pack & transport door to door.

Where did that 'l' go?

off to Japan ?

The advance scouting party!

Having looked in yellow pages, I can see a few likely firms to try. At least the recipient of the goods has volunteered to pay - provided it's not too expensive