International Moving / Relocation Basics
4. Handling The Move
On moving day, the movers came and quickly packed everything into a moving van, to be taken to their facility for packing into the lift vans. We had about 90% already boxed, but since they only insure individual items they’ve packed themselves we left our most valuable/breakable items for them to pack. The movers work very quickly and the process feels very rushed and chaotic.Don’t be afraid to slow them down a little. Make sure a friend is stationed near the door, logging every item before it goes onto the truck. They have an inventory numbering system so track those item numbers, plus the item description and condition. It’s also a good idea to have photos of items likely to be damaged in transit, if possible with the mover next to it. You will need all this information at delivery to easily confirm that everything made it intact. Don’t try to do this job yourself, as the movers will be asking you questions and dragging you room to room as they work. The movers will be keeping their own log, but we found that it was very messy and not useful for us. Still they will want you to sign off on it, so don’t sign until you are comfortable that you agree with what they have written. If needed, you can write clarifications from your inventory log onto their sheets before signing.
Next was the nervewracking wait to see if our stuff arrived and in what condition. You should be able to track the shipment. Agree to a method for determining where in transit your load is, and check at regular intervals (1-2x weekly) so you have no surprises at the end. Some operators have website tracking, or you will need to call the movers or shippers. Although our contract said 8-11 weeks, we were so pessimistic that we didn’t count on things to arrive within 3 months, and were pleasantly surprised when we got the call in just under 2 months.
Hopefully you will have arranged for the shipper to manage customs for you. You provide them with details of the contents of the shipment, and they serve as your agent during a customs inspection. In our case, NZ gives a lot of leeway to immigrants bringing personal goods, so we were confident there would be no customs duties. If these are likely in your destination, arrange in advance how those will be paid. New Zealand, as an island, also has very strict agricultural (MAF) inspections of incoming goods, so we indicated all MAF inspectable items in the contents list. Be sure to research and arrange for any other unusual steps on arrival. This prevents the need for you to be at the docks when the ship arrives.
Our shipper was responsible for getting our goods delivered to our destination after customs. So the ship came into Christchurch, and they arranged for a ‘removal company’ (mover) to unpack the container into their van and drive it to Nelson. They were also responsible for unpacking into appropriate rooms. Since we were still renting a furnished apartment, we didn’t want everything unpacked. Still, we wanted to inspect the contents of specific boxes and also we wanted to take advantage of their obligation to remove packing materials. So, before they arrived, we reviewed the packing list and marked the things we wanted unpacked, then designated a corner for them to pile up the remaining boxes.
Just as with the pack up, the unpackers move very quickly. We divided the tasks, with one of us holding the sheets, looking up the item numbers as the boxes came in, and the other directing where to place them and doing the inspection of unpacked items. Be sure to take photos of anything damaged. Our contract specified that once we signed off at delivery, they were no longer responsible for the condition of any item. Before the unpackers leave, you have to feel confident that everything is okay, or that you have clearly documented anything that isn’t and noted it on the forms before signing.
After all of the stress and confusion of going through this process the first time, surprisingly our story does end on a positive note. The NZ movers were very professional and helpful. Everything arrived in the condition we had last seen it. We feel like we were just lucky since we weren’t as well educated as we should have been. Hopefully your move will be equally successful and you can feel like you earned it.
Resources
- The FMCSA site includes the actual regulation text but it’s not very user friendly
- If you are wondering if your house fills a few lift vans or a whole container, you can try this estimating tool to get a very rough idea.
- Here’s another less rigorous complaint database- listed by company
- For more reading on this topic, MSN has this interesting
article: Don’t Get Scammed By Your Mover
This article was written on Sunday, August 31st, 2008 and is filed under Mastering Skills.
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on December 28, 2008 at 11:01 pm David Powers wrote:
BeeZed,
We are planning on moving to Nelson hopefully in April, but we don’t have employment yet. We are generating alot of questions and it seems like a big mountain to climb. My wife is a physical therapist and I am a home builder in the Los Angeles area. Did you guys pick your destination or did you have the job offer first? Are there any websites that clearly lay out the steps? It is our understanding the you need a job to get a visa, but need a visa to get a job??? Any help would be appreciated, and thank you for posting the information about shipping.
David Powers
on December 29, 2008 at 3:37 pm BeeZed wrote:
Dave,
We moved to Nelson, as they say, for the lifestyle, without employment. We were approved for residency under the skilled migrant scheme, without jobs. Your wife might qualify, as health workers are in demand. Getting her licence to practice here is a huge task, and in our opinion, is best done from the States. If you are in NZ under a tourist visa and get a job offer, you can apply for residency from here, but employers might not want to take the risk if they can find someone with prior approval.
The best website is Immigration NZ as it covers all the basics and has tons of documentation for download. You can also take the quiz to see if you qualify for skilled migrant status.
Another useful site is emigratenz.org which has links to all sorts of info. The forums are good too. It is a quasi commercial site, so the information is not “bankable”, but we got some good ideas and strategies .
on February 8, 2009 at 8:49 pm mossygirl wrote:
As clearly and well explained as this is, it is hard to read it and not become overwhelmed, especially about the actual days of moving out/in and all the technical details of the taxes, fees and terms of contract/insurance. Although we are looking at our overseas move being covered by an employer, I am sure that many of the considerations here will be ones we face as well, even if we are not as fully responsible for the full bill. I am continually impressed with the amount of work, effort, planning and dedication it takes to migrate somewhere. Please keep the informative articles coming!