Mailing Luggage home
 

Need help want to bulk mail luggage home after i get off a cruise in Ft. Lauderdale...don't want to drag all that crap to Key West...besides...won't fit in a convertible!!! Any suggestions?

Assuming you live in the continetial US, Parcel Post will be your least expensive alternative (takes about 10 days by regular mail or 2 or 3 days by Priority Mail), followed by regular UPS or Fed-Ex Ground (about 4 or 5 days). Most expensive will be two day or next day Fed-EX, UPS or DHL.

Go to the nearest Mail Boxes, Etc.; Box, Copy, Mail; Kinkos; UPS Store or other type vendor. They will pack up your goods and ship them for you.

We had to ship one large suitcase home, with contents, about a month ago. We used UPS. It was kind of expensive ($125 to go from Washington D.C. to California), but the suitcase was very large and very heavy. It was easy -- just went to the local UPS store and they boxed it up and sent it on its way. I think it took about a week to travel across country.

I Fedex'd luggage home from Hawaii once and was happy to pay the $$ to do it just to feel liberated from the luggage. It was a lesson learned for me to pack lighter when island hopping!

My suggestion is to pick up some mailing labels (Fedex, UPS, whatever your choice is) before you leave for your trip that you can take with you and have them already filled out and ready to slap on the luggage when you are ready to ship the bags. If you will be near an airport you could drop off the bags directly at the Fedex drop location at the airport and that could save you some $$ on the shipment instead of leaving them at a location where they have to be picked up.

I love this thread! I wish more travelers would try the luxury of luggage free travel. I always keep valuables, medication, can't live with out and fresh change of clothes with me and ship the rest. If able to plan ahead, I ship for less ground, and it no time, overnight. Not had any problems yet with any service choices and the freedom from bags really speed up security and seating for myself and fellow passengers. More independant services are even offering home to hotel, they come to your home to pick up and when you check in, there is your luggage waiting for you.

All the various shippers have rate calculators on their web sites. You see which one will be cheaper and determine how fast you want it to arrive based on rates.

You might consider using softsided or nylon type bags. Since it will be boxed up anyway at the end, was thinking this could save you some weight (using a duffle bag instead of a regular suitcase).

My husband and I often mail a box home with our dirty clothing. We pick up a box at a grocery. fill it up, and mail it to ourselves. We time it so the box arrives home a day or two after us. We continue our vacation with our suitcase and it's alot lighter.
Don't think I would "mail" the suitcase as it's alot of extra weight for mailing.
We started this when we were traveling in two climates on one vacation and needed heavier clothing for part of it.
Never had a problem and I highly recommend it