travel Shipping gear from Australia to USA

[sir lancelot]

Hi folks,

I'm about to go overseas and need to ship my gear to the US. It comes in at just under 22kg, and I've got 53 days before it needs to be there. Can anyone recommend companies to use for shipping? I'm currently looking online but need to do some follow up calls to find out about insurance/warranty in case the equipment is damaged in-transit. 'Pack and Send' seem cheap, but I've yet to find out if they have insurance.

Cheers!

[andy666]

22kg? Just take it as checked baggage.

[sir lancelot]

Yeah that would be ideal - but we're doing a bit of a trip around various countries for 2 months before getting to the US so not practical to take it with us everywhere this time. I've got a friend in the US willing to receive the goods and hold on to it for us until we arrive!

[.Joel]

http://www.smartsend.com.au

We have a company account with them and use them for local services, not sure how competitive they are internationally.

[sir lancelot]

Thanks Joel, looks like SmartSend can't find an appropriate courier to do the job for the size of this package - it's an online service only, so is it an intermediary service for various shipping companies?

I'll head to Pack and Send, who have been very helpful over the phone, price seems comparable with other shipping companies but they seem easier to interact with. I think to ship the gear it's going to cost between $400-500, which is more than I thought! It will have to do :-)