Too many people, moving to Hawaii sounds like a dream come true – buying a house overlooking a deep blue ocean and white gold beaches and living in a more tranquil environment.
The truth is, moving to the islands may be a very demanding process that involves many practical and mental adjustments.
The moving process itself is different than the one you may be familiar with and can be described as a sort of hybrid between long distance moving within the continental US and international shipping.
Let’s take a look at some of the more practical aspects of moving to Hawaii in the hope that understanding them will help you in making your decisions.
Determining Your Moving Needs
The first step in your preparation process should be determining your moving needs and this may prove to be more complex than it sounds.
The size of your shipment to Hawaii will probably determine the way it will be shipped, as large shipments will be shipped with exclusive 20’ or 40’ containers and smaller ones will be grouped together in a consolidation container.
Before making your decision, be sure to check how much buying new furniture in Hawaii will cost you and compare it with the price of shipping them. Also, consider the quality of the furniture you want to ship, don’t spend time, energy and money on furniture that may be damaged when you disassemble and reassemble them. A lot of times, you will end up discovering that it will be less expensive, not to mention more convenient, to simply leave all the furniture behind and get new ones once you settle in.
Shipping Methods
You probably already know that moving to Hawaii is mainly done via containers, but what you may not know is that there are many options most movers will allow you to choose from and that the price difference between the various options can be a significant one.
Let’s start by taking a look at the two main methods we’ve already mentioned in brief above – partial consolidation shipping and full container shipping.
Full container shipping means that you get a complete 20’ or 40’ container for your exclusive use. Hawaii shipping companies will offer you a set price per container with several pricing options for loading, packing and off-loading.
Choosing this option means that you get your own container and a fixed price, which also means the exclusive container is ideal for those of you that decided they want to keep most of the furniture and conduct a large sized move. But if you have a small shipment, let’s say 30 boxes, a bed and five suitcases, you will end up paying for a lot of empty space if you ship on a 20’ container. This is where the partial consolidation option comes in.
Most Hawaii moving companies will charge for partial shipping based on space. This means that you will get a specific price per cubic foot and your shipment will be measured before loaded into the consolidation container. You also have the option of sealing your partial shipment in wooden vaults before it’s loaded onto the container. While this option is safer, bear in mind that it increases the volume of the shipment, making it more expensive.
Loading and Packing Options
Many customers are not aware of the fact that they can choose between several loading and packing options for their move to Hawaii and that the options may considerably increase or decrease the price.
The most inexpensive option is the self load and self pack option. The moving company will drop off a container next to your house and you will be allowed to load it yourself. Once the container reaches its destination, you will off-load its contents by yourself.
On the other end of the scale is the full packing, full service container deal which includes the movers fully packing all your belongings, loading them onto the container and off-loading them at the destination. You can choose various aspects from each option, based on your specific needs. For example, you can pack yourself and have the movers load the container for you, or you can have the movers load the container for you at the pick up point and off-load it by yourself in Hawaii. Just remember that insurance wise, if you have expensive furniture and you want to be fully covered only the full service options will include complete coverage.
Tom Regev is a professional writer representing Cardinal Moving Systems, a Hawaii Shipping specialist with local bases in Hawaii and the continental US.
