<p>My daughter attends college in Pittsburgh and I live in Texas. I had planned on flying there at the end of the semester and renting a SUV to drive her home with all her stuff. Due to an illness in the family, I am looking for Plan B.
She does not have a car so shipping items from the dorm will be a challenge. I have been onsite to Mad Packers which looks like a possibility, its more expensive than United Parcel, but she would not have to have a car to get to anywhere, apparently they pick it up at the dorm. Have any of you had experience with them in the past? Does anyone have a better idea? Would love to hear how other parents have solved this in the past.</p>
<p>Have you thought about throwing away cheap stuff?</p>
<p>Sorry to hear about the family illness. Is any sort of storage available on campus? Many schools do have some. Also, does she have a friend with a car? Or will she have a friend who has a parent coming with a car who might be able to help? My daughter and some of her friends will be sharing a self-storage unit over the summer locally rather than ship everything home and then back again in the fall. It will actually work out cheaper that way. The parent of one of her friends will be helping them move their stuff over to the storage unit.</p>
<p>Storage is the way to go. Some services are national and others local. I find it hard to believe your daughter isn't seeing ads for these services.</p>
<p>We are planning to use Madpackers this summer. I believe they serve many cities throughout the country. S is a freshman in Boston and is flying home to Minnesota; when we went out there in the fall, there were 3 adults so we could bring extra suitcases with some of his stuff but we also bought a lot of things out there (bedding, towels, printer, window fan, desklamp, alarm clock...). </p>
<p>I saw a referral to smartmovers on the school's parents chatboard (smartmovers apparently just merged with madpackers) so we are trying storage rather than dealing with shipping. Estimated average cost for summer storage is about $200 but they will pick up boxes from the dorms during finals week (they park their trucks outside designated dorms for the entire week, and also provide boxes) and then will deliver back to the dorms when students return in the fall.</p>
<p>Thank you for your responses. My daughter is working for Disney (in their college program) from the end of May until the first of January, so leaving it in storage will be more costly and harder for her to go that long without many of her items. She is a theatre major/dancer so much of what she needs at school she will also need while working at Disney. While it is possible that she could store some of the winter items, many of the dorm type items she will also need for a shared apartment in Orlando.</p>
<p>another option might be for you to order empty boxes on-line, delivered to her. She packs and asks UPS or FedEX ground for dorm pickup.</p>
<p>I don't know what school your daughter goes to, but if she's at Carnegie Mellon, she can store 5 boxes in the dorm that can stay there for up to a year, for things she doesn't need to take with her. Last year UPS or FedEx came to campus for about a week to ship things, although they charged something like $5 extra per box for convenient pickup. One girl I know bought a cheap skateboard to move boxes with last year- maybe that would work for getting boxes to a close shipping place, if one exists.</p>
<p>KrazyKow,
No she is down the street at Point Park and they do not have storage. However, I bet that UPS or Fedex come to her campus also, I will call them direct to see. Loved your skateboard idea, such initiative you have to admire!</p>
<p>I'd be posting a note and asking for any student willing to store for a fee. i cannot imagine that some close resident wouldn't store her things for a fee.</p>
<p>I'll throw in one more idea. If you go to ups.com you can set up an account with a credit card. From any computer you can ship via UPS, print label on any computer printer. Stick the label on the box. If you request pick up it costs a little more but once you have the UPS account, you can hand off boxes to any UPS driver or to a UPS store. I use UPS daily in my business and often just hand off to a driver. UPS must deliver daily to her campus, idea is to find out where at what time. They are generally on a very reliable schedule, same drivers, same routes every day. So if for instance they deliver to campus housing office it will usually be within fifteen minutes on any given day.
Not sure this post is making complete sense..I hope so.
By the way, UPS this way is cheaper than Fedex, cheaper than the USPS. Do not actually go to the UPS Store or Mailboxes etc. and have them ship for you...very expensive.</p>
<p>FedEx Ground is a great value and very fast as well, beats UPS hands down when we ship to either kid.</p>
<p>UPS will pick up if you tell them the weight of the packages</p>
<p>I just googled my son's school (ND) and summer storage options, discovered the laundry service on campus is offering climate controlled storage of clothing items- bedding, clothes, coats ect.</p>
<p>And, the police offer bike storage.
Also, received letter from collegeboxes.com -they pick up and store for summer at about 50 colleges on their web site.</p>
<p>We have done all of the above - and all have advantages and disadvantages.</p>
<p>I would suggest: - start collecting similar/same size boxes - clear packing tape and start the pack process now.</p>
<p>1 - Set up a UPS on-line account - pack the box - measure/weigh - print the label - stick it on the box - and have UPS pick up or drop off at Staples or any UPS shipping place available. (stay away from theUPS Store/Mailbox places - very expensive) (We moved our son/daughter several times by UPS LOL) She can save the stuff she is taking to Orlando til the end - and ship all at once - will be there when she arrives. You can even track your packages - to make sure they get where they are going :D</p>
<p>2 - rental of storage - another good option - a 5x5 unit holds ALOT - and not that expensive.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>there must be someone she knows with a car that can help her to get stuff shipped or to storage - or hire a one time cab ride.</p></li>
<li><ul>
<li>be careful with the move/store companies - there can be real snaafooos with them - there was a thread on this subject a while back - not much good news regarding them at all.</li>
</ul></li>
</ol>
<p>Good luck :)</p>
<p>won't work for mom2006 becasue of the length of time needed, but our S and friends checked around and found that the cheapest way to store over the summer was for 4 or 5 students to check prices and rent a unit at one of the many public storage places. Cost about $ 90 -100 per student for 4 months (May-August).</p>
<p>...............Cost about $ 90 -100 per student for 4 months (May-August)............</p>
<p>Yikes - that's one expensive storage place - 4-5 students - $90-100per student for 4-5 months - we pay $35/mo for a 5x5 - get a discount for being a student.</p>
<p>When my son moved home from college for good- it cost us $213 dollars for 13 boxes - and 1 small car packed to the gills.</p>
<p>If you decide to use a storage company, make sure that they have adequate insurance to cover losses/damage. After Hurricane Katrina, many Tulane students lost everything when the storage company was flooded and went out of business.</p>