<p>DS will attend school more than 900 miles from home. I recall reading a post that described shipping items in plastic containers other than the traditional cardboard box. Which shipping company(ies) permit sending belongings/carepackages in plastic containers such as Rubbermade-ToughTote? </p>
<p>We plan on ordering some items online and having them shipped directly to DS's campus address. DS will not have a car on campus. Also, there is not a BB&B or Sam's Club in the town for us to order ahead for customer pickup. </p>
<p>If you have had personal experience with this, please explain how you sealed the container(s) for shipping. What worked? What did NOT work?</p>
<p>My middle child goes to a school a bit off the beaten path. When we went for first year check in, we flew in to the nearest big airport and thanks to my internet research beforehand, had a list of stores to visit in the area around the airport/city before we headed to rural campus (including BB&B and an Office Depot). </p>
<p>We flew in a day before check in, two parents, college bound child and younger sibling so capitalized on all that baggage potential. Rented a decent sized vehicle and bought much stuff before we headed to campus. Second child to go to a distant college, so we were getting smarter in our approach to the process.</p>
<p>We bought storage items once we got there. (Second child is a D, so extra storage for under bed was a must - older brother had no need for such items! To her credit, she does require a lot of cold weather gear, her big brother doesn’t need much.)</p>
<p>DS will be traveling alone at the start of school. He will take a private shuttle (fee charged) to campus (45 minute drive from airport). </p>
<p>DS will travel with two LARGE duffle bags with wheels plus his backpack. He will be issued a laptop computer which is part of his scholarship package. Since he is at Orientation now, I’m not sure if he will bring it home on Tuesday. If he brings the laptop home, he will also have to carry it in his backpack. Fortunately he will not need bulky clothes due to the warm weather location but he is an athlete and will go through at least one set of workout clothes per day.</p>
<p>My sister routinely shipped rubbermaid containers (large size) via UPS from Atlanta to NY. No problem. I believe she just used duct tape to secure them. They take anything. You can schedule a pick up on line and pay on line. Couldn’t be easier.
We ship to sons schools via UPS also and have it at UPS store for pickup. Last year we flew and picked up the boxes and transported them to his dorm. He left a lot with upperclassmen in apts so he will have to find someone with a car to pick it all up and do the pick up at UPS store for what we have to send down. (Dorm does not accept UPS packages fro several weeks in the dorm as there are so many of them and no where to put them.)</p>
<p>Crazed-Do you know how long the UPS stores will hold shipments? S3 did a PG year at a boarding school so we already have most of what he needs and are thinking of shipping some of the bulkier stuff to the UPS store in his college town. Now we’re trying to figure out the timing.</p>
<p>my-3-sons-
The UPS stores will hold packages for $10 each. I believe they will hold it a good amount of time but I would not plan to have it longer than a week unless you set it up with them. Plan your shipping date accordingly. I called the UPS store by my sons dorm prior to shipping and spoke with the manager. They get lots and lots of “hold” boxes. My guess is that is because the school has lots of OOS students and also the very close proximity to campus (right across the street). I had to write “HOLD FOR PICKUP” on each box (we shipped 4 large boxes). It also helps to write the expected date of pickup. I believe we addressed it to our son followed by the UPS store name and address. We paid for the “hold” fee at pickup.
At the time, I was glad to be able to track the shipment form home and know it arrived before we flew down. I timed it to get to school 2-3 days before we arrived.
You can google UPS Stores to find the one closest to your school.
ADad-
Too much to fly with or put in the car. We had 4 of us flying with our luggage and college students luggage and extras. We rented a minivan hoping to fit it all in. After stopping at our hotel and dropping off our stuff, we went to the UPS store and the boxes fit but we had to keep the hatchback ajar. I will have to ship several smaller boxes to son at school so I know they’ll fit in someones car!!!
If someone is shipping door to door (without the need for a “hold” or also in our case, the dorms at school don’t accept packages for a while) I read on another thread that Fedex is less expensive.</p>
<p>We will be shipping S in a plane, unless of course, things get ugly toward the end of summer. Then we may be open to other options. ;)</p>
<p>Crazed-Thanks, I think this is the way we are going to go. You and I actually have kids at the same school, but with him we managed to take with us or buy when we arrived, and never needed to ship. This info is for my younger S who is headed to the midwest and already has most of what he needs. S, H and I can get a lot in our luggage, but I think we will definitely ship the bulky stuff.</p>
<p>my-3-sons:
Maybe we can fit the kids in a big container and ship them together!!
We purchased lots at school that first day- reserved lots of stuff at BBB, then went to Target, Best Buy, etc. We did have to ship his printer/scanner/combo (was a gift with his laptop from my Mom so we couldn’t order on line or pick it up there), linens, comforter/pillows, ihome, clothes and more clothes. I’d say two boxes were stuff and 2 boxes were clothes. Then he took down 2 pieces of luggage. Ordered a TV on Amazon as all the Dadeland Stores were sold out.
Where is your younger son headed to? We have a HS senior so we’re looking at schools for him in the northeast (he hates the heat!!)</p>
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