Shipping a student from Colorado Springs

The college semester is almost over. Time to ship all your stuff home and get ready for finals.

Student shipping from Colorado College or UCCS  – home for summer break, to a new college for extended classes, or abroad for intensive studies – is easy with the right help. It’s a small move of the accumulated stuff after a year in a dorm room or small apartment.

Colorado College Student Shipment on a Pallet

Make the necessary shipping arrangements before final exams and clear the plate for studying, final projects, and, of course, socializing. Start the process by organizing. Ask some questions.

• What can be recycled? Organizations like Discover Goodwill of Southern and Western Colorado thrive on donations of gently used clothing, household goods, furniture, and electronics. Old cell phones can be donated to Cell Phones for Soldiers.
• What can be sold? Textbooks can be sold for cash at Pak Mail.
• What can be discarded? Get rid of the items that are no longer useful and cannot be donated or re-purposed.
• What is absolutely needed for the final few weeks at school? This is anything that can be safely packed in a suitcase. Everything else can be shipped ahead. Pak Mail can also pick up, pack, and store all of the non-essential items, and ship them when the final boxes are ready.
• What items require special packing? It’s a definite no-no to pack electronics in the middle of clothing. Leave those items for the professionals.

There are several ways to ship a student… their stuff, that is. If there are three or four boxes, UPS or FedEx (DHL for international) is probably the best option. If there are more boxes and a myriad of sports equipment, shipping them all together on a pallet with an LTL truck carrier is more cost effective. US Air Force Academy foot lockers are best shipped on a pallet.

Get an estimate, arrange for pickup and shipping, and get on with studying.

Colorado College Student Shipping on a Pallet

Shipping a student from Colorado Springs

Student shipping from Colorado College or UCCS  – home for summer break, to a new college for extended classes, or abroad for intensive studies – is easy with the right help. It’s a small move of the accumulated stuff after a year in a dorm room or small apartment.

Make the necessary shipping arrangements before final exams and clear the plate for studying, final projects, and, of course, socializing. Start the process by organizing. Ask some questions.

• What can be recycled? Organizations like Discover Goodwill of Southern and Western Colorado thrive on donations of gently used clothing, household goods, furniture, and electronics. Old cell phones can be donated to Cell Phones for Soldiers.
• What can be discarded? Get rid of the items that are no longer useful and cannot be donated or re-purposed.
• What is absolutely needed for the final few weeks at school? This is anything that can be safely packed in a suitcase. Everything else can be shipped ahead. Pak Mail can also pick up, pack, and store all of the non-essential items, and ship them when the final boxes are ready.
• What items require special packing? It’s a definite no-no to pack electronics in the middle of clothing. Leave those items for the professionals.

There are several ways to ship a student… their stuff, that is. If there are three or four boxes, UPS or FedEx (DHL for international) is probably the best option. If there are more boxes and a myriad of sports equipment, shipping them all together on a pallet with an LTL truck carrier is more cost effective. US Air Force Academy foot lockers are best shipped on a pallet.

Get an estimate, arrange for pickup and shipping, and get on with studying.

Ship Happens at Pak Mail Colorado. WayfarerVans freight shipment, student shipment for Colorado College and custom box for painting shipped FedEx.

At Your Leisure or to Meet a Deadline

Summer solstice has come… and gone. July 4th is here. Longer days encourage cleaning up the house and removing clutter. Downsizing seniors decide to become full-time RV travelers. High school graduates prepare for college. All of these activities could require small move shipping.

One of our older-in-years customers recently told us his long-distance grown kids told him they would someday like to have this or that – a family heirloom, furniture, china, artwork, photos. He decided it’s time to downsize. Instead of keeping those cherished pieces, he now enjoys gifting them to his children. He recently requested we pick up a leather chair and ottoman to ship to his son. The furniture is now in the store awaiting pickup from our small move blanket wrap carrier.

My folks, now 88 and 91, have been downsizing for years. Mom insisted we five siblings, and the grand-kids, put our names on the back of things we would someday like to have. Some of the treasures have already been shipped to us. Many are still in the house for Mom and Dad to enjoy. Mom’s lessons hit home when we decided to move into our fifth-wheel trailer in preparation for future full-time travel. The only thing left to downsize is the little bit in our storage unit.

Gifting and shipping family treasures at your leisure is a little different from distributing an estate after the passing of a loved one. But, estate distribution does not have to be full of hassles. Senior move managers, and packing and shipping companies like Pak Mail can help. The deadline for picking up items from the home falls on the shipping company’s shoulders. The actual packing and small move shipping is then completed to meet the recipients’ schedules.

In May, Pak Mail ships students… their stuff, that is… home from UCCS and Colorado College. In July, students, and their parents, decide what to take to college. If the school is out of state, shipping may be part of the process. The preparations can happen at your leisure, up to a point. Assuming the college semester begins in mid to late August, decisions about what to take should be finalized before the end of July. If shipping is required, items must be ready for pickup by Pak Mail no later than the first week in August. The delivery deadline for the student’s stuff is communicated at that point. The items are then packed and shipped to arrive by that deadline.

Small move shipping at your leisure or to meet a deadline, call the experts.

Estate Small Move Shipment Ready for Pickup

Packed Boxes Ready for Pallet

This is not about “motivating” a student. That’s a separate topic. This is about how to move a student from Colorado College or UCCS home for summer break, a new college for extended classes, or abroad for intensive studies. It’s about shipping the accumulated stuff after a year in a dorm room or small apartment – a small move.

Students have a full plate at the end of a semester, particularly at the end of the school year. Making the necessary shipping arrangements to move a student before final exams checks one thing off the list and clears the plate for studying, final projects, and, of course, socializing.

Start the process by organizing. Ask some questions.

• What can be recycled? Organizations like Discover Goodwill of Southern and Western Colorado thrive on donations of gently used clothing, household goods, furniture, and electronics. Old cell phones can be donated to Cell Phones for Soldiers.
• What can be sold? Books can be sold on Amazon or on campus. Savvy students sell electronics and other items online. Get a shipping estimate for larger items before posting them for sale.
• What can be discarded? Get rid of the items that have outlived their usefulness and cannot be donated or repurposed.
• What is absolutely needed for the final few weeks at school? This is anything that can be safely packed in a suitcase. Everything else can be shipped ahead. Pak Mail can also pick up, pack, and store all of the non-essential items, and ship them when the final boxes are ready.
• What items require special packing? It’s a definite no-no to pack electronics in the middle of clothing. Leave those items for the professionals.

There are several ways to ship a student… their stuff, that is. If there are three or four boxes, UPS or FedEx (DHL for international) is probably the best option. If there are more boxes and a myriad of sports equipment, shipping them all together on a pallet with an LTL truck carrier is more cost effective. US Air Force Academy foot lockers are best shipped on a pallet.

Get an estimate, arrange for pickup and shipping, and get on with studying.

Small Move of Furniture

Moving possessions from one place to another is a common life experience for many. It might be an executive’s promotion and the moving of an entire household cross country. Hiring a large moving company to move an entire 3- to 4-bedroom household may be the most cost-effective method; it would meet most moving company’s minimum weight requirements, usually 2000 pounds.

It could be a small move – a first job after college or a student deciding to take a year off from studies and move back home. Maybe it’s a career or life change involving all the trappings of a small apartment or business office, or the passing of a loved one necessitating an estate distribution. Perhaps the move entails selling all the furniture and moving only the sentimental collections. It could even be an out-of-state purchase of antique furniture from an auction house.

Whatever the situation, there’s a solution.

• Doing it yourself may seem like the most budget friendly option. During a self-move, you are responsible for not only the cost of the rental moving truck, but for gas, tolls, lodging, food and libations for friends, other expenses – and time.
• Shipping a small move (under 2000 pounds) is easy on the wallet, and can be tailored to the individual or family’s schedule.

At Pak Mail, small move shipping is one of our specialties. We conveniently pick up items from a business, home, or storage and safely transport them back to the store for secure packing and shipping.

It’s that time of year… summer is waning and students are heading off to school. College freshman and upper classmen alike are wondering what they should take with them. The list includes bedding, books, computers, toys, and sports equipment, to name a few. If the college doesn’t provide a “to-do” list, there are plenty of resources online – College Packing List and Dorm Room Checklist are just two of them. A list like one of these can help simplify the process of gathering belongings needed for the school year        .

Once all the items are collected, the next question is how to pack and ship them. Some simple steps to follow are:

1. Make a complete list of all items including the value of each.
2. Separate the fragile items from the non-fragile ones.
   – Don’t pack glassware and computer equipment wrapped in clothing or bedding.
3. Pack similar non-fragile items together for easy unpacking in the dorm or apartment.
   – Don’t make the boxes too heavy; you might have to carry them up a few flights.
   – Pack books in smaller boxes no larger that 16”x16”x16”.
   – Pack bedding or clothing in boxes that are easy to carry 18”x18”x18” or 20”x20”x20”.
4. Pack fragile items allowing for at least 2″ of protective packaging materials around all dimensions.
5. Decide whether you’ll move the boxes with the family car or ship them.
6. Check with the college about receiving and storing a shipment until the student arrives.
7. Ship with a reliable carrier with tracking and declared value coverage.

If you decide to ship, choose a professional packing and shipping store. They can assist with the packing, especially the fragile items, and help determine the most cost-effective shipping method. If the load is small (two or three boxes), UPS or FedEx ground service will probably do. If the shipment is larger (all items needed for a dorm room or small apartment), LTL freight on a pallet will most likely be more economical.

College student shipping – their stuff, that is – can be simple and easy. Get that part of the “leaving home” process out of the way and enjoy some time together before the big day.