Korean Job Discussion Forums

[mdokupilkr]

I am leaving korea soon and might bring along another checked bag. Has anybody done this before? I am wondering how much it will cost to tote another large bag with me. Do they charge by the weight or size or both? I'm sure every airline varies but I havent purchased a ticket yet.

[Thunndarr]

Buy your ticket, then call your airline. And relax.

[hermes.trismegistus]

It won't be unreasonable.

You can also ship freight back quite cheaply. It will take a while to arrive though.

Namaste.

[mdokupilkr]

I've thought about shipping it freight. I was just trying to find out whether it would be that much more expensive to check it at the airport. I've heard freight takes about 2 months sometimes. Is there that much difference in the amount that would make this worth doing?

[hermes.trismegistus]

It depends on how much you have.

I tend to split it up, because I travel with about a dozen cases of books and close to 3 terabytes of CD/DVDs.

If you ship freight, make sure to do a damned good job of packing your items. I've found it helpful to double bag them in plastic bags, then box them, then seal each edge with duct tape. It takes a bit of effort for each box, and you'll need to do the last sealing at the post office (or else they'll open them again), but I've found that if I go through these steps my items tend to arrive relatively in one piece. Otherwise I've seen extreme devastation bordering on the comical.

Namaste.

[ForceOne]

I shipped a few boxes the first time I went home--relatively cheap, and never had any problems. It was about 36,000won for a 13kg box (pretty heavy). I had too much stuff the first time I came over, and ended up paying $170 Canadian for a small box of clothes.

[pet lover]

Just mailed 12 boxes. 253,600 won and some very unhappy people waiting in line behind me. That was 128.7 pounds total. (58.38 kilos)

Pathetically, I still have enough to fill 12 more boxes...easily. The post office clerks are NOT going to be happy to see me in there again. I should probably stop shopping at this point. Or (and this is more likely) and some point.

[mdokupilkr]

This whole mailing stuff home thing is starting to sound a lot better. Could somebody tell me details about how to do this? Where do you mail the boxes? At the post office or the airport? Is the process easy? Any help appreciated. I'm vacating June 15.

[pet lover]

I loaded up everything in a taxi (the driver didn't even consider helping so he didn't get the 10,000 won tip I had planned for him) and then he drove me to the post office. I frantically unloaded the boxes (the driver had decided to "help" by tossing the boxes on the street and then I made trip after trip hauling them into the post office. No one offered to help. Filled out the paperwork, paid the money, that was it.

Some tips:

1. As you pack the boxes, make a list of what you put in it. Number the list and give the box that same number. Put the number on every side of the box. This will let you know exactly where things are later when you unpack. Also, it'll make filling out the paperwork at the post office easier. It'll also let you know exactly what boxes, if any, are missing later, and what the contents were. (If boxes 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, and 8 show up, you know you are missing #4 and will have a list of what was in it...so you know if you want to harrass the post office about it or just forget about it.) This also makes it easy for you to say which boxes you want insurance on, if any. The post office also wants to know the "value" of the contents of each box. Having a list of contents on hand makes it easy to give them a number.

2. If you have lots of boxes, drop by the post office first and get them to give you a stack of the forms so that you can fill them out in the comfort of your own home.

3. When you have breakables, wrap them up in your winter clothes. This will cushion them AND get your winter clothes out of your closet. (Obviously, if someone is reading this later in the winter, pack your summer clothes in this manner.)

4. Pack the boxes completely, but don't overstuff. Overstuff and they might open up on their own. Underpack and the box is more likely to get damaged.

5. If you plan to fill out the forms at the post office, make sure that you not only have a destination address, but a telephone number for that destination. Also, be sure you know your own address here (or your school's) and a phone number for here. They want all that.

6. Don't use huge boxes. They get really heavy and hard to haul around. Plus, if THAT is the box that goes missing, then you are missing that much more stuff. More boxes that are smaller is better because you don't lose as much if a box goes missing. (My OPINION only)

7. If you pack photographs, put them all in ziplock bags just in case there is water damage to the box. That way your photos have a better chance of being safe. Same witih any documents that are important, but not so important you want in your carry-on later.

8. (I forgot to do this one with those twelve boxes I mentioned, but it's a good one.) Put the destination address and the return address in large letters on a piece of paper INSIDE each box. This way, if the post office's labels somehow get torn off, and the box gets damaged or whatever, the post office CAN figure out what to do with the box.


That's all I can think of. Hope some of this is helpful to someone.

EDIT: Oh, just thought of something else. If you are going back and forth on whether or not to mail your stuff, remember this: the post office can just as easily misplace your boxes as your airline. Neither is a guarantee and you can't stuff it all in the carry-on. HOWEVER, a big plus on the post office is that the more you send via them, the less you have to haul around in suitcases and stand around and wait while various airport security people search and re-search and RE-search your bags...at every airport. Much less hassle.

[Dawn]

Last time I flew, United charged $240 ($120 each) for two additional suitcases. Both were right at 70 pounds, so excess baggage ended up being a lot cheaper than postal mail. I've been told that most airlines recently reduced checked baggage allotments, though, and I have no idea what they're charging under the new scheme.

[hermes.trismegistus]

[Dawn]

[pet lover]

Yeah, I know I spent more per pound, but every single one of those are pounds I will NOT have to cart around. Plus, all that stuff would not have fit into two suitcases....some stuff, like the hanbok and the hanbok petticoat are things that I would NOT want crammed in.

However, if I'd decided to take home all my books, I WOULD have done that via excess baggage because that'd certainly be cheaper than mailing them all.

Really, it all depends on what you are bringing. I know that most of the weight in Dawn's suitcases are going to be things like whole grains, beans, and other food items. That's not something you want to take a month or more to arrive. My things, I can easily do without and by the time I get there, they'll be there waiting for me.

P.S. Never challenge Dawn on prices.....she's always right. She simply is.

[hermes.trismegistus]

[mdokupilkr]

I've never shipped suits before but that what I am most worried about. I have five of them and I dont really want to smash them. Does anybody have any handy-dandy ways of packing a suit or 5 suits? My flight will be 16 hours.