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Lindsey Thomason

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moving cross country with amtrak

November 13, 2012 by Lindsey Leave a Comment

When we were preparing to move across country we weighed out and priced out all of our options. We looked into movers, shared movers, PODS and the like, shipping through USPS, shipping through other outlets, renting a truck and towing the car, driving the car and towing a trailer… the list goes on. We spent days and days figuring out the most budget friendly, practical way to move our belongings.

moving cross country with amtrack

 The thing was, that we had sold all of our furniture and only had 20 boxes, plus our every day wardrobes and necessities – but those items we took in the car with us. So, it didn’t make sense for us to rent a whole truck or POD or even to pay movers since we had so little. While researching I stumbled upon info on shipping through Amtrak. That’s right, the same credible company that sends trains all over the country!

via

I did my research, I emailed the company, called them and researched more reviews. I couldn’t find one negative review on shipping through Amtrak. When I called the company with a list of 12 questions, the last one being: “What is protocol if you lose everything I own?!” the kind woman on the other end paused, then responded with – “Well ma’am, I don’t know because it’s honestly never happened.”

It cost us $394 to ship 20 boxes, 800 pounds of belongings. The other prices we were looking at were $1000 – $1500. Amtrak was $49 for the first 100 pounds and 46 cents every pound after that. Amazing!

There were some restrictions though, but luckily for us it wasn’t a problem. Things like you couldn’t ship furniture or small appliances. We had no furniture and we were able to pack two bins with the small appliance and take them in the car with us. There were also box size requirements you had to obey and each box couldn’t be over 50 pounds. We had no issues with that.

To stay organized and be prepared (just in case!), I numbered each box 1-20 and then had a detailed contents list of each.

We dropped our shipment off at the loading dock in Boston and within three days we had a call that all of our belongings had arrived in Colorado. The other great part though, they’ll hold your items for up to 48 hours. And after that, it’s only $3 per item, per day to store – which is still a steal! The extra 48 hours storage was key for us because we were only somewhere around Des Moines when we got the call that our things had arrived.

When we got to Denver, we pulled right up to their loading dock and everything was packed neatly on a pallet all wrapped together. We jammed our car with boxes and our friend helped us with his pickup truck.

It was the easiest, mindless process and you can not beat the cost. I will always recommend Amtrak after this experience. If you need or want to find out more information I suggest giving them a call, they were so helpful. Thanks Amtrak, for leaving a lasting impression!

By the way, Amtrak has no clue who I am. I was just really, really, REALLY pleased with their services!

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Filed Under: Travel & Fun Tagged With: moving cross country on amtrak, moving with amtrak, sending belongings on amtrak, shipping with amtrak

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