Move US (NYC) to Canada - Shipping boxes

Florida to Alberta is a lot different than NYC to Toronto! I think was behind that guy on I-15 actually, I remember being behind a guy once with a U-haul trailer with a Florida tag on it. If by some miracle it was the same guy, he was driving way too fast and he's lucky he didn't yank the bumper off his car. I remember that idiot.

I work in claims & customer relations for a Winnipeg-based United Van Lines member. I acknowledge that van line rates are usually more expensive than U-Haul or the fly-by-nighters out there. Let me give you a couple pieces of advice.

1 - You can use car carriers (the kind that deliver new cars to dealers) to ship your car for you. Delivery can often take a week or two or more, depending on location and proximity to a major city (obviously not a problem for you!), but it would mean a single trip across the border for you.

2 - If you're looking at just shipping a few boxes and smaller items, you may want to look into bus mail options. I'm not sure if they can go across a border, but I know that I recommend bus mail to lots of folks within Canada who contact us for quotes on small shipments. It's relatively inexpensive and much quicker and safer than, say, UPS Ground.

3 - The key thing you need to ask yourself is how would you define a good move? Is it more important for you to save money, or more important to keep your things intact? My experience is that you usually can't have one without the other. Sometimes the stuff people ship is junk and they don't care about nicks and dings, and that's totally cool, as long as you know you run that risk if you are looking to save some coin. And from my personal experience, I agree with Reba - claims resolution is much easier for the consumer when you ship with a van line. I used to work for FedEx so I know both angles somewhat well.

4 - When considering a mover, get a referral from somebody you know. Little known fact: most van line agents can arrange a move from anywhere to anywhere. Were you so inclined, I could even set you up with one of the sales reps in our Winnipeg office to book the move. That works because we would use trusted van line members at the pickup & delivery ends of your move, and we'd oversee things from our office to make sure the proper follow-ups are in place etc. But this isn't a sales pitch; you don't know me from Adam and shouldn't trust me without a referral. Talk to people; find somebody who has a glowing recommendation for a van line mover in any city and see if that mover can arrange your move. Sounds crazy, I know, but it works.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for writing that serious reply. Thanks to Steven too.

I appreciate your straighforward words. Food for thought here. Off the bat I can tell you that convenience is a major part of this move. Given that I will be saving a lot of money merely by moving to Toronto, I could justify movers.

I'll be going to Toronto at the end of this week, for a short visit. This will help me discuss with family, and assess a timeline better, and where exactly I will be moving too.

I'm definitely glad to make a contact on this forum who's in the industry. I will heed your advice and offer. Please tell me though, as I'm a layman with regards to this, how a Winnipeg office can broker an east coast move? Thanks again!

It's basically through our network of United agents in Canada & the US. There are up to four different ways a member agency can be involved in a move: booker, origin agent, hauler, and destination agent.

We would act as the booker in your situation. The origin agent would be the local United member we'd select to do the packing and loading of your goods. The hauler would be the agent that physically brings the loaded trailer across the border, and the destination agent would deal with any work needed at the final stop, like providing labour for the unloading & unpacking (assuming the driver doesn't bring his own) and resolving any claims. Every involved agency gets a cut of the cost on the move. Sometimes the same agency can fill multiple roles, which is usually what happens when you use a local United agent to book the move - they would also be the origin agent, and possibly the hauler as well.

This may sound complicated, but it's a system which works very well.

The advantage to this is that if you have found one moving company you like, you can have that agent be your booker every time you move, and they would (hopefully) keep an eye on each step of the move itself.