Moving or Shipping a Large Book, CD, or DVD Collection Cheap

While I was in graduate school my book collection grew quite large. I went from around one hundred books to around three hundred. During my first two years as a professor, I added another hundred or so. In the meantime, I made two long distance moves - both times over 2000 miles.

The first time I moved, I was extremely lucky to move into a fully furnished house. This meant that I was not moving any furniture at all. My books were the largest thing that I needed to move, and they were the one thing that threatened to prevent me from just using my car to move. The second move was similar, as I was leaving a fully furnished house I had no furniture to move.

Moving companies are very expensive, and renting a U-haul or similar trailer can easily run close to a thousand dollars. Thus, for both moves I packed my clothes and things into my car and shipped my book collection via USPS Media Mail. It worked very well and saved me a lot of money.

Here are my pointers:

1. Pack your books in Bankers Boxes or something similar (the boxes that copier paper comes in work really well). These boxes have two virtues: (a) they are extremely strong and can hold lots of heavy books without tearing, and (b) they are a nice size that makes them easy to pick up and move. You should expect to use about 1 box for every 30-40 books.

2. Line all of your books up by height then depth. Pack books of a similar size into a box together. Doing so will save space. Use smaller books to fill in the gaps and holes. At first you will feel like you are playing Tetris. It WILL get easier.

3. Tape up your boxes. Make sure that the lids on your boxes are secure and that there is no chance that the lid will pop off. Remember, these boxes are going to get shaken up a little bit.

4. Label your boxes. Use a big label and print in permanent ink. Do not use an ink jet printer!!! If those labels get wet the ink will run. It is unlikely that your boxes will get drenched, but why take the risk?

5. CAUTION: Though it is unlikely that a box of books will weigh this much, you are not allowed to ship a package over 70 pounds. My boxes weighed around 35 pounds, so I would be shocked if you got close to 70.

6. CAUTION: Media mail is for mailing books, printed materials, CDs and DVDs only. Check out the USPS page for more information on what is allowed. If you sneak something else into a box and get caught, you are going to get hit with a huge ($100+) postage bill when your package arrives.

1. Ship your books using media mail. Depending on the weight of the books, you can expect to pay around 15 - 20 dollars per box. It sounds like a lot, but spending 150 dollars on shipping is a lot cheaper than renting a trailer for 800 dollars.

2. There are all sorts of add ons you can get, including insurance, package tracking, and delivery confirmation. Your postal worker can tell you more about these options. Be aware that they add up quickly if you are shipping several boxes.

3. Even though you are not doing anything wrong, your letter carrier will resent you for having all of these heavy boxes delivered to your house. Be very grateful and appreciative. You might even put a sign on your door offering to help him or her with the boxes if he or she needs it.

4. CAUTION: Media mail is not fast and your books will not all arrive at the same time. During the best times it can take up to two weeks to receive your shipment because all other mail gets priority over media mail. Your big boxes take up lots of space, so they might not always get on the first truck out of town. Don't pester your post office until at least three weeks have passed, and if you do, remember that there is no guaranteed delivery speed on media mail.

I hope these pointers help you out. If you have shipped books this way before and have any pointers, please let me know. I received all my books both times I shipped my collection. The boxes were a little worse for wear, but the books were fine.