Rachel and I first decided to start checking out shippers this past June, about 4 months before our aliyah itself. The Jewish Agency was running an aliyah fair and we went, hoping to scout out a couple solid options. In the end, only one shipper was actually there at the fair - Dolphin Express. Quite coincidental, seeing as we ultimately chose them, but we didn't decide then and there, but rather decided to research some more companies.
NBN's website has an extensive list of shippers, although not all of them were relevant to us. We had to sort through the list and figure out which shippers were based out of the US, as opposed to other countries, and which ones were based out of our area. Fortunately for us, we lived in Elizabeth, NJ, whose port is where many, if not all, Israel-bound containers are loaded up on ships and sent out. Dolphin, for example, is based out of Elizabeth and has its headquarters there. I don't know about the others, but we definitely knew that we wouldn't be paying extra for geography - which would be the case if wanted to have our stuff picked up in some other East Coast city and had it shipped from Elizabeth. It's possible, for example, that there are local shippers in Baltimore that ship from the port of Baltimore, but obviously we didn't look into that.
On the NBN site there is a system for rating shippers. The idea is that if you're someone like me, you can avoid the hassle of calling up 40 different companies and just call the ones with good ratings. The problem is that only a few companies had ratings, and some had conflicting ratings. We ended up choosing to get in touch with two companies from the list - Aliyah Lift Shipping (because they had a nice looking website, and they were close to the beginning of NBN's list) and Sonigo (because a friend suggested it). We also contacted one other company, not on NBN's list, recommended by friends who were also shipping stuff that same summer - Echo Trans World.
We liked the guy we talked to from Echo Trans World, because he was pretty calm and laid back. But when we look for online reviews, they were all pretty negative, so we crossed them off the list. Sonigo and Aliyah Lift Shipping got pretty good reviews, so we decided to get quotes from them. Dolphin had a lot of reviews, probably more than any other company. Most were good, but some were bad.
Side note - shipper reviews, like restaurant reviews, have to be taken with a grain of salt. In both cases, a very good business can get a bad review from a cranky customer whose complaint is less-than justifiable. Also, those who do more business are more likely to get reviewed by some of these people. So if you see all bad reviews, beware. But, personally, when I see mostly good reviews I try and figure out if the bad reviews are legitimate, or due to crankiness.
So we started calling the three companies to get estimates. All the conversations basically went the same way. First, they tried to get an idea of how much stuff we were bringing by asking us to list the major pieces of furniture, and then to describe the rest. Sometimes they had - on their website or in a form - a list of common items with their approximate cubic footage. Based on one of these systems, they gave us a rough estimate of our volume. They also asked for information regarding the timing. We told them we wanted a pickup in August and that we were making aliyah in October and wanted our stuff then. We were generally told this wouldn't be a problem, but - as we will see later - herein lies the difference between companies, the difference that would make our decision for us.
At the end of each conversation, we wanted an estimate. Of course none of them wanted to give us numbers until they sent a guy to our apt to look over our stuff in person. Still, Dolphin and Aliyah Lift Shipping were pretty open about their rate per cubic foot. Sonigo was hesitant to give me a set rate, as if it perhaps depended on the overall deal. At the end of the day, everyone was in the ballpark of $5-$6 per cubic foot.
At this point, I should explain that the overall cost of shipping is composed of three parts: 1. price per cubic foot, multiplied by the number of cubic feet, 2. fees on the US side and 3. fees on the Israeli side. I'm pretty sure that, no matter who you ship with, you will pay the same amount on the Israeli side (in our case about 2200 shekel). The difference lies in how much they charge for volume, and what kind of fees they have on the US side. For example, Dolphin had a fuel charge. Things like that.
Each company had its own personality in terms of customer service. Dolphin is made up mostly of Israeli men. They were nice, but slightly used-car-salesman-y. They told us they were the best in such unconvincing terms that they made us a little suspicious. Aliyah Lift Shipping is run by an American oleh. He's pretty mild mannered and nice, not pushy at all. The guy we talked to at Sonigo was also an American oleh, but he was really pushy. Personally, I didn't like it. He kept asking to know the other companies we were considering, and then tried to convince me that I shouldn't trust them, but should trust him, because he was just asked to be an expert witness in a trial in which one of these companies was being accused of ripping off customers... you get the idea.
Some people will simply decide to go with the cheapest shipper, as long as they don't have a bad reputation. That itself is hard to determine because you'll get slightly different estimates from different shippers, and you have to wait for each of them to send out a guy to do that estimate. And, of course, no shipper can give you a solid figure on the amount of money you'll be charged at the Israeli port. Still, you can do your best to do a price comparison.
For us, though, the most important thing was that our shipment come on time. Since our stuff would only fit in part of a lift, the shipping company would have to wait until the lift was full (with other people's stuff) before sending it out. That can lead to serious delays, and the lift might not be there when you get there. For some people, this isn't an issue because they might be temporarily moving to a place where they don't need all their stuff. But we were going to be moving into an empty apartment, and we needed our stuff.
So I decided to see which company could fill that lift the fastest. The truth is, it depended not on the company itself, but the shipping line they use. If they use a shipping line that does a lot of business, it stands to reason that your lift will fill up fast and get there on time. I knew that Dolphin ships with Zim, which is a huge-ungus shipping company. But neither Aliyah Lift Shipping nor Sonigo uses Zim. Aliyah Lift Shipping seemed like the smallest operation, and so I crossed them off the list first. Sonigo told me that August was definitely a busy season for them, but they couldn't guarantee anything. I felt that their worst-case scenario was pushing it too close to our expected aliyah date (although that itself ended up getting pushed off a week). Dolphin, on the other hand was unequivocal - they said they could guarantee that if our stuff was picked up on a Sunday, it could be on the ship that Wednesday if we wanted. They do that much business.
In the end, we went with Dolphin. They weren't the cheapest, and we might have saved several hundred dollars by going with Sonigo, but as long as we were spending $2,000+ already, it was worth it to throw in a little extra to make sure it got there on time.
No comments:
Post a Comment