Cheapest way to send music instruments and books to India

1. There are three basic ways to ship. First is airline which is the most expensive, then taking a dedicated 20 foot container on a ship, then the cheapest is shared space in a 40 foot container on a ship.

2. The next thing that affects price is who books the space. If you use a freight forwarder who takes care of Customs, paperwork, bookings, schedules, deliveries, they take high commissions so you pay the most.

3. Next thing, all shipping in done on volumetric principles, meaning that you pay the higher of space or weight. A drum set, say a bass drum, its air inside but takes a lot of space, so you pay for its measurements even if its light weight. Example, and you can use calculators online for this, the volumetric for a box thats 200cm X 100cm X 50cm is 42kg. What you have inside the box weighs 10kg. So you pay for 42kg. This also obviously means that to be efficient in packing and pay the lowest price, if the volumetric of a box is 42kg make sure you have filled it with 42kg of stuff.

4, Next thing is whether you have packed efficiently-sized boxes instead of expecting to ship loose items. Some shipping companies will take un-boxed items but charge you much more because the space its occupying doesnt allow the items to be stacked neatly and tightly in the shipping container.

5. Next is speed. The fastest shipping (on an airplane) will have the highest price. If you dont mind delivery in two months on a ship, you get the lowest price.

6. Next is competition and Covid. There are good and bad, cheaper and higher ships so a person has to shop around. In Covid, there are fewer airlines and ships operating which means the prices are higher because the fewer ships are completely full and that means longer delivery times because now you are in a queue.

7. If you call some sort of shipping company, forwarder or logistics partner, they will automatically book you on the next available airplane and that will be the most expensive way to ship. If you search out your own, like trying to book space in a 40-foot container on Maersk Line and do your own paperwork (manifests, commercial invoices, bills of lading) that will be the cheapest. But many companies will not deal directly with anyone who isnt an approved agent.

8. Insurance. This doubles the cost of shipping, according to quotations ive had. If you skip insurance and the plane crashes or ship sinks, well, byebye.

9. I cant quote anyones prices, you have to search each company and find out. Lately Ive seen advertised about RM50 per volumetric KG, plus the same for insurance, so the example 42kg box is about RM2000, plus insurance, now its RM4000. And thats from a freight forwarder. I have also seen RM12/KG from China to USA so you see there is a huge difference between companies and routes.

10. In my example above, those prices assume you are shipping on a very common line, like Singapore to Los Angeles. If your location is remote and requires air/sea to an uncommon initial destination and then land transportation to a final destination, now it costs more, and more for trucking, plus the trucking you had to pay to get your goods to the shipper in the first place.

With all this I know I havent covered everything. When someone asks,"Whats the cheapest," I have to ask if the person knows logistics and how much of the work they can do themselves. Some people cant do anything and dont even know how to pack items properly or weigh goods. Professional movers can come to you, pack everything, cart it away, ship it and you pay, lets say RM170/KG. But if you can do everything yourself and know how to book your own space on a ship, maybe you can pay RM35/KG. So my advice is to start googling and calling international shippers and ask for the KG prices and what they do, and dont do, for that money. You can also start with DHL to get an idea and start practicing your conversations like asking packing requirements for various goods. Do things have to be in boxes?  Professionally strapped? On pallets? Wrapped in plastic film? Listed in manifests you make yourself?

Its work to figure out the cheapest anything. Too many considerations! But this post gives a starting point to use to start talking to people.

Two things you can do, search online for volumetric calculators so you can play with that, and in you are in KL, and if its still there, go into the Pudu market/mall opposite the bus station. There is a Filipino shipping company in there. They provide shipping to Philippines only but sell/provide the famous "Go Home" boxes which are gigantic, heavy duty, well-used format of shipping goods. I got one and wish I had more. That would be ideal for music instruments as its 3 feet tall. Super Maxi box. Mine came from AFreight Cargo Sdn Bhd, 03-2032 5214. You can also google for freight forwarders in KL and go into the offices and talk to them and get quotations.

Though I havent covered all aspects, there are various people thinking about big moves including me. So this might be too much information for you but maybe not for others.

In addition to cvco reply, specific to India, there have been lot of issues in customs duty where the valuation of goods are checked again at the airport and the recipient is charged a big value or amount to pay. Once customs are cleared, only then the recipient can collect the goods. I have such stuffs (books and utilities) to be sent to India too but hearing such things from courier services especially with Covid situation, I've decided to carry them with myself when things get back to normal. Hope this helps.

One thing that we have talked about in other threads is the need to NOT ship goods that can be easily replaced at the destination. Usually we are talking about moves TO Malaysia and encourage people to sell or throw away common items before coming.

In my case, im leaving Malaysia when travel lifts and starting from January this year im selling everything I can including pots, pans and even clothes. Im only keeping UNcommon, expensive items necessary to my work. Then when I have the final list of the fewest items possible that can be packed into the most compact space, i'll get shipping quotes for a shared container on a ship. Every week I fill the car with junk and haul it to the public trash bins. I also give away a lot of items. It hurts me terribly to do all this, im throwing away my hard earned life!

In the case of the original post about books and instruments, look at them again and if consider if they can be replaced on the other side easily. It makes no sense to ship a common item at higher cost than replacing it, painful as that may seem. Example, i know its extremely painful to buy an item in Malaysia/Asia that cost $100, knowing it cost $400 back at home. But if you paid $100 and it cost $400 to ship it back home, what was gained? Nothing but loss.

In my case I did so much in reverse. I bought in USA because Malaysia didnt have the items, then I brought them in giant suitcases, spread over at least 35 trips. I didnt pay shipping because of free allowances on airplanes. Well, how do I take back 35 trips worth of goods in ONE trip? I never expected to, I expected to stay in Malaysia and use the items, including very expensive work equipment I cant throw away here. I was very clever, if a machine has 15 heavy parts, I broke the machine down to parts and brought a few on each trip, then assembled it when I had brought all the parts. Well, I cant do that in reverse now, its only ONE trip back so I have to ship the whole damn thing. Welcome to Covid!!