First, I'm a contractor, and I'm thinking ahead to what I will need to do when I move back to the US. My transport agreement gets me home, but that's it.

Second, I don't have an address to ship my items to.  I moved into furnished RPP housing in party to stay "light", but I still have things I'd like to bring back to the US. I might be able to get a friend to  recieve some items, depend how much space they have available. If not, what are some of my options?


As I see it, to return to the US, I would need to
1) Identify what needs to ship home
2) Ship it
3) Sell off items I don't want
4) Give away/Throw away what's left



Thanks in advance for reading this!

Well if you know someone in the area you will be moving back too, you could always have them get you a P.O.box. Then you could shipp everything (on the small side) that you want to keep the last week or so you are here. If you ship it S.A.M. (space availble mail) you could buy a few more days to a few more months til your package makes it to you. Or you could pack what you want up in a suit case or box and just pay out of pocket for the extra bag on your plane ride home. Now if you have anything big that you want to keep I know of an out in town shipping service but its located in Okinawa. Way to far for mainland and unless its a priceless antique I wouldnt bother to ship it back. Its very exspensive from what I have been told. I can't really think of another way. You seem to have a good grip on what needs to happen though. So good luck.

Posted By TheGooch on 03-06-2011 4:14 PM
First, I'm a contractor, and I'm thinking ahead to what I will need to do when I move back to the US. My transport agreement gets me home, but that's it.

Second, I don't have an address to ship my items to.  I moved into furnished RPP housing in party to stay "light", but I still have things I'd like to bring back to the US. I might be able to get a friend to  recieve some items, depend how much space they have available. If not, what are some of my options?


As I see it, to return to the US, I would need to
1) Identify what needs to ship home
2) Ship it
3) Sell off items I don't want
4) Give away/Throw away what's left

My opinion is to secure a storage container/facility (preferably one with 24 hour security) you can arrange/pay for this remotely (from here).  Then ship all of your belongings to the storage facility (after you arranged it with their personnel of course).  Then when you arrive at your new/old location you find your home and then move your stuff out of the storage facility.  I cannot stress though how much you should ensure you get one with 24 hour security.

I ended up being in such a hurry that I just mailed out whatever I had time to pack and ship USPS and dumped the rest. I shipped Space-A and everything arrived with 2 weeks after I left.

Now I'm back in the USA enjoying the conveniences and comforts that you can only get here.

PS the job market is great here, even after taxes, I got a huge raise by switching to a civilian job in the US. Food for thought.