We are trying to make the front end of our trip more manageable by shipping one suitcase to Paris where we have friends who could receive it and where we will be for 5 weeks. Trying to lighten up the load for using trains. We are elderly and managing luggage on trains is difficult. We have a 3 stop trip in the alps regions before staying in Paris.
Thinking of maybe FedExing a suitcase to Paris.
Has anyone done this and how did it go or were there other carriers?
Sendmybag is a company I've heard good things about.
I've used Sendmybag.com to ship a bag from the UK to the US. It was easy and on time. I would not hesitate using them again. The actual pickup and shipment was done by DHL.
The shipment was flawless and it arrived in three days. Someone has to be on both ends to sign the paperwork.
I have not shipped a suitcase but I have shipped things as large as a suitcase to Paris and it was a pain for the recipient. The mail center that we used here in the US insisted that we should use DHL for larger packages (we used FedEx for letters and documents). The mail center offers shipping services by FedEx, UPS and DHL but the guy who runs it said that DHL was better. I'm not sure if that is true because the delivery was a comedy of errors. My advice to you is to ship the stuff way before you want it to arrive and ship it to someone who is very patient and understands the package delivery "issues" that seem to affect shipments to Paris.
I can attest that picking up a package in Paris can be a real pain. Are your friends able to spend a whole morning or afternoon, sometimes even an entire day at home on the day when the package/bag is due to arrive? If not, they need to be OK with going some random place, usually but not necessarily close to home, to pick up the bag.
It is not a question of reliability - the bag will get there - but a matter of hassle.
Just pulled this off an ex-pat website. This is what balso means, and it's not just Paris, deliveries and pick up are a bit of a problem right now with C19.
"Trying to get Fedex to pick up a document to go to the USA--but they've blown two appointments (two complete DAYS when they were supposed to show up)...."
I shipped my items in 2018. If deliveries in Paris have gotten worse because of COVID-19, forget about it or ship to someone extremely patient who after waiting at home for the item on the scheduled "delivery" dates can then make their way to the distribution center to get it. As balso said, it's not a question of reliability, it's the hassle.
We have shipped luggage using a service called Luggage Forward. They pick up suitcase at your home and deliver it to final destination. We have always shipped to a hotel and have alerted the front desk in advance. Never had a problem, would recommend this service.
Thanks.. We have friends who could fetch it but I would not want to tie anyone down to wait for a delivery. FedEx seems to have ability to store the bag on arrival for 7 days which would let us pick it up ourselves -- Anyone try that?
Does sound like potential for misery here.
I would contact Blue Marble in Paris and ship the luggage there. Though there is a FedEx on Blvd Haussman, there is a very good chance that you would have to get to Gennevilliers to get your suitcase -- not exactly to the end of the world but why deal with that when you could pick up the suitcase in central Paris. This will cost around 15€ per bag plus the storage charge. Make it easy on yourself.
Thanks. Good to know. We have never used any sort of luggage storage but have heard of Blue Marble.
We recently (first week of August) shipped a checked bag sized piece of luggage from the Fox Valley area of Wisconsin to a friend in a rural village in Brittany. We used luggagefree.com and while a little pricey IMHO it arrived 5 days ahead of schedule. We shipped it on Saturday morning and told our friend it should arrive by Friday. We were astonished to receive an email from our friend that the piece had arrived on Monday, roughly 48 hours after we shipped it. While I doubt we would ever receive service at that speed again, it was incredible. She delivered it to our little cottage in a neighboring village days before we even left the States. We will certainly use them again. Sign me mlweber2 or Hersfelder46
