Philippines Balikbayan Pilferage Problem

[FlyAway]

Follow up. All boxes from LBC arrived intact and unopened. The boxes from Atlas arrived Christmas afternoon unopened. We did have one can of ravioli open up somehow. It was just crushed. That was a packing issue on our part.

[Jollygoodfellow]

Follow up. All boxes from LBC arrived intact and unopened. The boxes from Atlas arrived Christmas afternoon unopened. We did have one can of ravioli open up somehow. It was just crushed. That was a packing issue on our part.

Great to hearChristmas afternoon?no rest for some :th_thholysheep:

[Old55]

Follow up. All boxes from LBC arrived intact and unopened. The boxes from Atlas arrived Christmas afternoon unopened. We did have one can of ravioli open up somehow. It was just crushed. That was a packing issue on our part.

That's great to hear!Our family are still waiting for the last box to arrive.

[Tatoosh]

So far I have no problems with anything missing from overseas orders shipped via balikbayan carriers. Most of my stuff came over a few years back. Recent items include a Weber BBQ grill, some BBQ accessories, books, a Kindle eBook reader, and spices. No problems with anything at all. All the recent stuff came through LA I am pretty sure and no big delays noted. Older items were mostly housewares, cooking gear and dvds. Why dvds? Because I didn't know any better then.Shippers:Oregon to Benguet: LBCGuam to Benguet: Forex shippingArizona to Benguet: ALAS shippingCalifornia to Benguet: Manila Forwarders (2 times), my-shoppingbox.com (multiple small packages by both air and sea)

Edited January 20, 2012 by Tatoosh

[Old55]

My family in Cebu got their Christmas box right at the end of the year unopened nothing missing. :th_Good-Luck:

[piglett]

i like to take 1/2" plywood & build a box that will just slip into the cardboard box being used.no chance of them getting into the corner of my boxes :cheersty: piglett

[Dzighnman]

We use LBC EXTENSIVELY: I also keep detailed packing lists and records as follows:April 1, 2011: 4 boxes, arrived in Carcar Cebu on 5/11/11, USA LBC tape intact, no damage, nothing missingMay 28, 2011: 3 boxes, arrived in Carcar Cebu on 6/21/11, USA LBC tape intact, no damage, nothing missingJune 25, 2011: 7 boxes, arrived in Carcar Cebu on 8/2/11, USA LBC tape intact, no damage, nothing missingAug 1, 2011: 13 boxes, arrived in Carcar Cebu on 10/7/11, USA LBC tape intact, 1 box damaged w/LBC MANILA tape over the hole, nothing missingOct. 15, 2011: 33 boxes, arrived in Carcar Cebu on 12/19/11, USA LBC tape intact, no damage, nothing missingWe will be shipping another large shipment off this spring and pray for the same great service, discounted price (55.60 usd per box) and flawless delivery.For the inevitable inquiries.... while I was first in the Philippines, we leased a house and I made notes about what can and cannot be "gotten" easily or cost effectively around Carcar and Cebu, and have taken great pain to procure everything except the kitchen sink that I deem as needing to be quality above what I can get in the Philippines.... for this house project. Wait... let me check, yup, there are two kitchen sinks, my bad :89: We shipped a full container when we relocated there, so my 1 time container allowance, tax and duty FREE, is history, so our plan became using LBC.. and through garage sales, auctions etc, we have saved well over the offset of shipping costs on the lengthy list of materials I want for my project. That is the short story as this thread is about Balikbayan box experiences and those are mine.I want to reiterate, ever single item in every box is on my spreadsheet and is checked in upon arrival by our family there... using video cams because they do not know what the hell most of it is... our packing lists supplied to LBC, were.... well.. less descriptive. They pick up at our door in the US and deliver to the front door (not the street), in Carcar.Needless to say, we are VERY pleased with our LBC experience.... hope this helps!Oh, the one torn box... clearly my fault as I packed it without taking my usual care to fit that one like a 3D jigsaw puzzle. and YES, I have a really great Filipino extended family!!! :angry:

Edited January 30, 2012 by Dzighnman

[Bruce]

I sent 3 boxes by Forex at the same time. Same pick up, same ship, same arrival date in Manila.... 1 was delivered 3 days ago. The other 2 seem to still be in Manila..... Forex is not answering their Dear Forest Gump emails.......

[Dave Hounddriver]

i like to take 1/2" plywood & build a box that will just slip into the cardboard box being used. no chance of them getting into the corner of my boxes

I had thought about using 1/4 inch wall panel because that crap is so tough you cannot even drive a nail through it but after reading your post it occurred to me that, when the wall panel gets wet it disintegrates while plywood still holds together. Thanks for making me think. What about 1/4 " plywood to keep it lighter and easier to handle. Did you try that?

[Adventurer]

Maybe I have some use for those two big pieces of plywood in my basement :angry: