How to ship your stuff home from college

Finals are almost done. Your room, unfortunately, is not. Somewhere between your last exam and your flight home, everything you hauled to campus in August has to go somewhere, and it all has to fit in a suitcase or two unless you plan ahead.

You don’t have to cram it all into checked bags. With LugLess college shipping, you pack your boxes, drop them at the campus mailroom for pickup, and fly home with just a carry-on. Here’s how to do it without wrecking finals week.

Step 1: Declutter before you pack

The cheapest box to ship is the one you don’t ship. Before you buy a single roll of tape, go through your room and sort everything into four piles:

• Ship home. Things you’ll use over the summer or can’t easily replace: clothes for the season, bedding you love, books you’re keeping, sports gear.
• Store or leave. Things you’ll need back on campus in the fall, if you have somewhere to keep them.
• Sell or donate. The mini rug you never liked, the textbooks for classes you’ve finished, the third desk lamp. Many campuses run move-out donation drives, so check with your housing office.
• Toss. Half-empty shampoo bottles, mystery snacks and anything broken.

Be honest about that second-semester hoodie collection. Every item you drop now is weight you don’t pay to ship.

Step 2: Know your move-out timeline

Move-out week is also finals week, so put the shipping steps on your calendar before the studying takes over. Here’s a timeline that works for most students:

Don’t let the Monday through Friday rule catch you. If your move-out day is a Saturday, schedule the pickup for Friday at the latest, which means booking by Thursday.

Check your exact move-out date with your RA or housing office if you live in a dorm, or your lease if you rent off campus. Then work backward.

Step 3: Use the campus mailroom pickup

Campus pickups happen from a central mailroom, not from your dorm room. You book your shipment, schedule the pickup with at least 24 hours’ notice, and bring your boxes to the mailroom on pickup day. Pickup is included with the Extra plan, or $7 per package on any other plan. The carrier collects them from there.

If your campus mailroom isn’t convenient, you can also drop your boxes at any FedEx or UPS location near campus. Either way, you get a label and tracking, and you don’t have to carry anything onto a plane.

A few things that make pickup day smooth:

• Seal and label everything the night before. Mailroom lines get long during move-out week.
• Borrow a cart or a friend. The mailroom may not be next to your building.
• Take a photo of each label so you have the tracking numbers on your phone.

Step 4: Pack boxes the smart way

How you pack decides what you pay. LugLess prices boxes in Little, Big and Oversize tiers at 25, 50 and 75 lbs billable, so know which tier you’re aiming for before you seal a box.

• Put heavy things in small boxes. Books and shoes in a small box stay in a low tier. In a big box, they blow past it.
• Watch dimensional weight. Carriers charge the higher of a box’s actual weight or its dimensional weight (length times width times height, divided by 139). A huge box of pillows can bill like a heavy one, so squeeze the air out of bedding and use the smallest box that fits.
• Stay inside the tier you book. Each box’s billable weight has to fit its tier (25, 50 or 75 lbs), or you’ll pay overage fees. No single item can weigh more than 90 lbs.
• Fill the gaps with towels and clothes so nothing shifts, and put a card with your name and phone number inside each box.
• Keep breakables in your carry-on. Boxes are for non-fragile items.

Some things can’t ship at all, and dorm rooms are full of them: aerosols like dry shampoo and sunscreen, anything containing alcohol (perfume and hand sanitizer count), batteries, including the ones inside laptops and phones, medications and food. Your laptop rides home with you. Check what you can ship with LugLess and the size and weight guide before you start taping.

Step 5: Decide between shipping home and storage

Not everything needs to make the round trip. Here’s a simple way to decide:

Ship it home if:

• You’ll use it over the summer.
• You’re graduating, transferring or studying abroad next term.
• Your summer plans take you somewhere new, like an internship in another city.

Look at storage if:

• You’re coming back to the same campus in the fall.
• Most of what you’re keeping is furniture-sized.
• You’d rather not ship the same boxes back in August.

For boxes and bags, run the numbers both ways. Get a LugLess quote for the trip home and the trip back, then compare it with a few months of a storage unit plus getting your stuff there and out again. If storage wins, you can ship your boxes to the storage facility’s address instead of home.

And if you’re going home in May and coming back in the fall, the move-in half works the same way in reverse. Our college shipping checklist covers what to send back to campus.

Step 6: Know what it costs

With LugLess, it’s small boxes from $15, bags from $25. Your exact price depends on each item’s size, weight and distance, and the LugLess calculator shows it in a few seconds. Students also get a $10 credit toward their first shipment when they sign up with a .edu email. Drop-off at a FedEx or UPS location is included on every plan. Campus pickup is included with the Extra plan, or $7 per package on any other plan, so factor that in if you’re using the mailroom pickup.

Compare that with flying everything home. According to our airline baggage fees guide, a first checked bag runs $35 to $50, a second $45 to $60, and a third $150 to $200 or more. A bag over 50 lbs adds $100 to $150 or more on top.

To be fair to the airlines: if your fare includes a free checked bag, use it for your suitcase. Nothing beats free. And for a single suitcase, the first-bag fee can cost less than shipping it across the country. Shipping usually wins once you’re past the first bag, or when you’re moving a room’s worth of boxes that would never fit on a plane anyway.

Where your boxes end up

Your shipment is delivered to the address you book: your family’s home, a storage facility, or your next apartment. If that next stop is an apartment building, delivery goes to the building’s mailroom, leasing office or package area, not your unit. No signature is required, and carriers attempt delivery up to 3 times.

Shipments are scheduled to arrive on or before the delivery date you select at booking. Essential and Extra plans add an on-time guarantee, a LugLess credit if a delivery runs late; Minimal and Basic don’t. Pick a date when someone will be around, or when you’ll be back to collect them.

Frequently asked questions

How do I ship my stuff home from college?

Declutter, pack your boxes, then book your shipment with LugLess and schedule a campus pickup at least 24 hours ahead. Bring your boxes to the central mailroom on pickup day, or drop them at any FedEx or UPS location. They’re delivered on or before the date you pick at booking.

Can my boxes be picked up from my dorm room?

No. Campus pickups happen from a central mailroom, not individual dorm rooms. Pickups need 24 hours’ notice, run Monday through Friday only, and are included with the Extra plan or $7 per package on any other plan.

How much does it cost to ship stuff home from college?

With LugLess, it’s small boxes from $15, bags from $25, depending on size, weight and distance. Students get a $10 credit toward their first shipment when they sign up with a .edu email. The LugLess calculator gives your exact price.

Should I ship my stuff home or put it in storage?

Ship it home if you’ll use it over the summer or you’re not coming back to the same campus. Look at storage if you’re returning in the fall and most of it is furniture-sized. For boxes and bags, compare a round-trip shipping quote with a few months of storage.

Is checking a bag ever cheaper than shipping?

Yes. If your fare includes a free checked bag, use it. For one suitcase, a $35 to $50 first-bag fee can also beat shipping it across the country. Shipping usually comes out ahead past the first bag, when a second bag runs $45 to $60 and a third $150 to $200 or more.

For the full picture, from move-in timing to campus guides, see the LugLess guide to shipping to school.

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