Location : Seattle to Chicago. I know that there is a ‘major’ station and ‘minor’ station in Amtrak station. ‘major’ station can ship the boxes and ‘minor’ station doesn’t. The major station in Washington state (as far as I know) is the King street station (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Street_Station_(Seattle)) in Seattle. Chicago union station (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Union_Station) in Chicago is certainly a ‘major’ station. This means not all stations in the state ship your boxes even though the amtrak trains mostly stops at that station.
Cost : I had to ship 14 boxes. The weight was total of 325 lb. Amtrak charged for $175.75, and $10 for an insurance. Thus, it was $185.75. Technically, they charge you $65 for the first 100 lb, then 57 cents per additional pound (as of Aug 2015). Also the insurance cost is determined depends on the value of your belongings. I went to cheap option, so I chose $10 one.
How long did it take? : I should be specific on this one. I shipped my boxes on August 17th, which is Sunday (Yes! they work even on Sunday!). And that day, a lady from Amtrak said they will ship my boxes on Monday. When my boxes arrived in Chicago, people in Chicago union station couldn’t read my phone number on the receipt since it was written poorly…. So they contacted me late. So I could get my boxes on 25th. They said it could have been 22nd, but they gave up casually (this is what they said!). So yes! it took them 4 days, technically..from Seattle to Chicago.
Almost all information you need to know before shipping is available on the web (http://www.amtrak.com/express-shipping). But I know, you need more. You want information of where to go, which station you have to choose, where exactly I should drop off my boxes, etc… I will describe my experience as specifically as possible in here.
First off, be sure that each of your boxes does not exceed 50 lb and dimension does not exceed 3 ft x 3 ft x 3 ft. I simply went to Home depot and picked up bunch of small and medium boxes. Also, you need to write down the destination address along with the starting address either on top of the box or side of the box. Oh wait, this means 2 things. 1) It doesn’t need to be you who receives the boxes. As long as you clearly mention the recipient, Amtrak will make sure that person gets the box. 2) You need to know the address you are moving to. I had an apartment lease by that time, so that was not a problem. If you don’t have an address, consult with Amtrak express person, as they hold the boxes 48 hours for free and charge you $3/box for storing them in the station. Perhaps you can write down whatever address in the destination area and get ready to receive the boxes before the boxes reach to the destination station? One thing was clear for me..they really didn’t care the destination address.
Second, most importantly, you can’t put the things with the wire in the box. Things with the wires? yeah, electronics. Nor fragile. This was huge for me as I have some console games, computer products, and TV. The principle of this whole thing is that ‘the moving cost should not more expensive than the amount of money you would get by selling them as used product’ So yeah, I had to sell my TV. I had to ship the electronics using different method.
Since I have 14 boxes, I got the U-haul truck for a day to move boxes to the station in Seattle. After all, it was a good experience and I don’t think not lots of people use or know this method. The shipping cost was (for me) oddly cheap and the condition of the boxes when I got them in Chicago was clean and neat, as they wrap all your boxes with the plastic wrap and put them on the wooden career. It was indeed satisfying!
Here is other helpful blog posts that I looked into. Thank you for them too!
1. Long distance moving on the cheap : Part 2, Moving with Amtrak and Greyhound
2. Using Amtrak to Ship Everything You Own
http://batmanimal.com/post/38797869104/using-amtrak-to-ship-everything-you-own
Alex And Tisha 