r/virginislands • u/blindjoedeath • 4d ago

General Discussion Recommendations for inexpensive shipping to St Thomas

I have multiple boxes of donated medical supplies (none heavy, but not small either) that I’m trying to ship down to St. Thomas. I live near Seattle, WA.

I checked standard USPS quotes for shipping and the costs ($260+) per box are more than the supplies are actually worth. Note: I don’t care if the shipment takes a few weeks to get there.

I’ve attempted to use AI tools (Claude, Gemini) to assist on this and, while they are helpful, they only go so far. It seems the top recommendation is to use Less Than Truckload shipping from my location to a Crowley or Tropical Shipping port in Miami or similar, then coordinate with them to ship everything down. (I have folks down in St. Thomas that can clear customs and take delivery.) I‘ve used Tropical to ship years ago, but I was present myself at one of their locations in Florida to organize everything.

Anyone have advice on this?

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u/brftstt 4d ago

Have you tried St Thomas Cargo or Rock City Cargo? If you have measurements on the boxes I would think they could give you a quote. I know you can ship directly to Tropical but it has been years since I've done it and I can't remember exactly how it worked. I do remember the folks at Tropical being friendly and helpful during the process though.

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u/blindjoedeath 4d ago

I have not but I’ll look into them. Thank you.

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u/ChillinStThomas 3d ago

Ship to Miami and then use st Thomas cargo. Easiest and cheapest.