IBC Tote Availability and shipping address

[timmhenry]

I am going to be in Puna the last two weeks in December. While I am there, I'll be building a Tiny Home. I have two questions. 1. How reliably will I be able to pick up an IBC tote for water catchment (new or used)? 2. If I am shipping some things over and all I have is an empty lot right now, is there a service provider that would allow me to mail some items (some fairly large) for temporary storage? Thanks in advance, Cheers, Timm

[Peter Epperson]

http://honolulu.craigslist.org/big/tls/5270107440.html

[Seeb]

Unless your sure what was in the tote wouldn't use it for drinking water, there is a place in Shipman business park that has poly tanks 100-3000 gal

[MarkP]

Totes are great especially for putting in the back of a truck. They are not that large though when it comes to day to day use. I used one for a few months. It held about a weeks worth of water at my rate of use. It was a lot of work but for about $300 I built a 10' diameter tank lined with 6 mil black poly that holds close to 2,000 gallons. I have been using it for a couple of years now. It isn't permanent. The black poly punctures easily. I've had to replace it once. However it holds a couple of month's worth of water.

[terracore]

"is there a service provider that would allow me to mail some items (some fairly large) for temporary storage?"

Not sure what you mean by this. This shipping companies charge a huge amount for storage, and the storage companies charge a huge amount for shipping. If you can mo betta explain, then maybe we can help.

[timmhenry]

Let a fellow Juneau-ite be more clear. I'm looking to ship a couple of larger items over from Juneau. As I'll only be there two weeks this go-around, I need the items to arrive before me vs. after me. So I'm looking for a Mail Boxes etc. type outfit that would allow me to ship to and hold on to them for the few days or week they might spend before my arrival.

Cheers,

Timm

quote:

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Originally posted by terracore

"is there a service provider that would allow me to mail some items (some fairly large) for temporary storage?"

Not sure what you mean by this. This shipping companies charge a huge amount for storage, and the storage companies charge a huge amount for shipping. If you can mo betta explain, then maybe we can help.

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[Seeb]

I've never heard of anyone offering that kind of service. And Trying to time shipping anything to here is a crapshoot. With a few exceptions it's easy to buy stuff here. Is this chainsaws or something like that?

[terracore]

If the item can be mailed, you can setup a "general delivery" address with the post office. I can't remember if you have to visit your local PO or call the one you want to ship stuff to in order to set this up. I believe they will only hold things for 30 days before sending it back however. If you need to fudge that time a bit, setup general delivery at the Keaau PO because they don't seem to have any concept of how anything in the universe works so I'm pretty sure that the space-time continuum, even in it's most basic representation as it relates to the Julian calendar, is completely beyond their comprehension. You'll have a lot of time to contemplate the vastness of the universe as you wait in line and hear the people in front of you argue that their package MUST be there since they found a slip in their PO Box telling them so, and then watching them pull up the tracking number information on their phones to prove it. It's a good time so long as you're not in a hurry.

The cheapest mail option is parcel select and it does come here on a barge and it does take forever. Also they stack the boxes tetris-style in a shipping container so whatever it is you are shipping, you should be prepared for it to be on the bottom and supporting the weight of whatever is piled on top of it. Basically you want to duct tape the crap out of it.

When we were preparing to make the leap from JNU we got a PO box near where we thought we might be living which was Volcano (Glad we wisened up). It turned out to be a life saver later when we made the actual move and had a reliable shipping address to ship about 12 boxes of stuff to that didn't make sense as checked bags etc. Unfortunately the PO makes you show up in person at the PO before they will assign your box number (and therefore your address) but it worked out for us because we did it on a scouting mission anyways. General delivery circumvents that problem and also it is free.

[Seeb]

The Keaau post office probably moves more tonnage than any other post office their size - cut them some slack

[kalakoa]

I believe they will only hold things for 30 days before sending it back

First-class mail does not "expire".