I’M About To Move To Another Country. How To Bring Inks & Pens?

[sdbruder]

I have a great deal of a chance to move to another country with nothing else than some travel bags / suitcases.

 

I don’t plan to get rid of my pens & inks: Pens are relatively easy, I have some pen cases and the excess will wrapped and stored between clothes.

 

It’s a shame that all pen cases I’ve stored for so long will be throw away.

 

The issue that remains are the inks. I have several bottles of ink (20-30 ?) that ideally I want to bring with me. Toughts?

[kingcobradude]

You moving by car, or by plane?

[Karmachanic]

Flying? Pelican case.

 

to add: Or box them appropriately and ship them to yourself

Edited September 4, 2019 by Karmachanic

[OCArt]

I wouldn't trust any pens of value to checked luggage, hand carry only.

[kingcobradude]

Any pens that are in checked luggage when flying, empty and clean them out. They will inevitably be nib down in the cargo hold, and you dont want a big ink mess. Ink bottles will need to be in checked luggage. You could have a couple bottles in your carry on, but with security rules on liquids, most will need to be checked. Lots of padding needed there, and minimize the amount they can move around in your bags

[A Smug Dill]

It’s a shame that all pen cases I’ve stored for so long will be throw away.

There was a cost to short- and long-term storage or 'warehousing' of items, even if so far you chose not to apportion and quantify such costs because you regard paying for (your own) housing is just one big glob of sunk cost. (I'm not having a go at you; I've had to dig through six cartons of fountain pen retail boxes earlier this week to find something, so I know full well how much space in my home "all the pen cases I've stored for so long" is taking up.)

 

There is a cost to the carriage of pen cases to your new home, and a cost to continued warehousing of the items – whether it's keeping them somewhere in your current home country, or allowing for 'additional' or marginal space requirements in your new home to store those items. It seems that now you can no longer easily pretend or assume that keeping "all the pen cases" is a nil-cost decision, and you're forced to critically question the actual value to yourself of doing so.

 

If storing the pen cases is of no ongoing or expected future value to you, then why would getting rid of them be a pity? On the other hand, if there is value in it, can you quantify that such that you can now decide whether shipping those boxes to your new home and continuing to store them — at some none-zero cost you must confront —is worth it?

 

The issue that remains are the inks. I have several bottles of ink (20-30 ?) that ideally I want to bring with me. Toughts?

 

As Karmachanic has already suggested, you can box the inks up appropriately and then ship/mail/post them to yourself. I get inks shipped to me from overseas all the time. I just came back from the post office two hours ago shipping a box of half-used fountain pen inks in their original bottles to someone. It can be done; against it's just a matter of costs (in money and effort), with or without Customs in the country to which you're moving allowing you to 'import' your personal effects duty-free. Do you need those inks urgently? Are they replaceable? Is it cheaper to buy new once you get there, instead of shipping your old bottles to yourself?

 

I'm not advocating any approach, other than doing a few hours of week in calculating the costs, check on duty and tax implications, really think about what value the pen boxes and inks are to you, and make some informed decisions. Even if you're just feeling sentimental about particular pen boxes or inks, you can still choose to appease or assuage those feelings by knowingly incurring monetary costs; a person's sentiments can cost him/her money by driving him/her towards particular courses of action.

[Mech-for-i]

These days with air security its likely that you cannot bring on board any liquid of such .. you really need to check the specific route's restriction and rule

[LiquidInk]

Learning how expensive pens can get, does anyone declare them based on their cost when asked if you are carrying $x amount? I forget what the limit is now that you can bring untaxed or is it only cash they want to know?

 

As for the inks, why not Craigslist store it. Buy which I mean sell and rebuy when you get there? If the inks aren't hard to get there, it might be easier to rebuild collection with new inks to try and not worrying about moving them.

[sirgilbert357]

I wouldn't trust any pens of value to checked luggage, hand carry only.

 

 

+1

 

Or I'd ship them to myself if possible. Insured for full value. Do some research to make sure you don't get a duty tax on stuff you already own if it's avoidable...

[A Smug Dill]

Learning how expensive pens can get, does anyone declare them based on their cost when asked if you are carrying $x amount? I forget what the limit is now that you can bring untaxed or is it only cash they want to know?

To which country's regulations specifically were you referring or alluding? The (undisclosed) country to which @sdubruder is moving? Australia? Belgium? Canada?

 

This is what applies in Australia or for Australians:

Travellers can carry an unlimited amount of money into and out of Australia. However you must declare cash in Australian and foreign currency if the combined value is A$10,000 or more, and you must declare non-cash forms of money when asked by an Australian Border Force or police officer.

 

Carrying money across borders is a common money laundering technique. Declaring physical currency or bearer negotiable instruments (BNIs) when you travel is a legal requirement.

Source: https://www.austrac.gov.au/individuals/travelling-and-australia-money

 

Any concern about (avoiding?) tax and duties on goods and personal effects a traveller is bringing into the country is a different matter.

[inkstainedruth]

Depending on where the OP is going, I'd be somewhat hesitant to ship them. That could get expensive, and there's also going to probably be a delay in getting them (customs, if nothing else). And, bluntly, sometimes you might not get the package at all, depending on where you're going. Regardless of how many bottles there are, I would tape the bottles shut, wrap them in bubble wrap, and put them in ziplock bags to prevent breakage or spillage -- and one time a bottle of ink I bought on eBay was shipped with a rubber band over the cap even after being taped shut (for those worried about baggage claim -- I'd be more worried about delivery plans unless the items were fully insured, and maybe still be worried).

Unfortunately, carryon baggage would be the safest as far as transport; but in this day and age (with TSA regulations, et. al.) the bottles would be more likely to be confiscated as being over the size limit): I had facial cleanser and astringent confiscated one time (I had put them in carryon in case there was a problem with checked luggage not getting to my destination -- which HAS happened to me in the past) because they were 4 oz. bottles; TSA didn't BLINK at the ink sample vials in a ziplock bag in my purse.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[A Smug Dill]

Depending on where the OP is going, I'd be somewhat hesitant to ship them. That could get expensive, and there's also going to probably be a delay in getting them (customs, if nothing else).

Sure, but the O.P. hasn't made it clear what are his/her priorities:

• having immediate accessibility to the inks upon reaching his/her new home (or while on the flight?)
• minimising expense
• minimising effort
• minimising risk (to the inks themselves, and/or to whatever else is being carried or shipped)
• preserving what is not readily replaceable (because some inks have been discontinued, or were bought "locally" in a marketplace or bricks-and-mortar store outside of his/her home country while travelling, or have sentimental value)

The "best" solution is still going to be a compromise between the above, and what is "best" will depend on how the O.P. ranks those things.

[Mulrich]

Every airline has slightly different baggage restrictions. If the airline allows it, you could just dedicate a piece of checked baggage to the inks. For US carriers, the charge for extra baggage can be pricey ($150+) but this may be a preferable option (or cheaper with non-US airlines).

 

I moved a few years ago and packed all my inks in a 5-gallon bucket (https://www.amazon.com/Gallon-White-Bucket-Gamma-Seal/dp/B00FNSUS8S/ref=sr_1_17?crid=1S5E6JCKTB5EC&keywords=5+gallon+bucket+with+lid&qid=1567619808&s=gateway&sprefix=5+gallon+bucket%2Caps%2C187&sr=8-17). I didn't fly with the inks but they were very well secured in the bucket and survived without any problems.

[txomsy]

Can't you store them somewhere until return?

 

Two reasons: it may be better to store them until you return and get new items on your destination (only need to carry the essentials), and second, if you will be returning often (to see the family, for instance), then you can carry a part in each trip.

 

When I moved to UK I would travel by car (boat or "Chunnel") on Holidays with it packed with boxes full of thingies. But then I had diplomatic status (working for an international organization) so did not need to worry about customs. It was a bit worse when I had to return, but even then I could move most of my belongings in a couple of trips. The reason, however, was that I had left most of them back home and had only carried the essentials (and a huge load of technical books).

 

From Canada, I use snail mail to send the extra goods I had bought there, took at least two or three months (in those times) to arrive but I got them in the end. I think. By then I no longer remembered all I had mailed. If you mail to yourself, take note of the contents of all parcels.

 

Another possibility is that you may need not worry, many companies pay for the cost of moving when you come in from abroad. If that's the case, cost is not an issue.

[Bo Bo Olson]

I definitely wouldn't throw away the cases!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! First off you need them, second they can show the 'age' of the pen have. Mail the cases to you...can mail it to general delivery, and pick it up the day after you get there.

 

Call, Email what ever country you are going to's customs and get a start on it.

 

Used pens...with a slew of inks should show customs they are yours and you don't need to pay customs....on each on pen.

Look up regulations for 'household' goods,

Bill of sale....or the deduction from you credit card, or pay pal account....something to prove you have had it a while.

 

Do go to the line with something to declare.....and if you have a bottle too much of booze it only costs $3-4.00 in tax....so take the good stuff...duty free ain't a bargain, but one does have all the good stuff in one place.

No reason to be listed for the rest of your life as an International Smuggler....for 1/2 a bottle too much booze.

 

The idea of prices off of Crag list or Ebay for that matter..... copy the prices of the cheap ones, you know the one you missed, in past auctions.

[jvr]

If you’re moving, you should be willing to carry extra suitcases despite the cost. You’re still saving a ton over hiring a moving company. The rest flows from there. You take what you want to keep.

 

Regarding ink, if you’re moving to the US, there’s a form that needs to be filled out if you’re importing ink (I’ve dealt with this a few times when buying FPs in Europe to be shipped here’s). I don’t know about the rules for ink in other countries.

[Bo Bo Olson]

Household goods is different than importing a pen or two from a foreign country.

You are going to have to pay extra....first for the first stuffed over the limit suit case then for the second, so as the fella says, buy a third perhaps smaller one for the pen cases.

 

Carry them on, in zip lock bags. Inks can be zip locked with the pen cases.

Is cheaper in the long run to keep your pen cases than mooning over their cheap sale loss for decades.

[sdbruder]

Household goods is different than importing a pen or two from a foreign country.

You are going to have to pay extra....first for the first stuffed over the limit suit case then for the second, so as the fella says, buy a third perhaps smaller one for the pen cases.

 

Carry them on, in zip lock bags. Inks can be zip locked with the pen cases.

Is cheaper in the long run to keep your pen cases than mooning over their cheap sale loss for decades.

 

 

I’m about to move exactly to Germany (still on the paperwork phase of it).

[A Smug Dill]

I’m about to move exactly to Germany

Then I'd suggest not to worry about bringing Rohrer & Klingner, KWZ Ink, J.Herbin, Diamine and Pelikan inks, since they are all relatively cheap and accessible in that part of Europe. If you have some favourite Sailor (inclusive of Kobe INK Story, Bungubox and such brands that Sailor produces for particular Japanese stationery purveyors), Pilot and Platinum inks, those are the ones that may be more expensive to replace there.

[katanankes]

Been there, done that... Here's my experience:

 

1) Pens can be carried in carry-on luggage. If you have metal pens expect to be stopped at security checks, but security staff does not care about pen, even when they see cases and cases (My experience mostly in Asian and European countries).

 

2) Liquids (i.e. inks) are a huge pain in the neck. More than a couple of bottles can trigger security checks. The bad news is that many professional moving companies won't accept liquids in their normal contracts. So most of the times the only option left is checked baggage. Then you need to check with your airline what are the limits for liquids in checked baggage. For example I flew with a company allowing maximum 5 liters of liquids (harmless liquids...) if properly packages.

 

Hope this helps.