is sending a barrel worth the moolah??

amstellite

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Sep 5, 2007
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I managed to get a barrel for free, the standard blue one for shipping...people I know in the biz.. but to ship will be about 115 bucks.. I have been to the DR many times and it seems nothing is ever on sale... well not like here, the staples I mean, like oil, rice, sauce, sugar,detergent, etc etc...I intended using the barrel to ship over all the shoes, bats and mitts I have stored, but wondered if, with the prices being so high , it might be better to ship rice and oil which are always on sale here at western beef, Cosco and the like.... ..any thoughts? I spend a little fortune feeding the families I know there because I buy from Jumbo and Ole and they are never the " rompeprecios" they always claim to be...
 

Driftwood

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Feb 7, 2012
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I think I am getting the wrong end of the stick on this. Am I right in thinking you intend to ship into the country, rice, sugar, sauce, detergent etc etc? If so what are you paying when in the country?
 

waytogo

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Apr 3, 2009
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That's a lot of oil, rice, sauce, and detergent to make up the DIFFERENCE on the price on products like this.

B in Santiago
 

Driftwood

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It is very difficult to shop economically from one or two stores/supermarkets. It is also very difficult to get to grips with the best way to shop economically unless you are around for an extended period of time.
The balance between supermarket, butcher, street veg vendor and colmado is an art that takes sometime through trial and error to absorb and put into practice. In my opinion it is very much cheaper to buy food in DR, and everything you mention is available cheaply and in abundance, accepting it does take slightly more effort to gather.
 

LaTeacher

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May 2, 2008
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You can buy rice and oil and beans from the outdoor markets (loshospedajes y la placita) in santiago, or even from surtidora for much less than in the super. i'm sure the people you visit know this, i can't imagine people without bathrooms shopping at jumbo (who knows, i could be wrong... but when my inlaws - also latrine users - come to visit, it's off to la placita we go...)
i sent a barrel for $120 and that included the barrel. so, $115 without the barrel seems a little high even.
You would have to fill up the whole thing with excellently priced goods in order for it to be worth it - the price differential is not so big that it's worth it IMO. Also, most dominicans are particular about their rice - so you might buythe wrong stuff and it would go to waste anyway. a few years ago taiwan donated tons (literally) of rice and the gov't gave it away in their baskets. i ended up with 40 pounds of it because nobody else wanted it, they said it was too wet and just "not right."
 

lisagauss

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Feb 16, 2011
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Fill it up to the rind with very cheap baby clothes. I`ll bet you will get a tiny profit.

I second this...your more likely to find a buyer for clothes than food as you can try contacting a local retail store to take all the clothes off your hands.
 

Criss Colon

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I ship boxes from Boston all the time.
Most of the "stuff" I get there for free,or VERY cheap.BUT,what you ship must be of high value here,or,unavailable.I ship used clothes,and lots of school supplies,VERY expensive here.I have sent high quality "Pots & Pans",slightly used.I ship "canned Hams"cheap there,expensive here,"SPAM" is cheap there,not here.I ship,"Toiletries" bought on sale there,expensive here."Mouthwash" costs a lot here. Since the "weight" is not important you can ship "Heavy Stuff" without worrying.I have also sent flat screen moniters,and a new "PC" as well.Cordless telephones,radios,etc. NEVER paid any "Duty".
I love it!
Cris Colon
"SHIP Ahoy"!
 

AlterEgo

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Jan 9, 2009
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We ship using tanques and boxes all the time - right now we have 7 boxes and a portable dishwasher waiting for us [flying down on Sunday].

I've never used them to ship food. Inside ours are things like pots/pans, kitchen items, a flatscreen tv, a tower fan, a windmill, a propane on-demand water heater, etc. We fill in 'gaps' with clothing. With each shipment, the company we use allows us to send [outside the box] cooking oil and rice, for no extra charge. I buy a giant 3 gallon jug-in-a-box of oil, and 20 pound bag of rice each time.

Think "small heavy things". No weight limit.

In decades of doing this, we've never had one thing taken, and never paid a cent of duty. We have had one or two things broken, probably our packing fault.

In your case, I'd recommend sending the baseball equipment. You can fill the empty spaces with food if there's room, but to send just food will probably cost more than buying it there. Now, I do know some people rather send food than money, because they know the food will be eaten,but the money might buy rum or lottery tickets......

Just be careful, you're obviously a guy with a big heart, don't let yourself be taken advantage of again. If you haven't found a home for the baseball stuff, we know a field in San Cristobal.
 

Criss Colon

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"Alter",Great Post!
It's nice to see that some posters "Get It",about "Things" in the DR,and without the ever present "AGENDA" that so many have.
Welcome "HOME"!
CC
 

eastcoastmike

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Unless they steal the phucking barrel which is what happened to my wife.She loaded the thing with clothes for the family and a million excuses later it never turned up.Shes now bringing the guy to court here in NY.If you do ship anything demand a drivers liscence from the guy who shows up and photo copy it.Also write down the # of the liscence plate of the truck that shows up!


By the way this was RYC Cargo Express
1093 Summit Ave,Bronx,NY

STAY AWAY!!!!!!!!!!
 

Criss Colon

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I use Cesar Cargo,in Boston/Lynn Mass.
"Living room to living room service!
When they deliver the box in the DR,they take a picture of the box sitting in your "living room".That avoids someone getting the box,and claiming they didn't.
"Mike",that can happen here!
CC
 

bob saunders

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Jan 1, 2002
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I fly West Jet and they ley us Canadian Military guys take 4 free checked bags, so we don't need no stinkn barrels.
 

Gordon

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Jan 24, 2011
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what you ship must be of high value here ..................."SPAM" is cheap there,not here..........
I love it!
Cris Colon
"SHIP Ahoy"!
" The labeled ingredients in the classic variety of Spam are chopped pork shoulder meat, with ham meat added, salt, water, modified potato starch as a binder, and sodium nitrite as a preservative. Spam's gelatinous glaze, or aspic, forms from the cooling of meat stock. The product has become part of many jokes and urban legends about mystery meat, which has made it part of pop culture and folklore." wikipedia. I never realized people actually ate this let alone export it. wow my trivia for the day
 

bob saunders

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" The labeled ingredients in the classic variety of Spam are chopped pork shoulder meat, with ham meat added, salt, water, modified potato starch as a binder, and sodium nitrite as a preservative. Spam's gelatinous glaze, or aspic, forms from the cooling of meat stock. The product has become part of many jokes and urban legends about mystery meat, which has made it part of pop culture and folklore." wikipedia. I never realized people actually ate this let alone export it. wow my trivia for the day

My brothers and I used to fry it and smother in mustard....hmmm good.
 

southwardbound2

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Jun 5, 2008
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AlterEgo;1054690 With each shipment said:
cooking oil and rice, for no extra charge. I buy a giant 3 gallon jug-in-a-box of oil, and 20 pound bag of rice each time.
So I assume that rice (which is raised in DR) is more expensive in DR than in USA?? Oil I can understand.

Which company does this? It would be nice to give these to my less fortunate DR friends.
 

AlterEgo

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So I assume that rice (which is raised in DR) is more expensive in DR than in USA?? Oil I can understand.

Which company does this? It would be nice to give these to my less fortunate DR friends.

We use Embarque Bella Vista, they're based in the Bronx, but pick up all over NY/NJ.

I send down Canilla rice for my mother-in-law, but for us I send good brown rice [Basmati] and Uncle Ben's. Hard to find brown rice there for some reason, or maybe I just look in the wrong places.
 

southwardbound2

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Jun 5, 2008
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will call them.
Here is my problem. We live in the DR and have no contacts on East Coast to ship to who could consolidate stuff and put into a barrel for us. And when we go back, we are in the West so the shipping to NYC is prohibitive; we have to get a free shipping deal to the DR barrel company. That totally cuts out used goods too. And buying that oil and rice.
So i need to find a shipper that will at least gather together the new stuff I order and put in the barrel for me. AND is a good price and reliable. Because we need/want things here that I can order on internet, but too expensive to ship one at a time.
Or maybe I just need to learn how to make friends! But since we never go to NY, that's going to be challenging. And I hate to ask for favors; would rather find that really good shipper who would go a little out of the way for us......
 
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amstellite

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Sep 5, 2007
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what happens is I go to Ole or Jumbo when I go there to buy groceries for the family... I buy 125 pounds of rice and it costs a fortune..tghe oil and baby milk powder is high in my opinion . My friends here all have volunteered to buy those bags of 20 pound rice when on sale for 6 bucks here when they spend 50 bucks on other groceries... so It wouldn t cost me much , if anything. I would just pay to send it all.....but all good advice here... maybe the barrel is a bad idea... I should send filled with other stuff harder to come by in the DR.. I dont think the difference in cost of barrel v cost of DR will pan out to be better after all...