Shipping gear ahead

Ive got a trip coming up and Im thinking of shipping my housing/ports/lights ahead of me by UPS ground. Curious if people think thats a good or bad idea. Probably lock it in a well padded Pel case shipped the week before and have it held for pickup at the nearest UPS store to my hotel. Is this sane? Should I also keep a small kit in carry-on as a backup plan? Is a Pel case the best shipping options?

wow.... is this sane? Is anything sane any more?

Dunno, may view has always been to never be separated from your kit. Hold-loaded is about as far as I'd risk.

It sounds a great idea and reduces, potentially, lots of hassle. But it's that "Sorry Mr Mackman, yes, we do indeed guarantee 3-day delivery but, y'know, the vanman was sick, the new one, well it was his first round and he mixed up. Y'know how it goes. Would Thursday week be ok? If we can find your, did you say it was a suitcase?"

Actually all that is wishful thinking. My experience is that you have to use a pay-through-the-nose phone number to be told nothing helpful.

Carry backup! Better still, take it all with you. Avoid the heartache.

If you are going to mail anything ahead, then ship your DIVE gear not your camera. You can almost always rent dive gear in a pinch, and it's generally less fragile than cameras. Probably less expensive too.

I've mailed Dive gear a few times domestically when the circumstances were right and it is really not that expensive from USPS. Arrange it with your hotel in advance.

And if it is late being delivered, or is lost in transit, or maybe is pushed off the 6 ft high truck tail gate, or .......?

There are enough gremlins out there in under water photography that you don't need help from UPS!

Pay your nickel and take a chance!

Sounds like a horrible idea to be honest. I’d never do it.

Also sounds like it would be a lot more expensive than just bringing it with you.

My advice is to not ship it ahead!

I've shipped dive gear ahead. It was expensive, but cheaper than the excess baggage on the flights I had. Then I took the camera gear and some more dive gear with me as per normal.

Same rationale as the others in this thread - if the dive gear got lost, much greater chance I could rent a replacement on arrival while the bag was tracked down or replaced.

The other thing to consider is that if you are shipping internationally you will need to declare the value of the goods and possibly pay import duties and tax on them.