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Author Topic: Any Freight / Shipping company recommendations?  (Read 5092 times)

Offline squasher

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Any Freight / Shipping company recommendations?
« on: December 10, 2009, 09:53:46 AM »
Does anyone have any recommended carriers / shipping companies that will do all the shipping legwork for large decks (i.e. pickup / packing / crating / shipping)?

Here's where I'm coming from:

I have been on the lookout for a good deal on a top-end professional deck (i.e. Studer, etc.). Unfortunately, most of the good deals (ebay) are "pickup-only" due to the size and hassle. What I need are companies / individuals that will pickup the deck, prepare it for shipping / freight, and ship it to me (where I could pick it up at a Terminal that is local to me). Are there any companies out there that will provide the service I'm looking for?

Thanks in advance.
Chris Kniker

Offline Studer Fool

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Re: Any Freight / Shipping company recommendations?
« Reply #1 on: December 10, 2009, 06:32:15 PM »
Mayflower Transit has an offering for shipping large studio mixer consoles, Xerox machines and the like (such as a R2R studio machines).  Starts at a flat $600 and goes up once you exceed a certain weight.  At least when I used them back in 2007 to ship my A80VU.  They go to the origin put it on a pallet if needed and wrap it.  It then came to the end of my driveway by truck where they hand-trucked it into my garage.  All for $600.  Pricey but good service.  I don't think any A80 would exceed the base price weight limit.  Mixer consoles routinely do, and thus cost more.

-cdw
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Offline ironbut

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Re: Any Freight / Shipping company recommendations?
« Reply #2 on: December 10, 2009, 07:16:45 PM »
Excellent info CW!
I could see this becoming a really important thread.

If we can get similar info from other members who've shipped large delicate machines we can put this into a sticky for other folks.
I think that the data that CW gave in the post below would be perfect.
So,.. the machine that was shipped, the services offered (like pick up/drop off), price with the year shipped, and your satisfaction with the shipping.
steve koto
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Offline Teeg

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Re: Any Freight / Shipping company recommendations?
« Reply #3 on: December 11, 2009, 10:48:27 AM »
  I have an account with FreightQuote.Com and have used them to ship some large items, including expensive electronics. They are only a point to point shipper; the prep and packing would have to be already taken care of.
  Price varies depending on what type of service you need at each end, such as lift gate, etc, but their rates are considerably lower than other shippers I've used in the past and so far service has been excellent. Shipped two studio decks with them this year.

Tj
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Offline jeri

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Re: Any Freight / Shipping company recommendations?
« Reply #4 on: December 11, 2009, 01:03:30 PM »
Chris,

If the shipping weight, including packaging, is 150 lb or less you can ship it by a delivery service such as Fedex, UPS, etc.  Heavier packages or packages larger than a combined length plus girth of 165 inches must ship by freight.

For freight shipping, I had good luck with freightquote.com.  They are freight brokers who deal with many freight carriers.  I found them to be very knowledgable and helpful, and I thought I got good pricing from them.  Their discount was better than I could get on my own.  Shipping costs weren't too bad, but I had to pay an extra $60 fee for a lift gate at the shipper's end since they didn't have a loading dock.  I was shipping business to business, but there would have been another fee if either end was a residence.

If you are checking freight costs, be sure you know what freight class is being quoted.  Higher classes are supposed to represent a higher degree of handling difficulty and of course a higher cost.  My shipment was based on freight class 110, and I was told this is appropriate for tape machines.  I specified nothing be stacked on top of the machine -- I don't know if that is part of freight class 110 or not.

Be warned -- the carrier's limit of liability for used machines is only $0.10 per pound no matter what value you declare unless you specifically buy and pay for insurance.  (So if your Studer A827 24-track is destroyed, you'll get less than $100 back!)  Insurance is expensive.  I paid something like $45 per $1000 of coverage with a $100 deductible.

The shipper blanket-wrapped and stretch-wrapped the machine to prepare it for shipping.  We could have added styrofoam boards for more protection, but didn't.  I decided to ship it on it's own casters as a roll-on rather than palletize it.  The only damage was one caster that was ripped from the bottom and mangled.  In hindsight, I think I was lucky that nothing worse happened.

I also shipped another machine using "The Packaging Store".  This is NOT the UPS store (who can handle grandma's vase, but are utterly clueless about packing tape machines).  The Packaging Store is a franchise company handling business machines, antiques, fine art, etc.  The one I used was associated with Parker K. Bailey in Maine.  They handled everything and were outstanding.  I had them crate the machine in a wooden crate.  Crating was expensive and added a lot to the shipping weight, too.  We discussed using a triple-wall RSC (aka "corrugated box") instead, but I don't remember why we didn't go that way.  As I recall, crating costs were around $5 per cubic foot.  I have heard estimates in the range of $5-10.  The machine arrived in absolutely perfect condition.

Another full service company is Craters & Freighters.  They were recommended to me by several people, but I haven't used them.  They may be worth a phone call.

The $600 Mayflower Transit deal sounds like a real bargain!  When I was investigating, I checked with the moving company we use.  Even with our corporate discount, it was going to cost well over $1000 plus insurance.  So I gave up on movers as a possibility.  Maybe I gave up too soon!

Jeri
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Offline squasher

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Re: Any Freight / Shipping company recommendations?
« Reply #5 on: December 14, 2009, 09:42:05 AM »
Thanks for the very helpful information.

Chris
Chris Kniker