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M

mxp01

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Gentlemen:

I recently sold a pair of Sprite fenders on Ebay. I boxed them up and went to UPS, who wanted $165 per box to ship these (each weighs 25 pounds).

I went to the Post Office, but they said the boxes were too big.

Does anyone have a carrier they can recommend for affordable oversize shipping?

Mike Pennell
 
I use FEDEX Ground...but you have to be within their size limits or they'll give you a 'truck freight' quote which is what, I'd bet, UPS did.
 
Another option, if FedEx ground won't take them is GPX.....Greyhound Package Express. They take large and odd shaped things and are fairly reasonable.

The bad thing is they only deliver to certain bus stations, so it isn't door to door and the recipient may even have to drive to another town to pick it up. Also, the insurance offered is capped at $300, so don't ship anything really pricey.


I've used them on several occasions and have never had a problem or other delivery related issues. Worth checking out.
 
Hey, Mike - where do they need to go? Maybe we can get a BCF "Pony Express" going...

Mickey
 
mrsprite said:
Another option, if FedEx ground won't take them is GPX.....Greyhound Package Express. They take large and odd shaped things and are fairly reasonable.

The bad thing is they only deliver to certain bus stations, so it isn't door to door and the recipient may even have to drive to another town to pick it up. Also, the insurance offered is capped at $300, so don't ship anything really pricey.


I've used them on several occasions and have never had a problem or other delivery related issues. Worth checking out.
Click to expand...

I shipped a bonnet this way. Houston to Tucson was ~$90 standard, and ~$115 "expedited". At the standard rate they can pull it out and let sit if they are short on room and for the expedited rate they guaranteed that it would get to Tucson on the next bus (less then 24 hrs as I recall).

I paid the extra, because I was nervous about my bonnet sitting for days on end in El Paso where it was scheduled to change buses. As it turns out it did sit in El Paso for 12 hours and because of this delay on expedited service I got a full refund. I only asked for the ~$25 difference.

Brian
 
The cost of shipping is crazy lately. I would suspect that FedEx would be very comparable to UPS.

If there is any way to get both fenders into the same box it would probably save you quite a bit. From my experience, when the package is oversized, the size is the factor, not so much the weight. So if the package is the same size but weighs 40#, it will probably only be $150.

UPS.com is a great way to determine shipping price. Just be sure to enter the actual box size.... It's what matters.
 
How about a bike box? Is a fender too wide to fit into one of those? You could try it at least. Your local bike shop would probably be happy to let you take away one of the boxes a new bike is shipped in.

edit: if it does fit, fedex will take it. a bike in a box weighs about 40lbs. and usually costs about $75 to ship.
 
For large door to door service I use DHL. Otherwise Greyhound.
 
Isn't DHL shutting down the US operations?
 
Trevor Jessie said:
Isn't DHL shutting down the US operations?
Click to expand...
Part of them....somehow UPS is gonna get them.
 
Might want to look into Forward Air. https://www.forwardair.com/

If you have airports near you, it's a great way to ship stuff for cheap.
 
Well, I consolidated the shipment (two fenders) into a single box, cut down the height and length of the box, and finally got UPS to take it for $55, a far cry from the $350 they were first quoting.

I give up on this big stuff. I've got a hood for a 1967 Sprite that's in decent shape, with a little corner rust. I put it on Ebay, but didn't get any takers at $40 (my minimum if I was going to go through all the shipping hassles). It's under my deck right now, but will be going to the scrap yard if no one is interested.

IF you are interested, you must arrange pickup with me by the end of December.

Mike Pennell
 
mxp01 said:
Well, I consolidated the shipment (two fenders) into a single box, cut down the height and length of the box, and finally got UPS to take it for $55, a far cry from the $350 they were first quoting.
Click to expand...

WOW! from $350.00 down to $55.00!?!?

That's amazing!!

I hate it that they try to rip off the "newbie" when he doesn't know how to game the system. I guess you just have to know how the system works and try to pack your items within the limits....

I recently had some parts & tools shipped over from the UK... Initial estimates were RIDICULOUS, but after we explored the package sizing threshholds we managed to get the price to something reasonable. OH, and pricing it locally from within the UK was MUCH CHEAPER than getting a price quote from the website....

"Cheers!"
-Bear-
 
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