Shipping Furniture

[John Scane]

Hi Everyone

I'm trying to get some quotes for shipping a large solid wood table from Long Beach, CA to Raleigh, North Carolina. I have no idea what this might cost but I need to get a ballpark figure for the client so I can seal the commision deal.
I figure with the crate it might weigh 200 lbs ?

Any suggestions?

UPS is out as they wanted several thousand dollars.

Thanks

[Jim Becker]

I believe that Alan Turner commented on shipping awhile back. You may want to do an advanced search to find it and similar.

[Chris Padilla]

John,

Call some of the airlines at the airports and ask about shipping cargo through them. I used to pick up cargo from the various airlines at their cargo ports all the time when I worked a previous job. My company would just ship stuff I needed to the closest airport and I'd go get it.

[Alan Turner]

John,
I used FedEx, and it severly ruined a table I shipped to the LA area. They were a bear to deal with on the claim for damage, and I gave up and settled cheap after about 40 phone calls. Very frustrating. I no longer use FedEX.

So, I built a second table, and sent it via Freighters & Craters. The FedEx was $80; C&F was about $340. They picked it up, crated it, delivered it, and uncrated it. It was fully insured for the sale price. Were I to ship again, I would simply put the cost of the C&F bid into the price and not goof around building an elaborate crate, etc.

I don't know that they are the only game in town, but they worked out fine for me.

Good luck.

[Steve Wargo]

I believe that Rob Millard ships all of his furniture with Freighters & Craters too. I've never used them, but have not heard anything bad about them. Good luck.

[Jeff Horton]

http://www.freightquote.com/

[Earl Kelly]

I don't know if they go to that side of the country, but Plycon does blanket wrapped delivery of furniture. I had several pieces delivered up to Ohio without damage. A good delivery service is not cheap I would figure $200-$500.

[Rob Millard]

John,

I have shipped dozens of pieces with Craters & Freighters and I’ve been extremely pleased with the service. They are not cheap, so you are looking at $300-400 for your table( more if there won't be a person or persons on hand to unload, as there is a $100 lift gate charge) ; but considering that they must pick it up, crate it, and consign it to a third party shipper, I don’t think it is out of line. I would call them directly for a quote, fully describing the piece, because the web based quote is too general and may not accurately reflect the true cost. There is a substantial savings in send more than one piece to the same location. For instance, I’m sending a card table and mirror to Boston, for $435.00, but sent separately they would be $350.00 each.
The only thing you need to do when shipping anything, is to have a paid receipt in hand before consigning the piece to the shipper. Without this, should anything happen, you’d have a hard time collecting on a claim. Whenever possible, I have the customer pay the shipper directly, so they are the ones who would coordinate any claim.
Rob Millard

[Lee Schierer]

I made a deresser for my son a few years ago and shipped it by common carrier from Erie, PA to Tucson, AZ. The cost was about $250. I think the crate and dresser ended up weighing about 300 pounds. I totally enclosed the dresser in a box made of 1/2 OSB with 2 X 2 frame inside and made a pallet of 2 X 4's for it to sit on. I made sure there was at least 2" of clearance inside the box so that any thing that penetrated the OSB would have to go at least 2 more inches before it hit the dresser. The skid was configured so a fork lift could handle it. I bolted the botom dust panel of the dresser to the skid to hold it down. Wrapped the entire dresser in 1/4" microfoam padding, covered that with 8 mill polyethylene sheeitng. I also made a shipping bar that fit inside the back playwood panel that held the drawers in the closed position for shipping. The box was marked this end up and do not stack or top load.

They delivered the dresser to the driveway. It arrived in perfect condition after the trucking company accidently took it all the way to California and had to bring it back to Tucson. I think the trip took just over a week. Some freight companies will not deliver unless you have a loading dock, so make sure you ask when you get rates.

Remember... gravity sometimes fails in the back of trucks going down the highway so all parts must be securely tied down.

[rick fulton]

John,

Glad to see you posting again. How did your run-in with the electrical inspector work out? I assume you are now up to code. How was it solved?

Any new projects (pics) that are not documented on your web site? Your designs are always inspiring; clean lines, well proportioned, sensual, quality art. You make it look easy.

Hope your pulling enough business to pay your shop expenses. Southern Cal utility rates must put some hurt on the bottom line.

rick

[John Scane]

Hey Thanks Everyone,

I have been away from here for awhile...not just here but from the computor in general. I went on a road trip traveling the country for a month and then moved to a new apartment. Now I am moving again to a townhouse my wife and I just bought. So I am still busy. I do have some pics of the bubinga bed I made and I will try and post them soon.
Thanks for the help with the shipping stuff. I will call C&F I think.