So, I've got a fella interested in one of my Muncie 319, 3 speed with overdrive, transmissions. Seems a lot of guys here on the HAMB have nothing but praise for Fastenal, so I thought I'd give them a try. First of all however, we can pretty much rule-out UPS; those guys can break a bowling ball (the last time I used them to ship the same type of trans in my reusable crate, was just over $250.00/my customer worked for UPS and got a $100.00 discount based on that). Fastenal wants the trans in a wooden crate; no problem there, as it was already made, and is reusable. Plus, they want the crate strapped to a pallet (???). And, they want $230.36 shipping Washington State to Michigan. And, all the paperwork has to be done online before taking the crate into the local Fastenal for drop off and payment. Hoops, hoops, and more hoops!!! Just for the heck of it, I contacted Fed-Ex, and they quoted $185.57, and 4 days transit time to get there. Guess who we're going to use? That's real world experience/costs. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.
Last time a shipped a trans it was a T5 and I used FedEx. I mounted it to a couple of 2x4s, wrapped it in shrinkwrap, carried it into the FedEx store and set it on their scale. California to South Carolina - $85. About $1 per pound. Fastenal is a h***le and UPS is a joke! For me it's always been FedEx for ******s, Greyhound for body panels and USPS for practically everything else.
FedEx has three divisions...Express, Ground, and Freight. Might want to clarify which service you are using?
Size of the crate and weight makes it freight. Going to be taking it over to Fed-Ex after lunch. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.
I am amazed that a T5 wrapped in shrink/bolted to pine made the FedEx gauntlet un****hed. I can barely get one across my shop without breaking some part off it. Congrats on a successful mission!
Shipping has become a bit of a pain. I was a big fan of FedEx Ground until they improved their website to the point it is unusable for getting a quote. The Post Office gets most of my eBay packages. If the USPS vs FedEx Ground is within a $25.00 difference the post office gets the lump. Round trip to FedEx in good traffic takes an hour of my life. I was happy with the few Fastenal deals I've had, but they were large items. Bob I did NOT forget UPS...……….I've tried, but the brown trucks are a constant reminder.
Last week. I got box from Amazon delivered by USPS in absolutely perfect condition. Handed directly to my wife with a smile by our mail carrier. Unfortunately, instead if a set of mower blades, it was completely empty. Great service by USPS, though.
Many of the modern box warehouse deals like Amazon don't understand how to pack a heavy part...they figure if they throw in a piece of packing material of some kind, it's "packaged". to do it right, you have to keep the part from moving inside the box. That takes a lot more material, and some thought.
My cousin worked at an Amazon warehouse and they push those people so hard to fill orders that I can understand why they may not do the best job packaging.
Any issues with Amazon, jeff@amazon.com is your friend. Obviously he doesn't read all of these emails but he does read some of them AND they all get read but people with the horsepower to correct problems.
I can't say that it is the best post company, but I use the services of China EMS often, and I was never challenged with problems with their services. I usually buy things from China, and transporting my parcels to the United States never bothered me. I am always using the china post tracking, and I can whenever I want to check the status of the parcel that is on its way, so I can be sure that it will arrive or make some estimations of when it will arrive at the local post office. If you buy something from China, I recommend this company.
We are now shipping our T5's in a special double box from U Line. We put plywood on each end and the bottom and put the trans in a heavy duty garbage bag, put it in the box and fill the box with expandable spray foam insulation. Has worked so far. We were using a returnable container but the 2 way freight got out of hand.
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