Is there any reasonable cost means to ship a dash?

I just quoted to ship a '59 Chevy dash from New York to North Carolina. Best rate I could come up with was $135, FedEx ground to a business. That's close to three times what it cost the last time I sent something that was around 65x24x18. I realize fuel prices are up, but holy ****. UPS wants a billable weight of 193 lbs for a piece of tin that maybe weighs 30 with the gauges in it (and $193 and change to ship it, too). And it must be too big for postal, their calculator keeps coming up with an error message.

I even quoted for cutting it in half and sticking the pieces inside each other, and it was still over $100.

Any ideas what else I can do? Greyhound? DHL? I mean, for $200 I could drive the thing there myself if I had a car that would pull 30 MPG.

 

Greyhound

 

If both of you are close enough to Greyhound terminals that handle freight, their rates are pretty competative for something that size and weight.

http://www.shipgreyhound.com/

I have shipped a 65 Chevelle trunk lid and a 51 Merc coupe door that way at different times.

 

unfortunately shipping cost are thru the roof now days. i would try Greyhound or DHL.

 

you could always try for a relay. I'm about 4 hours east of you and go to within 5 minutes of Wilmington Del. almost every day. If somebody going that way could meet up with me it would get there eventually

 

This is all goofed up. I just rechecked a package that's 33x25x18 to St. Louis and got about the same rate as I did in February. But when I ran for this one cut in half at 35x24x24 I still got $101 for a rate earlier. Lets try this again:

Now this is more like it. $35 for 35x24x18, to a business. Why did it tell me $101 earlier? But it still says $140 for 65x24x18. Even if I cut it in half and sent it in two seperate boxes, that's cheaper, that doesn't make any sense. The cubic dimension of the 65 inch box is less than what it would be for two 35 inch boxes.

Now this is weird. 60x12x18 gave me a reasonable price, about $30. But 60x18x18 gave me a rate of just over $100.

What I am going to have to do is just pack the damned thing up in as tight a box as possible and see what it fits. For some reason going from 15x18 to 18x18 on a 60 inch box more than doubles the price, from reasonable to rediculous. If I have to I'll take the damned gauges out and tape them inside the thing, that should let me pack it tighter without worrying they'll get smashed.

 

Just remember when looking at Greyhound for rates, it does not add the insurance or their fuel surcharge (I think 9%) on the computer. You will be greeted with those amounts at the depot.

Fed Ex, UPS, etc do it too. I shipped out a radiator and shell Fed Ex. I put in the correct weight and measurements. The Computer said $55.
The Fed Ex place charged me $89.

I got to eat the difference.

 

Greyhound works great! shipped a 32 cowl once..............WHOLE FREAKIN COWL!

 

Tman is right. I shipped two sets of heavy bucket seats (GM A-Body) from TX to CA a few years ago... it was about $1.00 per pound.

 

Most of the time with Greyhound you can figure about 10-15% additional above the cost you calculate online. They do have a 100 lb per package limit.

I think the 51 Merc door cost me about 70 bucks to ship to NJ a couple of years ago.

If you still have it in one piece it looks like about 60.00 with the added fees tacked on.

 

the post office will carry it..I've gotten rockers from the Green Mountain guy this year,and I think he uses only USPS ..and they come in big*** boxes...my mailman keep telling me to get my big business stuff shipped through them,too...both times the boxes arrived in good condition..dunno about online calculator,try taking it to the post office wrapped up and see what they say

 

I just shipped a door to ND by Greyhound, $60. UPS wanted $120

 

I just shipped a package to California to a HAMB member by DHL the rate I got on the DHL website and the rate I paid was $20.00 LESS. Yes, the HAMBer gets a refund, but there is something wrong with the rates floating around. Greyhound is great for large items, but I'm an hour+ round trip away from the depot, so it takes some time to work in the trip in my schedule.

 

The reason it's so much more ***embled is because it's oversized. FedEx charges an extra $45.00 for oversize and $100 base rate. Even the post office would charge $120 because of it's size.

 

I had a steel front fender for my 35 Ford pickup shipped from California to Miami FL for $60.00 via Greyhound. I'm pretty sure that fender is larger than your dash.

 

DHL is the only way to go. i ship bicycle all the time. never once paid over 50 dollars any where. ups ****s

 

I got a '32 cowl from Greyhound too! Sent a one piece 1923 Franklin grill and hood to LA once, that was a huge box. Bobby, build that car!

 

DHL closed their doors here yesterday.

It means three more parking spots available in the parking lot though as they used the same parking lot that we do for employee parking.

Sending bulky items by the dog is usually the best deal all around.

 

fwiw, a friend just had 2 32 p'u doors shipped from new york to alabamy, and after all the chekin and stuff with diff shippers, U.S. mail was the cheapest.

 

I shipped several dashes USPS Parcel Post. Just pad the sharp edges with newspaper and wrap the dash in heavy black vinyl (I used heavy garbage bags), put a label on it and mail it. They measure length and widest cir***ference to get total inches and weight for the cost. I shipped a buick dash from s.dakota to california for $35 or so, don't remember exactly.

 

I shipped 2, U P S Took them and I thought it was resonable.$35 or so

 

It sure sounds like Greyhound is a bargian an they probably have less "problems" with crushed and dropped items that UPS etc. do


It sounds like it's time for me to make the switch, UPS is a rip off and the 'others' may have a Slightly cheaper price than UPS, but Greyhound rates seem to be much much cheaper.



Great Posts, Great Thread, Useful info ......



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let the dog do it.
greyhound has worked for me, and very reasonable..get on it now before they jack up their prices too

 

I have shipped and received many car parts - doors, big deck lids, cowls, fenders etc, with Greyhound and use them in preference for larger items because they hand load stuff, you can mark it "Do not stack" and they usually won't as there is only limited space. They do not destroy your stuff through some mindless fully automated crushing - oops I mean handling - center. Sometimes they will relay stuff and it takes a bit longer. The other drawback is you have to take it to their station and pick up from there - no biggie really. Insurance limit is $300 though.

The h***le of fighting and claiming insurance is far more effort than having a part arrive undamaged. Use FedEx only "if it absolutely positively must be late and destroyed" - I have had FeEx black listed for the past seven years - they do not honor their insurance even faced with original receipts for new items. This has happened to me on several occasions. Once they offered me $200 for a new $700 item which they damaged in the manufacturers original packaging - custom styrofoam form and double boxed. Then said 'we'll pick it up for inspection', they charged my account for picking it up to inspect, damaged it worse, sent it back and charged for re-delivering it! Closed my account immediately and will never use them. Told them to stuff their measly $200 "Offer" too.

Yep, the dog works great for me.

 

I'm a Greyhound fan as well, shipped a bunch of oversized automotive components with them.

 

I have to ship a 4 spd trans and I am using DHL, seemed pretty reasonable. Most everything else tho I use USPS.

 

DHL was less than HALF of what I got quoted by FedEx or UPS for shipping a BIG bumper. It's not always the case, but for the big stuff it pays to shop around. It seems if it's a weird shpe, then DHL is cheaper, but if it's just a standard box that's heavy as ****, UPS or FedEx is less - go figure. Good luck.

 

If you can, when using UPS or FedEx,ALWAYS ship to a business address. I find this is usually about a third to half less than shipping to a home address. Maybe they figure someone will always be at the business? Now if my employees would just stop getting my car parts mixed up with their *** toy party shipments.

 

greyhound if your close to them. the thing about them is you need to talk to them in person to make sure its packaged right. always write down the day,time and who gave you a quote. had a door shipped from kansas to wa. 60lbs for right at $60 bucks.

 

I will also recommend Greyhound. I shipped two caddy fenders this way with zero problems. The other thing they dont' tell you on the website, is it's space available. Looks like your part could get there in a day or two...might take 2 weeks depending on transfers and how busy they are. I got one fender to the east coast from Texas in a week, the other to Philly in 10 days. They only have a length and weight restriction...just wrap it up really well!