Shipping cost $$$$$$ "nuts"!!!

just checked with greyhound to ship some oddball tires from ND to AZ, 2 dollars cheaper than fed ex lol

 

Man, there are a lot of whiners in this kindergarten. It is very expensive to do anything today and you need to reset your mindset. Really, "I'll never use ***-** again"? Fine, who suffers? You don't get your parts. It's like saying "I won't buy gas at $4.00 a gallon." Fine, don't drive anywhere. If you really want it, you've got to pay the going rate.

 

I've used Greyhound for a few things and "knock on wood" everything has gone smoothly. Like someone else said, a large item doesn't even have to be covered completely. I just pad/protect any vulnerable corners and let it go.

Frank

 

Fedex ground and good old US Post office parcel post have been good to me. Just shipped a pair of heavy wheels to Ohio via fedex ground, right at $30 for the pair, delivered to a residence and they arrived in two days. I thought that was a great price all things considered. You will save $ if you drop off at the fedex office and have item shipped to a business as well.

 

I pack everything I ship as if I bought it and wanted it to arrive as it looked in the photo. FedEx Ground works for me, Found out Greyhound has a local depot, so I may be using them again, used to be a 2 hour round trip to Bridgeport. Fuel and your drive time will be more that shipping costs in 99% of the times.

 

International shipping is even worse. It wasn't
'car parts' related, but I mailed a 6 lb. package
a few months ago to my girlfriend in Cuba - and
Canada Post charged me 65 dollars to mail it.
Even worse, after mailing it from Kitchener
Ontario, the package sat at a 'Canada Post'
parcel depot in Montreal for 5 full weeks before
finally leaving Canada. I had a tracer on the
package so I could see where it was during
transit, and after 4 weeks of seeing it sitting
in Montreal, I phoned up Canada Post and
sarcastically asked when they were going to
start charging me extra for storage! When it
finally did leave, it took just one day for it to
arrive in Cuba, one more day to clear Cuban
Customs and the Cuban postal authorities
hand delivered it to my girlfriend in Havana
just one day after that. Go figure?

Mart3406
=====================

 

Greyhound has worked well for me numerous times, but good packing is important. To the guy with the NORS fenders, sorry, a cardboard box and some packing paper is hardly "industrial grade" If your part is precious, pack it accordingly.

A very unscientific feedback based on trading in my two hobbies and watching the board posting comments of the ~30,000 people in them: East of the Mississippi, Fed Ex sucks + UPS is ok, West of the Mississippi, UPS sucks and Fed Ex is ok. Hey UPS, where is my intake that you "status: delivered"?

I specify USPS for small shipments anymore.

 

Having worked for UPS in my youth, I can assure you marking your package "fragile" means absolutley nothing to those guys!

 

FedEx is pretty good up here. Cheaper than UPS and USPS on large items.

The P.O. is filled with people that seem to hate their job and hate the people that go in there. Now I just print the label at home (online discount) and drop it off in the back by the trucks, I don't think they check it in but it gets on the next truck outta there.

Out of the country stuff would have a better chance getting there if I flushed it down the toilet! All I can track it to is Chicago, then it slips into a black hole and is never seen again. That's why I stopped sending stuff overseas because it NEVER gets there....ever. Or at least that's what always happens, I wouldn't think everybody overseas (about 15 different locations in the last two years) is lying about the non-delivery just to stiff me.

Oh, and the nearest Doghouse is now 40+ miles away.

 

I agree with the "no fragile stickers!" theory. I also have been told that putting "fragile" stickers on anything actually makes your item a target for unhappy employees who are looking for a way to make their employer "pay" for the miserable job they have. They treat your item especially harshly. I was told "if it's fragile don't post it!". When was the last time you saw a happy transportation or shipping worker?

Regarding the OP topic. I thought the buyer was responsible for shipping costs? Living down here in Australia I often pay more than an item's worth for shipping. It's all part of the cost. I know you guys are used to including shipping for marketing purposes but maybe it's time to start stating "shipping is your cost" in your ads? I for one expect to pay to have any item shipped to me at 100% my cost.

On the flip side when I sell things I pack them expecting a nuclear explosion (we always get funny feedback remarks about the "incredible" packing). It's a shame to see the damaged fender. I've had (original!) 32 grille shells sent to me with barely a wisp of bubble wrap sticky taped around half the shell and it's arrived perfectly in tact and undamaged and other times I've had 32 grille shells sent to me in what is only fraction less than a full size coffin wrapped in blankets and supported by foam and pellets.

Seems that shipping is getting more expensive for sure but my main worry is the care the sender has taken to protect the item.

 

Really?
Honestly man, ive been buyin from the states since im back in italy in 2004 and ive had a handful of items lost of hundreds delivered, and they were all in the same couple months and also i have suspicion that it was the post man w/ which i had a serious argument, that decided to bin them instead of deliverin.
Also, when i find that rare item, car on non car related and the seller doesnt wanna ship overseas it kinda pisses me off, after all i pay for the item and for the shipping, if it gets lost i sure get mad but not at the guy that sent it!

 

I also can't remember ever not getting anything I've bought from the US. I'm pretty sure that everything has arrived. I buy from eBay as well as the H.A.M.B. I often get stuff sent to me by USPS (UPS is way too expensive) or FedEx if the item is worth over $1,000. If you are losing everything you send I would say there is a serious problem somewhere and it's not with the system (maybe with a local agent?). I often get stuff shipped to me faster from the USA than I do from AUS.

 

I haven't sent an item across the pond for some time. Since my only choice was using the United States Postal Service to send the packages, I would prefer them go "Priority" but a lot of people don't like the rates, so I just sent them "First Class" with a prayer. Of course they don't show, and the P.O. says they can't track First Class packages...and they act like it's a hassle when I ask them to track a Priority package.

Here's a breakdown of my own success with overseas shipping:

Asia always receives their stuff...and fast.
England has a 90% success rate.
The rest of Europe (France, Italy, Germany, Etc.) is around 50% maybe a little less.
South Africa has received the one package I've sent there.
Australia is about 50%.

But I have noticed the "missing" packages have increased greatly in the past year...for me.

I'll ship overseas, but only Priority (greater success rate...but even it is declining) and nothing else. I can't track it past Chicago if I ship any other way.

 

I've found that USPS Priority Mail has the best chance of arriving and in one piece. Insurance is cheap, too. I've had just one lost package wiith the Post Office, and it was taken care of fairly quickly, once the claim was filed, it took two weeks. I actually shipped a door glass through the USPS, and it arrived in perfect condition! When I was statiojned in Germany years ago, I shipped what seemed like half a car to Germany. At the time, I was buiding a '67 Plymouth over there, and sent nearly an entire interior (except seats), lots of trim items, console, grille, steering column and mechanical parts from Oklahoma through the APO to Germany, and got everything intact!

Wish I could say the same for UPS, FexEx, and the others. I think Greyhound is good for wheels, bumpers and such, but I don't know if I'd trust auto body parts to arrive as-shipped.

If the seller is close enough (within 250 miles or so), I'd probably go get the part personally, and have done that before. A nice drive is always good!

 

I've been waiting 10 days for a fender from Las Vegas on Greyhound. I called the main tracking number and they say that it "should" be at the local depot but it's not checked in. The depot doesn't know what I'm talking about. Duh...what do you do now?

 

A close friend of mine runs a trucking outfit. Their fuel bill was $68,000...for last week!!! The next piss n moan post will be about paint related shit. 2 words for ya, "PETROLEUM DISTILLATES". Buy stock in KY lubricant. you're gonna need until these prices drop.

 

What is more expensive?

Shipping it 2500 miles for $150 bucks or Driving 2500 miles 3-4 days & Gas to pick it up?


I ship stuff UPS all over the world every day. Some customer call and whine about shipping a fender from Oregon to Alberta Canada. What did he expect? Its a huge part, going cross country and then into another country! Customs nails the guy too. UPS is adding gas surcharges all the time.

Trucking a whole front clip from Oregon to Tennessee? Shipped it last week for $430 bucks as quoted through Roadway. Until I got the bill. They threw on an extra $125 bucks for "additional fuel charges & Misc." Whose got to eat it? Not the purchaser. Me the seller.

Shipping ain't cheap. But what is cheap anymore.

 

gotta love the "this company lost it or that company broke it" whiners.

shipped about 3000 items all over the world using FED EX for the big stuff and USPS for everything else. shipped some big fenderwells via Greyhound once... no problems with Greyhound.

ONE shipment got lost in all that time. ONE . that was a fancy pen I sold for a friend for $100.00. I think the MF'er that bought it claimed he never got it because he didn't want to pay the brokers fees. he was in the UK and emailed a couple times to mark it as a gift on the customs form and I didn't.

ONE item got broken in transit... it was my fault since it was a long skinny piece of stainless trim that I should have shipped in a shipping tube but cheaped out and shipped it in a long box.

I'd say 9 out of 10 people with shipping problems cause the problem themselves.

as for prices being high... you need to do what you can do to keep that in check. I've boxed items up, did the calculations and have redone the box slightly smaller to save big money on shipping. after a certain measurement the price goes way up. I have literally cut a box 1 inch shorter and saved 30 bucks in shipping costs.

 

I've shipped and received a lot of heavy stuff,engines,tranny,rear axle assemblies,log splitters etc.Rule number one is packing it properly to take the punishment of loading docks.The only problem I had was getting items that weren't packed correctly.Like a guy ships me a tranny in a carboard box.The box was torn,the UPS label gone.The regular UPS guy who does my steet saw it at the terminal and said it's gotta be that guy out in the sticks down the long dirt driveway.I got it ok.

 

Very true. Dimension of the box really effects the price of shipping. USPS has size restrictions which cuts down on what I can ship through the mail. UPS brokerage fees for foreign customers are a shocker to many customers. Plus their countries customs take a cut.

I also don't put "Fragile" on anything. My UPS driver says the guys at the warehouse take it as a personal challenge.

 

I receive and ship parts everywhere and my outgoing shipping is not near as scary as my incoming shipping! When your in the business of hot rod parts most of your profit is lost just on incoming Shipping! it makes it a tough business!

 

Aint that the truth

if they ever do drop..usually when they find they can get the added $$..the price never drops, fuel can drop..but once it has made an effect on the price of some items, they never go back down

 

That's amazing! I've had just the opposite experience with Greyhound. A few years ago, I found and purchased a pair of original paint, no rust, front fenders from a 13k actual mile '67 Nova (the seller removed them and installed NOS fenders because he was eliminating the side molding and didn't want to fill the holes). I asked him to package them in separate boxes and send them via Greyhound. They arrived in separate boxes, as requested, but ZERO padding. He simply put the fender in a box and sealed it up. Neither fender received even a chip in the paint - I was very fortunate.

Since we normally send items "space available" (the cheapest shipping option), when using Greyhound. This means that the item might wait at a terminal for multiple days, waiting on a bus with enough space available in the luggage compartment to accept a large item. If I were guessing, I'd suspect that the damage happened outside of the bus. That area of the fender would be difficult to dent with just luggage. Of course, maybe someone had also shipped a third member that was rolling around in the compartment!

 

You might want to think about checking with one of the transporters on the HAMB O DEX to see if maybe you could meet one of us at an exit or rest area on route with a part. I personally have transported many parts if it fits with my vehicle transport especially if the buyer & seller can meet me along the way.
Bill

 

I've had many shipping nightmares. I needed a filter for a Koehring material handler. I had them send one next day air and three more via ground UPS. The three I had sent ground arrived the following day. The one sent next day air took 3 days.

Last month I had a belt speed sensor sent from Minneapolis to Eau Claire WI. Less than 100 miles. It was shipped on Tuesday night and should have arrived the following day but it didn't. On Thursday I tried to track it and UPS claimed they never got it. The shipper had the signed receipt showing that the driver had picked it up. Later that day, it showed up on a scan at a UPS facility in Ohio. According to their system, it was never loaded on the trailer it came off from. I thought they might fix their blunder by shipping it to me next day air but it took until Tuesday to get it to me.

I have terrible luck. I had critical parts being shipped by air on 9-11-01 when all planes were grounded for three days. I've had the best luck with Fed Ex. Remember they also have freight service for large items at considerably lower prices.

 

While back I shipped 4 MW Spyders across the country and UPS ran about $210. I have another set and fellow HAMBer recommended I check out FedEx Ground because they were Cheaper. Heavy on the WERE. FedEx quoted me $340 for a duplicate set from 48837 to a San Diego zip code. I drove down to the UPS store and recieved an estimate for the same wheels, to and from the same zip codes. $160.00.. Go figure.

 

Another solution is a site called Yesterday's Tractors . This site has folks looking for shippers to take their vehicle(s) and/or large parts, engines, etc from Point A to Point B. They also accept people that are listing empty trailer space that is available to haul. Listing there is free.

http://www.ytmag.com/cgi-bin/haulquery.pl

 

i to have lost out on a good deal simply because i couldnt pay the shipping so getting my 31 pickup together one piece at a time has taken its toll

 

When it comes to shipping items smaller than a roof by UPS, Fedex, etc. pay close attention to the size of the package, sometimes if you're right on the threshold of the next oversize another inch can more than double the cost.

I recently sold a Suburban grille and headlight doors, had to 'engineer' the packaging to ship it for $15 because an inch longer or wider and it'd have been $42.

Likewise, I've had stuff (wheels, for instance) that were cheaper to ship individually than combined, because of weight-vs-size thresholds.

It's been my limited experience that marking something 'FRAGILE - DO NOT DROP' is about as effective as writing 'CASH - DO NOT STEAL' on the package. Maybe no one will drop it off a forklift, but don't count on it not being shoved around, dropped a foot by a guy dragging it off a bus or truck when he's three minutes from the end of his shift and can't get anyone to help him unload, etc. If you care that much, you need to crate it.

 

Start an account with Fed-Ex. I've had an account with them for about 10 years now and have never had anything lost or broken in transit and I've shipped over 1000 boxes over that time. The discount between a walk-in customer and someone with an account is decent. I also use a shipping company called "Speede Delivery" they ship in North Dakota, Minnesota, South Dakota, Montana, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois and who knows the other states they go. They are the cheapest and quickest I have found for shipping. I shipped a 51' Merc rear bumper to to a guy in Illinois for $15!! A complete front seat to a guy in Wisconsin for $22!! I dont see how Speede can be making any money with rates like that!