Shipping and Crating

[Mike Cruz]

Okay, so I need a woodworking machine crated and shipped to me. I've never done this before, so I'm totally lost. How do those of you that have done this before go about finding a reputable company to package up and ship an item in some other area from where you live? Thanks for your help.

[Jeff Duncan]

A little more info may help with your responses. Generally speaking whomever is shipping the machine will take care of the crating. The freight company does not usually have anything to do with this part. They're job is to pick up and deliver. You may have to pay extra to have the seller crate it, but I don't really know anything about the type of situation your in. Assuming it really needs to be crated that is....not all machines do, I haven't had any of my machines crated, though I did crate one I shipped out, as it had a lot of small parts and air lines that would have been easily damaged.

You hire the freight company of your choice to transport the machine. Some guys use Freightquote.com and have had good luck with them. I personally I use SBT as they've given me the best prices and service. You provide the addresses of pick-up and drop off and any other pertinent info such as size, weight, residential or business locations and they'll do the rest.

good luck,
JeffD

[Jim Rimmer]

We use crating companies here at work from time to time. What city is the tool in that needs to be crated? Maybe a local Creeker can help find a comapny. How to find a good one? Check with some companies in the area that may use them. If they have been in business for 10 years or so, my guess would be they do a good job. It's not a high profit business so bad craters don't last long. I have no idea how much it would cost. A lot depends on what type of crate.

[johnny means]

Uship.com is our go to source for shipping. Sort of like eBay for shipping services. You list your shipment and shippers will make offers. You can check out feedback and ratings on the shippers. A lot of them will be movers just trying to fill out a load or pick up a little something on the return home. A lot of times the shipper we used would simply pack my things like any other household good and load it on their truck/trailer in a safe manner. Ironically, these guys always delivered my goods in perfect condition and treated things with kid gloved. While things I crated and shipped via freight carrier always faired poorly.

[Mike Cruz]

Thanks, guys. I'll look into those avenues. Still open to other suggestions, too.

[David Nelson1]

hmmmm I smell a future gloat!

[Mike Cruz]

Only if I can get it here. BTW, the price is certainly good. But with shipping, I think it will eat into that quite a bit. If I gloat about it, it will be because I'm glad to have IT, not because of the price.

[David Nelson1]

LOL Understood and just messing with ya.

[Steve Rowe]

Check with riggers local to the machine. Sometimes they offer a service to pickup, crate, and put on a truck. There is one rigger in my area that does this and the service has been used by a purchaser of one of my old and heavy (1500lb) machines.
Good luck.

[Don Jarvie]

Mike, get the wife and family in the car and head out on a road trip.

[Mike Cruz]

You mean the wife, the two dogs, and 5 horses on a 1000 mile (each way) road trip? Hmmmmm, let me think about that...

[Mike Cruz]

pakmail seems to be the cheapest. A local specialty company is almost double. But they would be packing it "correctly" and uberthoroughly. Thank you everyone for your help.

[Chris Tsutsui]

Wow, I remember your location used to be San Diego so I guess you moved?

I just had a 1000lb machine shipped from Delaware to Socal which is a similar distance.

A pallet generally runs $20-$25. Then you put the machine on the pallet and can use brackets or bolts to secure it down. Felder just covers it with cardboard, adds some bubble wrap padding, and adds a tip sensor on the box... They then wrap it all in plastic to protect from elements. A palleting fee would likely be $100. I'm not quite sure if you would need "crating" unless it was to go in a container or something like that.

Standard Freight with a class of 55 to 100 would be around $600. This includes markup. Add liftgate service will be an extra $85.

When I had my machine shipped from Felder to socal I only paid $328 which includes residential liftgate service of 1000lb machine on 4x7' pallet. I went through a third party logistics company (Jarrett logistics) that finds the best price from various freight companies. The freight company they chose was estes express. My shipping quote from Felder was $750 so I saved a lot on shipping by setting it up myself. Felder of course palletized the machine and I just had JLS contact felder to coordinate the pickup.

My work ships pallets daily and my experience shows the most damage comes from R&L carriers. So just made sure that they didn't ship my machine. :)

Delivery took exactly 4 business days and everything went smooth.

[Mike Cruz]

Chris, you must be thinking of someone else because I've been here my whole life. Actually, I'm only going 1/3 of the country in delivery with this item. So, you'd think that it would be cheaper than your machine...but it isn't. Thanks for the tip on that company though...

[Mike Cruz]

Well, even though I told the seller that I wanted it, and it was just a matter of finding a shipping company (which I did), looks like he found a local buyer and is selling it to him...win some-lose some. :mad:

[Trevor Howard]

Sorry on your loss Mike.

Now all these good answers, about shipping and no details and now you lost it. The suspense is killing me, any chance you can let us know what you were trying to get shipped?? :D

[Joe Angrisani]

What was it, Mike, and how much was it? Just curious now that the cat doesn't need to be kept in the bag.

[Dan Hintz]

A 5HP cyclone... partially assembled, and I think it was in the $700 range. A good deal, but man, heck of a drive to pick it up

[Mike Cruz]

Well, THANKS for blowing that one, Dan. :)

Actually, I had a bit of a "sour grapes" moment when I posted my last comment. While true, there may have been some miscommunication. It still might happen. But I don't know. Basically, the seller wanted to sell with local pick up only. Why he entertained shipping (maybe no other interest) is unknown. But when a local buyer expressed interest, I think it was easy and tempting. No hard feelings. If it wasn't meant to be, then there's a reason. If I get it, there's a reason... What I'm afraid of is that one of the shippers I contacted decided to call in on it...:rolleyes:

[Dan Hintz]

Uh, sorry Mike... didn't realize you wanted to be the one to unveil an item you were no longer going to get ;) Is that an anti-gloat?

[Mike Cruz]

Something like that...

[Larry Fox]

Hope it ends up working out Mike. As to the shipping, I had my MM16 shipped from OK to PA and it cost in the mid $500s if I recall correctly. That was with insurance and liftgate service. The company I used was Freightquote.com which I think is an aggregator and has a relationship with a number of shipping companies. I was happy with the service. As the the crating, I think that would be the responsibility of the seller and it can be hit or miss.

[Mike Cruz]

Generally speaking I would agree with you that it would be the responsibility of the seller to crate it. But he had no intentions of shipping the item. He wanted to sell it locally. So, if shipping was involved, I was fully prepared to assume the task as my responsibility. Still haven't heard back from him yet. He probably feels like he is between a rock and a hard place... I answered first and am willing to arrange for shipping, but someone else is willing to just come by and pick it up. The second option is certainly easier for him.

[Jim Matthews]

It's an odd suggestion, but Piano movers can do this sort of work and will handle all phases, including placing it where you like.

If it's one of those battle-ship sized jointers, a rigging company is you only guarantor of safe handling. Cast iron is unforgiving of "instantaneous deceleration".