Shipping Rates..

[Dave Winters]

I need to ship 200BF of lumber from Washington state to Colorado. Was quoted $550.00. Roadrunner Freight.
Ouch!
Anybody have any other ideas?

[Dick Bringhurst]

Last time I was in your spot I bought a trailer hitch for my truck, rented a trailer (oneway) and delivered. Had a nice vacation (a short one) and gained a hitch. The cost was slightly less than the shipping cost. Dick B.

[Mike Heidrick]

Guessing gas is going to cost way more than that.

Sell local.

[Scott T Smith]

I need to ship 200BF of lumber from Washington state to Colorado. Was quoted $550.00. Roadrunner Freight.
Ouch!
Anybody have any other ideas?


Dave, are you making a one-time shipment, or do you plan to ship on a regular basis? If the latter, a good freight broker can get you a much better price. However, they don't like to handle one-time shipments.

[Jery Madigan]

You could post it on uship.com and see what bids you get. My one experience with uship was good and about 60% less than quoted by freight cos.

[Troy Turner]

How long is it? I know UPS and FedEx will ship but it usually has to be 8' or shorter and there is a max on the girth so you'd have to have them break it down into manageable stacks.

[Carl Beckett]

I have seen some truckers that will share a load of lumber (they go back and forth regularly). Not sure if they can take side jobs for cash.

And you could try CL. Always a crap shoot, but if you found the right person that was going that way anyway.... might work.

[Lloyd McKinlay]

Pick your shipper carefully. Many years ago my wife inherited her fathers desk and a few other items, a shipment to small for standard moving companies to handle efficiently. She located someone specializing in small loads, found no complaints at the BBB (turns out they don't keep records on non-members), and authorized him to pick up the furniture. A couple days later he demanded 3 times the original written quote, payable with a certified check mailed to him before delivery or inspection. With a lot of digging we found over 20 open investigations with the states Attorney General's office, all with a similar story. We faxed a copy of a cashiers check for the full amount which we would give him upon delivery--he refused. We decided to not send a check to a mail drop (I visited the "street address" listed on his quote) and never saw her furniture.

[Craig D Peltier]

If not in a rush I know a guy who hauls wood in between Missouri and oregon and he would do it. I think next time he was in Washington is June and then heading back to Missouri I think.

[Carl Babel]

You might check the rates here
http://www.pakmail.com/

[Paul Symchych]

This may be way off the wall but you might try Expeditors International in seattle. They are basically a facilitator of shipments -most of it overseas- rather than being owners of the ships or trucks but may locate some trucks heading your way with some spare space. Their business is to find the guys to handle a shipment.