Are there shipping services out there?

[Scott Shepherd]

I'm interested in a piece of equipment that's probably 300 lbs and it's a long way from me. The seller says they won't ship it. Are there companies that will pick it up, pack it, and ship it? I've never run across this before, but by the time we figure out gas, hotels, food, etc, it's going to run some money to get, not to mention burn up a week to go and get it.

Any ideas on how to handle this for the most reasonable cost?

[Robert LaPlaca]

Craters and Freighters, I have used them to ship furniture, but it looks like they do handle machinery.

[Brian Elfert]

There are companies that specialize in moving machinery. I can't remember what they are called, but every city of any size should have one or more. You might ask an auction company local to the item who they recommend for this work as they often deal with this for buyers when they auction machinery.

[Myk Rian]

There are companies that specialize in moving machinery. I can't remember what they are called,
Machine movers?

[Brian Elfert]

Riggers is what they are called although some of the companies also just call themselves machinery movers. I should have just looked it up with Google before my first post.

[Scott Shepherd]

It's not huge, maybe 125 pounds, not in a crate or on a pallet, 2' x 2' x 3'.

The guy selling it recommended uship, where you post it and people bid on it. Said he'd had really good luck with it in the past.

[Brian Elfert]

125 lbs is a lot different than 300 lbs. Do Uship shippers typically crate and package stuff and move it out of buildings? On the Shipping Wars TV show the shippers almost always have to disassemble, move, and load the items, but in real life shippers I have dealt with require the items to be packaged or crated and ready for loading.

[Scott Shepherd]

125 lbs is a lot different than 300 lbs. Do Uship shippers typically crate and package stuff and move it out of buildings? On the Shipping Wars TV show the shippers almost always have to disassemble, move, and load the items, but in real life shippers I have dealt with require the items to be packaged or crated and ready for loading.

Yeah, I guessed at 300 lbs. I called the guy and his guess was 125 lbs. I don't know about the uship people. I think they do, according to him, but I've never used them. He said it's like a bidding network for independent trucking people. He said he'd used them several times and it worked really well, but who knows?

[Matt Day]

There are companies that specialize in moving machinery. I can't remember what they are called, but every city of any size should have one or more. You might ask an auction company local to the item who they recommend for this work as they often deal with this for buyers when they auction machinery.

I believe you're referring to a rigging company. They'll handle really big and heavy things, but 125, or even 300 poundsis a bit too light for them.

[Wade Lippman]

You can find people to do whatever you pay them to do, but you probably won't like the price.

You haven't divulged what or where it is, but I would see if maybe someone here happens to be there and would do it for $50 plus materials.

A few years back I found a piece of exercise equipment out in the road for the trash and took it home. Found it did belong in the trash (just a foolish thing you stretch on...) but put it on ebay for local pickup. A woman across the country offered to pay whatever it took to get it to her, and bid $450. It required a $100 custom made carton and $150 freight, but she was delighted with it. Beats me why. But it can be done.

[Myk Rian]

Another case of Too much money, and not enough cents?

On owwm it's called a Rucker to get a machine or parts delivered.

[roger wiegand]

Craters and Freighters is the right kind of business to do this for you, but check out your local franchise before you hire them. I had a completely disastrous experience with them that ran the gamut from utter incompetence to lies, fraud, and extortion. I know others who have used them in other places with excellent results, so its a mixed bag.

[Bill Orbine]

I hear Fastenal has been doing some shipping. What is done is the seller takes the item to his nearest Fastenal store location, and Fastenal will ship the item to your nearest Fastenal store where you pick the item up. The upside of this is very reasonable cost. VERY REASONABLE. The downside can be how far is the nearest Fastenal location AND you did say the seller was unwilling. This is worth looking into. 125 lbs. to ship is nothing, at least for me, anyway.

The program Fastenal offers is 3PL (3rd Party Logistic)... so google up Fastenal and look into 3PL where you get some information. I haven't use this, but people really swear by the savings they get!

[Bill Clifton]

I read this with great interest - I have a 4' x 3' x3' 250# box in the garage I want to send on. I am not having a whole lot of luck. So far I got UPS Freight at $420. My shipment is in a box with a built in pallet.

So keep posting - there are more than one of us very interested.

Thanks,

[Bert Kemp]

Yea Scott I would ask the forum if theres any willing souls near your seller that would be willing. Hey if its any where near me I'll give you a hand.No profit needed just cover my costs.

[Kevin Nathanson]

uShip is very legit, and there are ratings of all the carriers, so it's pretty hard to get taken, because these guys are out of business if their reputation is damaged. I've used folks on uShip to move a vehicle across the country and was very satisfied.

K

[Rick Potter]

I sold a shop cart to someone across the country. He arranged for someone to pick it up. The guy who picked it up had a medium sized flat bed truck loaded with lots of old iron going various places. He said he crisscrosses the country doing this for a living. He had a name for it, might have been Rucker, as someone else mentioned.

[Ryan Baker]

On owwm it's called a Rucker to get a machine or parts delivered.

That's funny! Is that because Keith has so much stuff just "arrive" on his doorstep?

[Dan Hunkele]

Ups will take 150 lbs. Call and see if UPS will send a truck to him with a "CALL TAG", and they should, then ask seller if he will package it up for a small fee. He may not want the liability of shipping damage.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Call a trucking or moving company in the immediate area of the item you want shipped. They should be able to tell who in your area might crate and ship something for you.

[Brian Elfert]

Ups will take 150 lbs. Call and see if UPS will send a truck to him with a "CALL TAG", and they should, then ask seller if he will package it up for a small fee. He may not want the liability of shipping damage.

UPS also has a dimensional weight thing that could push it over the 150 lb limit by the time packaging is added. I know from experience that packing really heavy items for UPS/Fedex isn't necessarily easy. I've built crates before to ship items in the 80 pound range. The crate and item barely made it under the 150 lb limit.

[Scott Shepherd]

I went with UShip.com and so far, it's working out well. A little slow to start because I didn't list it properly and it caused the item to stay listed for about a week longer than I wanted, which gave it no sense of urgency for bidders.

People bid on your shipment and you select the bid you want. You can see reviews and feedback for all the people that bid, and it's all insured, etc. I closed the bid yesterday, the shipper called me within a couple of hours, I told him I was concerned about how it would be strapped down and asked him if I could send him a photo of areas to stay away from when strapping it down. He said "Absolutely, I'll pass it along to the driver for sure". He confirmed he got the email and it made sense and wasn't an issue. He called the seller minutes after calling me to verify the address, etc. He emailed me told me that he had contacted the seller and he had all he needed from me.

The cost to go get the item would have cost us $1,500-1,800 in expenses. They will go get it, uncrated, currently sitting on a table in someone's shop, put it on a truck, bring it here for about $530, which I thought was quite reasonable.

Of course it's not here yet, so we'll see how it all goes, but so far, I'm liking the process and would use it again.

[Scott Shepherd]

Our package was delivered today, using the uShip services. Everything was in order, no damage. Someone picked the item up, put it on a skid, it traveled a little, then sat (I suspect in a warehouse). About 5 days with no movement, then it started moving again. Got without 60 miles of here at stopped for the night, then I checked it the next morning and it said it was in town. I thought it would be coming by, but after a couple hours, we got a call from a local shipping company saying they had it and it would be delivered the next day. A local shipping and moving company rolled up with it, unloaded it, and moved on.

My vision was that some guy with an enclosed trailer would pick it up, and travel this way, picking up and dropping off things along the way. I thought the same person that picked it up would be delivering it, but that wasn't the case. I suspect it's much more professional than that, with actual trucking companies moving it most of the way, but I'm not sure.

None the less, it worked out well. It was a fair amount slower than I expected, part of that was my fault in the way I listed it on uShip and part of it was the Christmas and New Year holiday time frame.

I'd use uShip again.

[greg lindsey]

Hey Scott, just throwing it out there as many have, but Craters and Freighters is the best I've found. They have moved a few big Epilog 36 EXT's for me and several Govt auction lots, they haven't always been the dead cheapest but I have always gotten more than I paid for, very sturdy crating, on-time shipments and calls with shipment details. It's my first choice. I WOULD NOT USE U-SHIP, a few very bad deals.

Hope this helps in some way,

Greg