Shipping a table across country?

[Gary R Katz]

I'm almost finished building a dining room table for my daughter and son-in-law who live in Brooklyn, NY. (The wood came from an oak tree in our yard that my daughter grew up under.) I live in Eugene, Oregon and I can't figure out how to ship it to them. I called moving companies and they have a 1,000 lb minimum, it's too big for UPS and freight companies want it in a shipping crate. I could crate it and ship it via a freight company but then they have to rent a van, uncrate it at the loading dock, haul away the crate pieces and get it to their apartment. The only other way is to drive it back to NYC in my pickup and deliver it myself.


Do you have any ideas? The table is 36" X 48" X 30" high, with 2 separate leaves and probably weighs less than 100 lbs. I really don't want to drive to NYC and back, 3,000 miles each way!

[Brian Tymchak]

My first thought would be to call a UPS Store with Pack and Ship service. The advertising I remember indicated they would pack anything.

[Pat Barry]

I'm almost finished building a dining room table for my daughter and son-in-law who live in Brooklyn, NY. (The wood came from an oak tree in our yard that my daughter grew up under.) I live in Eugene, Oregon and I can't figure out how to ship it to them. I called moving companies and they have a 1,000 lb minimum, it's too big for UPS and freight companies want it in a shipping crate. I could crate it and ship it via a freight company but then they have to rent a van, uncrate it at the loading dock, haul away the crate pieces and get it to their apartment. The only other way is to drive it back to NYC in my pickup and deliver it myself.


Do you have any ideas? The table is 36" X 48" X 30" high, with 2 separate leaves and probably weighs less than 100 lbs. I really don't want to drive to NYC and back, 3,000 miles each way!
Are you hoping to send it flat (legs removed) or fully assembled? Lets say shipping flat. Can you fit 1/2 the top into an allowable size container for UPS and then ship multiple boxes?

[Keith Downing]

I don't think it is going to be cheap, but might as well see what the quote comes back as from https://www.uship.com/

Otherwise, I would say maybe try to get a freight company to remove the crate for them for a couple extra bucks.

[Gary R Katz]

Brian, I called the local UPS store and they told me they had a 100 inch limitation on size. Based on your idea I went to the UPS website and, lo and behold, the Pack and Ship page says they ship furniture, even grand pianos. I'm going to visit the store and talk to the owner/manager to get the real story. This could be the solution!
Pat, I didn't want to send it disassembled because they have no way to assemble it and I didn't want to fly back to assemble it. The other possibility would be to contact a furniture maker in Brooklyn and ask them to take delivery and assemble it, although I don't know if someone would want to step into a piece of work and finish it for someone else.
Keith, I just went to their website and it looks like a possibility if UPS doesn't work or is too expensive.
Thanks guys, I REALLY appreciate the ideas. (I didn't want to drive to NYC and back!)
Sawmill Creek ROCKS!

[Lee Schierer]

If you build a crate that is assembled with screws they should be able to open the crate on the receiving end with minimal tools. Fed Ex Freight moves stuff like that all the time. Just be sure to build a sturdy crate that totally encloses the table and pad it inside the crate. I shipped a dresser to my son and his wife from Erie, PA to Tucson, AZ an number of years ago for far less than I could have driven there.

[Matt Day]

Try Fastenal, they have a very reasonably priced shipping service store to store.

[Gary R Katz]

Thanks Lee, screws are definitely a good idea and I'm going to contact FedEx also.

Matt, I checked and there's a Fastenal store in Eugene so I'll give them a call also.

[Stew Hagerty]

I don't think it is going to be cheap, but might as well see what the quote comes back as from https://www.uship.com/

Otherwise, I would say maybe try to get a freight company to remove the crate for them for a couple extra bucks.

About 4 years ago I made a rocking horse for my granddaughter. Nice right. Well except that they live in Denver, and I live in Indiana.
Well the horse was made from 2" thick Honduran Mahogany, with Hard Maple rockers, a carved Butternut seat, etc, etc. So I built it so that the rockers could be removed using barrel bolts in the hooves and bolts through the cross rails.
With the rockers off, I braced the legs front to back and side to side with 2x4's so that they would stand up to "box crushing" better. Then I took both sections over to PacMail. They packed & shipped it in double walled custom made boxes. Slick! Well, except for the fact that we could literally have bought the horse a seat on the plane with us for less than the cost of packing & shipping.

[Gene Davis]

When we needed to ship a single piece of furniture, we found a website (uship.com) that let you advertise for bids for the service. We specified the size and weight of the piece, its value, its pickup and delivery locations, and got multiple bids from private moving jobbers that specialize in this kind of freight.

A dining room table built in Oregon for someone in a Brooklyn apartment should be designed with removable legs.

[Vince Shriver]

Gary, I hope you post the route you took to get the table cross country. I think that would be good general information. Thanks

[Myk Rian]

Check with Amtrak

[Dick Strauss]

Creekers have arranged for pony express style shipping for lathes. It would be remotely possible and would take lots of help from other creekers but it can be done.

[Lee Schierer]

Creekers have arranged for pony express style shipping for lathes. It would be remotely possible and would take lots of help from other creekers but it can be done.

I did this years ago with a display cabinet I made for the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) engineering honor society. I made the case, transported it to Buffalo, gave it to a fellow reservist who lived in Schnectady who gave it to my son.

333616

I'm not sure how you could set it up across the country.

[Jim Barstow]

I've made several large pieces of furniture for my daughter and had it shipped from Oakland,ca to Manhattan. The deal was that I made it and they figured out how to ship it. They did a bunch of research and end up using uship.com. They picked it up, packed it well in blankets and delivered it to their door.

It was not cheap (hundreds of $$ for each piece.) The shipping price was easier to swallow since I knew that a similar bed would have cost $3-4,000 to buy locally.

[Kevin Jenness]

We have a local moving company that offers "white glove" service for furniture, art and the like, and I know they travel as far as Florida. You might check out smaller moving companies in your area that offer these services and see if they can arrange a cross-country shipment through their contacts. The shop I used to be with also used a specialty trucking company that offered blanket wrapped delivery for our cabinets for the jobs we did far from home. You might find an outfit like that through a custom cabinet shop that sells widely. Otherwise, common carrier is the best value, but your crate is your insurance- a couple of layers spaced apart with 2x's is a good idea so the forklift operator that spears it might pull out before he hits the contents. Try the freight brokers in your area to get the best rate.

[Ellen Benkin]

I would not consider leaving the legs on for shipping unless you are using a moving van company. I made a table that had to be shipped across country and I removed the top and the legs and had UPS pack and ship it. I put small pegs in the aprons that fit into holes in the bottom of the top so that it would only go one way. I included detailed instructions (with pictures) on how to reassemble it. It worked out perfectly. Surely the kids have screwdrivers and can reassemble your table.