Shipping a Heavy, Bulky Project

[John Smith]

I recently finished a platform bed for my son, who lives

2000 miles away. It weighs about 300 lb and has pieces of oak that are 8 ft long, plus there is a sheet of plywood that is 5 ft x 8 ft.

I checked with a household moving company and they charge for a minimum of 1000 lbs., which comes out to about $1000, in my case. I also checked with a freight trucking company and their estimate was $485. Does anyone have a better idea?

Thanks for your advice.

Roy

[Edwin Pawlowski]

That sounds good actually. Is there something special about the plywood? Can he buy a piece locally and save a bunch of money on freight costs? If that is the case, you ma be able to ship some of the other items by UPS as a OS3, but nothing cheap when you really get down to it.

Be sure it is crated well as things get transferred from truck to truck in that distance and can get beat around a bit.

Not cheaper, but more fun, it to take a vacation with a pickup or van and deliver it yourself. Round trip in a couple of weeks of motels and eating out you can spent about two grand to save the $485

[jo4hn]

Saw the photos on apbw. Looks great. But a bear to ship. Seriously look into possible savings by not shipping the plywood. Also they may charge a premium for picking it up at a residence. If so, look into moving it to a place of business near by. Next time consider building big heavy stuff at your son's house. :-) mahalo, jo4hn

[Silvan]

Very good. Just to put it in some perspective for the OP, the actual operating cost of running a truck, including paying the driver, fuel, oil, insurance, taxes, tires, etc. is right around $1 per mile.

[Bruce]

On Sun, 26 Dec 2004 23:45:29 -0700, jo4hn wrote (in article ):

Also consider using hinges on the long oak boards. From your picture, you could design the long boards to fold in half for shipping and the hinges would (could) be hidden when the bed is assembled. A piano hinge could be used for the plywood.

-Bruce