shipping furniture survey

[dwolf]

Man O Man... always a catch I build custom furniture : Desks.. tables beds dressers ect ect....

My internet business has really been picking up, and besides the high cost of my work in general there's the shipping... For the right people there's these blanket rap services I use which is great !!! but not cheap... I live in Mass. and I've sent a bunch of pieces down to the Maryland area with this service and the cost with insurance usually runs about $550.00 Crating up a piece is never a quick process by the time you gather your materials to laying out your exact sizing to building it, it eats up a fair amount of time... I'm a one person shop so I have to do it myself... So I would just like to here from some of you on how you deal with shipping your work... thanks Joel

[David]

You use rappers? I HATE rap music, which I refer to as rap-crap.

Dave

[MJ]

About 18 months ago, we ordered a table and chairs from a furniture store in the Amish area outside of Lancaster, PA.

The material arrived, wrapped in styrofoam (sheets mostly) and plastic wrap), the whole thing inside cardboard. It took awhile for me to unpack it, so I was a bit nervous because if there was any damage, the shipping company (UPS) would be liable and it was several weeks pass the delivery. Not a scratch. We paid for shipping across country to California, mind you, and I think it was only about $300.

I'd look into doing that.

MJ Wallace

[SonomaProducts.com]

I use Fedex Ground. They are just a bit less expensive than UPS or USPS and will actually take packages just a little bit bigger anbd heavier than the other guys. Of course the total size is limited before they mive you up to LTL, then you pay the big bucks.

[Teamcasa]

We get building signs delivered by LTL (less than truck load) carriers. Mostly independent guys driving crewcab duallys pulling a flatbed loaded with LTL crates. Ask a local sign manufacturer for some names.

Dave

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[Edwin Pawlowski]

In our building there are two furniture shippers. One is a display manufacturer. He usually uses the moving van types where everything is wrapped and padded. Most times he is shipping a half trailer or more so it is economical to go that way.

The other ships stuff all over the east coast. He palletizes everything, then wraps it in double wall corrugated. He usually ships common carrier that way. I'm not sure what he is using for padding because when I see it, the product is closed up and sitting on the shipping dock.

Do you usually ship single pieces as opposed to four of five items in a shipment? Freight cost can be a deal killer. For the price of a pallet or two to Maryland, you can usually get the best deal with a common carrier, but when you get into six pallets, you can often buy the use of a truck for the same or less and avoid a lot of handling in freight depots. I've never used them, but one of our customers uses

for moving tooling between plants. He says he gets good rates from them.