Shipping a piece of furniture help/advice

red

Papa Red
Red
Senior User
Anyone have experience shipping a piece of furniture and can offer some advice/help/give me a direction to head? I built a rather large urn for a client. It's exterior dimensions are 53"L x 23"W x 12"H and weighs in at 50 LBS. It's built in pine. I need to ship it to Rhode Island from the Charlotte (Denver) area.

I just talked to UPS and their prices are so in the air and expensive - at least a $100+ to box and $280+ to ship. They said it could go even higher depending on how their packaging is and so forth.

I found a site called shipnerd that brings the cost done considerably ($200) but you don't know who the shipper is until you purchase the shipping and I still have to box the urn. Finding a box big enough and strong enough is tough. Plus I've never used shipnerd before. I can make my own crate with some 1/4" lauan plywood if need be.

Has anyone had good luck shipping something like this? If so how did you ship your item? Are there places that I'm not even thinking about who can do this? Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Red
 

red

Papa Red
Red
Senior User
The urn is too big for pirate ship. I do use them for all my cutting boards. A great service for sure. I'll look into Uship. It looks like a possibility very similar to shipnerds. It looks like I just need to build a crate and get estimates from shippers like you mentioned. Keep the suggestions coming if you have more. Thanks.

Red
 

mquan01

Mike
Corporate Member
if there isnt a rush to get it there, call United and other moving companies. a lot of time they have extra room on a truck and will charge minimal prices since the actual move pays the costs
 

marinosr

Richard
Corporate Member
I have had very good luck moving big things by using the rideshare board on Craigslist to find people making cross-country trips. Obviously coronavirus will make this less practical right now but it could still work. People are often making long-distance trips and are happy to grab something to get some gas money. I just take a pic of their license and a pic of the item loaded up in case legal issues arise, but I've never had an issue. I moved a steel restaurant prep table from Durham to Houston this way ($100) and a dresser from Tuscaloosa to Durham ($50).
 

junquecol

Bruce
Senior User
Greyhound! Yes, I said Greyhound. I've shipped important documents, car keys, pay rolls and have friends who shipped a set of dinning chairs across the country using the bus. In the eighties, we had a parallel operation in the DC area.On Thursday afternoon, we would take pay checks to bus station, and next morning supts would pick them up. I used to make styrafoam sign letters, and they went by bus. I think their longest limit is 84" if memory serves me correct.
 

mlzettl

Matt
Corporate Member
I just shipped a cradle that I made to my daughter and son-in-law in San Francisco from Morehead City. I made a crate using 1/2" OSB and 1 x 4's. I made it so that it would be nearly indestructible. The crate itself weighed 100 lbs. and was 36" x 48" x 14". The cradle was knock-down, and stored flat in layers of 2" polystyrene foam sheets. It had skids on the bottom that allowed it to be moved with a pallet jack or fork lift. The whole package weighed 185 lbs. I got prices from uShip that ranged from $600 - $1200.00. The local UPS store quoted me $400.00, with delivery via lift gate truck to their door in downtown SF. They were very easy to work with, and it was delivered to them one week after it left here. Expensive? Absolutely, but worth it in my opinion. My advice to you is to do the packing yourself. I have heard horror stories about destroyed packages and crates. If you value your own work, take the time to protect it as best you can, and assume that no one handling it cares about it as much as you do. If you don't have some delivery deadline to meet, you can take your time and check out the many options suggested by previous posters. Good luck, and let us know what you do, and how it turned out.

Matt
20200327_112154.jpg
 

chris_goris

Chris
Senior User
I realize you want to save your client money, but isnt this their problem or did you not include shipping costs when you quoted?.
 

red

Papa Red
Red
Senior User
It's a time and material job. The urn is paid in full. I just want it to go the most economical way possible. I am building a crate today so then I will have an exact size and weight to get more accurate quotes. UPS was just it could be this or it could be that. Not what I expected from them. I will look into some moving companies and see if it can go that route. Uship and Shipnerds are almost identical estimates.

Red
 

Oka

Casey
Corporate Member
This is something I go thru quite a bit. I take Costco boxes get the stronger type usually the produce ones. Then, glue them into the size you want by doubling the cardboard up. I use Spruce 1x and 2x on the bottom. Cheap pallet cost me time + maybe 10 bucks. Since I live in Hawaii EVERYTHING is shipping here.
Shipping, do your research, if it is big enough (full pallet size) then consider using LTL (Less than load) trucker. That is actually pretty cheap. Especially, if the unit shipping is not overly heavy.
Funny thing, sometmes air shipping is near the same as shipping ground, it is worth the look. Perfect example, I needed Polished Solid brass sheets from New Jersey to Hawaii. Land then on ship to here was 567.00 for the load and 620.00 to have it flown. So 5 day ship time versus 5 weeks. Shipping is a crazy business, worth doing the research.
 
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KenOfCary

Ken
Staff member
Corporate Member
I've had mixed results with UPS. The only advice I can give is if you use them, make sure that they are the ones that package it for you. If something does happen the UPS Store will be invaluable when filing a claim - as long as they were the ones that packaged it. And pay for insurance.
 

junquecol

Bruce
Senior User
Because your package is going to and from an area with Amtrak service, check with them. Unfortunately, Amtrak isn't offering service to NYC, right now and this is where package would have to change trains. Still wouldn't hurt to check with them.
 

red

Papa Red
Red
Senior User
Just to update on how I shipped my large urn if you're interested. I used a shipping site called ShipNerd. They give you a bulk rate shipping cost. It's free to use you just need to make an account. They use all the major shippers like UPS, Fedex, DHL and so forth. Fill in the shipping info and they give you several shipping choices including cost. The only catch is you don't know who the shipper is until you purchase the label. I'm fine with that. My shipper ended up as UPS ground. Funny thing is when I went to UPS looking for a quote they said $280+ not including crating. Using ShipNerd my cost was $220 not including crating (which I built myself). Saved money for the same service and my urn arrived in RI without a scratch on the crate and the client was beyond happy with how it all went. It took three days from leaving my workshop to arriving at their home. I'm very happy with how this service worked for me.

Red
 

ALtsMagent

New User
ALtsMagent
Even though the thread is a year old, your quest to sell your homemade furniture remains relevant. Finding the right platform to showcase and sell your creations can be a challenge, but there are still viable options.
Local classified ads and social media platforms are great ways to reach potential buyers. You can also explore specialized websites and forums that focus on handmade or furniture collection and delivery services. Additionally, creating a website for your furnishings delivered could be a long-term goal to expand your reach.
The demand for unique, homemade items never goes out of style, so keep pursuing your passion for furniture-making and finding the right avenue to share your creations with the world.
 
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KenOfCary

Ken
Staff member
Corporate Member
I'll repeat what I said before:

I've had mixed results with UPS. The only advice I can give is if you use them, make sure that they are the ones that package it for you. If something does happen the UPS Store will be invaluable when filing a claim - as long as they were the ones that packaged it. And pay for insurance.

One piece arrived fine, the other (a wine cabinet) they dropped on one corner and damaged it significantly. My niece didn't save the packing material and they first refused to honor the claim, but then the UPS Store that packaged it got involved and they paid the $500 to have it fixed by a local woodworking shop.
 

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