Geeks on the Go!

[hargle]

Perhaps a silly idea at best, but I was thinking that in order to curtail the cost of shipping heavy and fragile old computer gear across the country, perhaps we could set up our own informal courier system here?

For example, I need to ship a small but fairly heavy box of hard drives to W. Virgina. I live in Minneapolis, MN.

In about 2 months, I will be driving to Madison Wi, and with any luck, also heading out to Denver Co later in the summer.

I would be more than happy to move stuff between these locations for anyone that needs things transported, within reason, for free. I'm willing to go slightly out of my way to meet up with someone too.

Anyone happen to be heading from Madison, WI toward Virgina that my box of hard drives might be able to piggy back onto? Even if it takes 6 weeks to find its way, and only ends up close to the final destination, it would still be cheaper and more trustworthy than the brutes and UPS who don't care a hoot that your box is full of fragile and priceless gear.

Thinking that there are a lot of us here, and that we probably will be collectively going somewhere for summer vacations, and that we know how fragile our stuff is, and that we're vintage enthusiasts, meaning that we are probably patient enough to wait for this ad-hoc system to deliver for us.

The more I think of it, the sillier it seems, with the trust factor and all and the time delays, but thought I'd give it a shot.

 

[MikeS]

Not silly at all; as a matter of fact this is done fairly regularly on at least one other list (cctalk):

Someone will be planning a trip (preferably with an empty cube van ;-) ) and he'll post an offer to pick up and deliver any items not too far off his route for a small contribution to the gas money.

Here's a very reliable and trustworthy cctalk member making a trip next month (even passing through Minneapolis):
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Again for 2010, I am crossing the country and am offering to pickup,
haul, and deliver large items for list members. In mid/late April, I
will be leaving New York, to arrive in California near the start of
May, and I will be passing thru Chicago and Denver on the westbound
trio, and likely Minneapolis on the eastbound. If business calls, I
can hit other cities as well.

I will have a van and a trailer, and can take fairly large items, like
6 foot racks. Weight is not much of an issue, with maybe a limit of
1200 pounds or so. Items hauled on my trailer are fully caccooned and
tarped. Loading and unloading are included. I use the hauling to pay
for my expenses on the trip (mostly fuel), so my rates are quite
reasonable. Smaller items are welcome, of course.

Some of my capacity is already taken for both the westbound and
eastbound sections, but there is plenty of room for more. Also, from
Denver to California I will be almost completely empty.

Please inquire off list, please.
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[tezza]

Sounds sensible to me.

Unfortunately, there is a limited size on "cabin baggage" when flying to and from New Zealand.

 

[MikeS]

Sounds sensible to me.

Unfortunately, there is a limited size on "cabin baggage" when flying to and from New Zealand.

Yeah, I'm afraid not too many cube vans with trailers are crossing the Pacific...

What you need to set up is a list of folks immigrating to your lovely country so you can talk them into slipping your latest acquisition into the container with their belongings.

 

[Micom 2000]

This was exactly what I had proposed in an earlier thread about the prohibitive problem of high-cost and rising costs of shipping for the vintage computer community. An additional thing was that there were many truckers who travelled light back to their original base. And truckers hate, as mentioned by another poster, to travel light.
A central storage area in each terminal could serve as a storage area until there was enough volume to merit a return truck's taking on cargo and transporting it across the country. This was the strategy enabled by many express companies before being dismantled in the 80s and after our express companies were gutted we became victims to the large Parcel express companies. All of this, Mike B., IS political as is LIFE, and we need no overseer as the Chinese have, to monitor our expressions of seeking better methods to deal with our communities pressing problems.. This is how most enterprises start. Thwarting the profit games of the corporations. Of course our "Hobby" is not a major entry target of the big corporstions, so possibly we could survive even starting with the old classic/comp model and the few centers where it still survives.

 

[Brendan]

I've often thought of this - a few times a year, parts of my family take the 10 hour drive from the Austin area through west Texas (through El Paso) to Las Cruces, NM. I'd be willing to take along items of reasonable size to get it closer to its destination.

What would be nice is to have a list of who is able to help make which of these connections...