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LTL Freight shipping

Twylo

Twylo

Experienced Member
Joined
Feb 12, 2009
Messages
230
Location
Poulsbo, WA
Hi all,

I have just been given my dream setup - a number of AT&T 3B2/600G systems, peripherals, spares, and manuals. Over all, I'm going to guess this is one to two shipping pallets worth of stuff. The only problem is that it's all in Virginia, and I'm near Seattle, WA. I know I'm going to need freight, but I've never dealt with freight before.

The person giving it to me is being extraordinarily generous. I want to do all the work for him and make sure it gets out of his house as quickly and safely as possible. I don't want to make him buy pallets or have to palletize everything. I want to pay a freight company to do that for him.

If you have experience doing something like this, can you drop me a line or reply to this thread?

-Seth
 
Take the system to an outfit like Pak Mail and let them do the palletizing and truck freight. Believe it or not, it will usually be less expensive than doing it yourself. These shipping services have negotiated contracts with the freight companies, where you're likely to be taken to the cleaners if you cut a contract with an LTL service directly.
 
I talk to my son which is a Simi-driver and said what you have would be $6500.00 and LTL would be the same. He said your better off getting a U-Haul truck and doing it your self.
 
Look for a cheap flight to the east coast and then rent a small truck and drive it all back home. Write it all off as a vacation of sort.
 
Another thought. You might be able to locate a freight broker on the shipping end and see if you can work out a deal with a truck dead-heading back your way. Lots of independent truckers use a broker for the return trip.
 
Before you do anything, get quotes. Chuck (G) is right. Often you can get a very cheap rate for various reasons, probably due to someone else cancelling last minute or something. It doesn't hurt to get quotes.
 
I just recently moved 8,000 pounds of Vintage computer stuff 1600 miles domestically in Canada.

I had a local moving company at the source pick up the stuff from the seller's residence (5 1/2 hour drive in each direction) and 6 guys spent 5 hours loading it on to a 22 foot truck.

They took it to the loading docks of a LTL freight company called FastFrate (I'm sure they operate in the US as well) where the moving company palletized and shrink-wrapped it, turned it over to FastFrate who containerized it, shipped it by rail to Toronto and then trucked it to Hamilton. There they used a power tailgate and skid-jack to off-load it into the workshop where we are testing, repairing and sorting it all.

Including $500 CAD for all-risks insurance, it cost just a little over $6,000 CAD.

You can weigh that figure against over options.
 
Chuck(G) said:
I'd also give Craters & Freighers a call and get an estimate. This is what they specialize in--and by all reports, they do a good job of it.
Click to expand...

We used Craters & Freighters quite a bit at my previous place of employment and never had any issues, so when I bought a TRS-80 Model 12 a couple of months ago I had them ship it. It arrived in perfect condition. The Model 12/16B/6000 are not easy to ship safely.
 
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