Shipping question...

[Dave Holiday]

Hello, All. A question for the Collective Uke Mind:

Can I get suggestions/advice for shipping a baritone uke within the US?

I thought to just bubble wrap it gingerly, box it and place that inside another box.

It's been a long time since I shipped an instrument.

Rather than find appropriate boxes and package it up myself, is there a service anyone might recommend where I could just take it and have it wrapped, boxed and shipped?

Of course I'm aware of UPS, FedEx, and so on (and I assume these would be less expensive than regular US Mail) but I'm curious if anyone has had better luck with a specific place or prefers a certain carrier.

Thanks so much!

 

[rhiggie]

For discounted UPS and USPS shipping, try out Pirate Shipping. I've been using them for a couple years. Once you are set up it's super easy to use, pay for and print labels. Much better prices. For boxing, it depends on if you have a case or not, and how protective the case is. I use a single strong box and bubble wrap (I hate peanuts) on ukes in decent cases (even no case ukes if wrapped in enough bubble wrap. You can double box but I've never had a problem if my box is a decent strength. I do use insurance but I also realize that claims against these big shipping companies can be painful. There are places that will do it all for you for a premium, but no hassles with weighing, measuring, etc. I also loosen the strings a little to reduce neck tension. If it's an expensive uke you can request a signature by the receiver. Good luck!

 

[Pissodes]

For discounted UPS and USPS shipping, try out Pirate Shipping. I've been using them for a couple years. Once you are set up it's super easy to use, pay for and print labels. Much better prices. For boxing, it depends on if you have a case or not, and how protective the case is. I use a single strong box and bubble wrap (I hate peanuts) on ukes in decent cases (even no case ukes if wrapped in enough bubble wrap. You can double box but I've never had a problem if my box is a decent strength. I do use insurance but I also realize that claims against these big shipping companies can be painful. There are places that will do it all for you for a premium, but no hassles with weighing, measuring, etc. I also loosen the strings a little to reduce neck tension. If it's an expensive uke you can request a signature by the receiver. Good luck!

I've used Pirateship.com for a few years now and it's is very competitive for rates. I did have to pack the items myself which is what you seem to be looking to outsource. Maybe there is a local shipping store that isn't FedEx or UPS that can help you? I have a local small mom&pop store that can pack and ship. You'd probably going to pay standard rates of that's a concern.

 

[Jerryc41]

Hello, All. A question for the Collective Uke Mind:

Can I get suggestions/advice for shipping a baritone uke within the US?

I thought to just bubble wrap it gingerly, box it and place that inside another box.

It's been a long time since I shipped an instrument.

Rather than find appropriate boxes and package it up myself, is there a service anyone might recommend where I could just take it and have it wrapped, boxed and shipped?

Of course I'm aware of UPS, FedEx, and so on (and I assume these would be less expensive than regular US Mail) but I'm curious if anyone has had better luck with a specific place or prefers a certain carrier.

Thanks so much!

I always use USPS Priority Mail, insured. I save uke boxes when I buy a uke, so I have some on hand. If not, you can make a small box out of a large appliance box. Furniture stores have loads of boxes that they recycle. The "Big Box" stores also have lots of cardboard. Cut up what you need and use packaging tape to hold it together. I have bags of bubble wrap on hand for shipping. Tip: there is no need to tape the bubble wrap. So many people secure the bubble wrap with tape, and that just makes it more difficult to remove it. Is the wrap going to unwrap during shipment? No.

 

[Quad57]

I wish I could say that boxing gear wasn't one of my greatest skills, but I've shipped so many dozens of instruments and pieces of audio gear over the years that I can practically make the cartons in my sleep now. Assuming the baritone is in a hardshell case, you don't need more than a single box (38"x16"x9" should do) and three or four layers of heavy bubble wrap all around to ship the instrument safely. Mirror boxes (a standard item at most moving supply stores) are easy to cut and shape for cases this size. I disagree that there's no need to tape the bubble wrap. The innermost layer I always tape firmly around the case for maximum stability; after that, I'll usually cut and tape in place smaller pieces of bubble wrap to fill the box as thoroughly as possible. Don't use peanuts or shredded newspaper, just large bubble wrap. Only that will keep the instrument from shifting in transit. As for the cost of shipping by USPS or private couriers like UPS or FedEx (I can't speak to Pirate), I very much doubt you'll find the latter cheaper. On the contrary, even with steep price increases by both USPS and Canada Post, I still find they're both cheaper and far more reliable than courier companies, and I could tell many stories about how notoriously unwilling UPS and FedEx in particular are to pay out insurance when an item is damaged or lost in transit.

 

[KohanMike]

A couple of years ago I went to a local pack and ship place near me, never again. It was expensive to pack, even more expensive to ship, and was delayed a couple of weeks because of their backlog. I now only sell on Craig's List and local pickup only. I was selling 29 bass ukes.mini bass guitars, the first 5 packed and shipped, which I had to lug to the shipper and took about three weeks to get to the various buyers, but on Craig's List, the other 24 went in about 8 days, they came to me.

 

[Quad57]

A couple of years ago I went to a local pack and ship place near me, never again.

On another site, I remember someone telling the story of taking an expensive guitar to be packed and shipped by one of the big courier companies. When it reached its destination -- in one piece, fortunately -- the only packing was a single layer of bubble wrap slung around the case. Packing can sometimes be a time-consuming job, but I'm happy to put the time in to assure the instruments will travel safe and sound.

 

[BuzzBD]

The problem with shipping instruments in their case is that the shipping costs today are determined by the dimensions of the package as well as the weight. A case can add 6” to the length, 4” to the width and 2” to the depth of the package and effectively double the shipping costs. Plus many of the cases are not all that protective. The package is going to be dropped and thrown around. If the instrument can shift around at all, you are risking damage.
I have shipped hundreds of instruments around the world, here is how I do it. First, I construct a cardboard box, doubling the cardboard where I can and adding 2” to the length, width and depth of the instrument being shipped. From Home Depot I purchase a 4’x8’x1” thick sheet of insulation foam. I cut that foam to line the total interior of the box. I cut extra foam pieces to keep the instrument in place and chop up some foam cubes to totally fill any gaps. On the outside of the foam I put a piece of paper with both my and the customer’s address. I then seal everything up using plenty of heavy duty packing tape. The foam adds next to nothing in extra weight and the physical dimensions are as small as possible.
Brad

 

[Jerryc41]

A couple of years ago I went to a local pack and ship place near me, never again. It was expensive to pack, even more expensive to ship, and was delayed a couple of weeks because of their backlog. I now only sell on Craig's List and local pickup only. I was selling 29 bass ukes.mini bass guitars, the first 5I packed and shipped, which I had to lug to the shipper and took about three weeks to get to the various buyers, but on Craig's List, the other 24 went in about 8 days, they came to me.

Since you live in Los Angeles, I can understand how you could do a personal delivery. That's not going to happen where I live, except for local uke players, and we exchange at jams.

 

[Dave Holiday]

A couple of years ago I went to a local pack and ship place near me, never again. It was expensive to pack, even more expensive to ship, and was delayed a couple of weeks because of their backlog. I now only sell on Craig's List and local pickup only. I was selling 29 bass ukes.mini bass guitars, the first 5 packed and shipped, which I had to lug to the shipper and took about three weeks to get to the various buyers, but on Craig's List, the other 24 went in about 8 days, they came to me.

I wouldn't ship either, typically. This one is being sent to a friend for repairs. If I was selling, I would do it locally.

 

[Pyewacket]

Years ago, I ordered a Merlin R-harp - this is a full size floor harp without pedals (smaller than a pedal harp but still pretty big).

The maker made his own packing crates which he paid to have shipped back to him, which I thought was a bit odd at first but soon discovered why.

I happened to be out of town for 3 days during which the R-Harp arrived. There was a house AND a barn on the property, and the barn had a large covered sort of a porch. When I got home, I discovered the harp had been left SITTING IN THE MIDDLE OF A FIELD, not 30' from the barn and its protected overhang area. About the same distance from the house.

I immediately contacted the maker, after ascertaining that fortunately the harp did not appear to be damaged. Fortunately for me and the harp it had not rained, in the season of heavy rains in that area, before I got home.

He informed me, with considerable apparent resignation, that this was par for the course for any courier service he had ever tried (this happened to be UPS). Which is why he started making his own packing crates specifically designed to minimize any possible damage they could do in shipping. These crates were engineered of plywood approved for use in aircraft manufacture and it was cheaper for him to have them shipped back than to construct new ones for each harp. Plus what was the end consumer going to do with the crate after unpacking the harp anyway.

Pretty appalling. And yes. It is SUPER hard to get them to cough up when they screw up. For example - my son once bought a new computer, and he and I both sat in his living room waiting for it to arrive on the day it was due, sitting RIGHT NEXT to the front door. It never came. UPS refused to talk to my son about it because he wasn't the shipper. They did go far enough to call him a liar. I got on the phone (he was like 19 and in college at the time) and you better believe I forced a lot more info out of them than THAT, but still failed to get satisfaction.

It was Friday evening by the time we had determined the package had been lost, and the seller was closed until Monday. However the person to whom the package had been misdelivered, FORTUNATELY, voluntarily brought it over to us the next day. He had not been home when the package came and his roommate, assuming it was for him, signed for it when he was away.

Turns out the delivery guy for that area was notorious for leaving packages at the wrong apartment buildings. When the seller contacted my son on Monday, they, too, seemed resigned to UPS and other such courier incompetence.

We were just lucky that the people to whom it was misdelivered were honest enough to turn it over, because UPS outright called my son a thief and a liar. They would NOT have owned up to their own mistake.