[Elecraft] Shipping a K3

[Dennis W0JX]

Since the question was asked, I thought I would share my experience in shipping my K3 from Ohio to Elecraft in California last August. I thought I would be smart and ship my K3 via air to speed its delivery and avoid excessive handling. This turned out not to be the case and it cost almost twice the price of ground shipping.

Because of a holiday and weekend, the K3 took only one less day than if I had shipped it by ground. I tracked it every day and it was scanned and transferred multiple times before it arrived in Watsonville, CA.

I double-boxed the radio with plenty of packing. When I got to the UPS station, I purchased $4,000 worth of insurance. When I told the clerk the description of the radio and the insurance amount, he wanted me to undo all of the packing and show him the radio! It took me quite a bit of describing exactly how I packed it, and the clerk had to get a supervisor's approval to avoid doing so. Apparently some UPS offices have a policy that requires opening the package if the declared value is over $1,000. I recommend that you check in advance and take pictures of your packing method to avoid opening the box.

On the way from the factory, I choose UPS ground at half the cost of sending it there. It arrived in fine shape, SINGLE boxed, and was held in place with special foam. The radio traveled back to Ohio mostly by rail car and was handled and scanned far fewer times than going it. It took seven days to get home.

Incidentally, the factory repair service was superb, several updates were done free, and the radio performs better now that when I bought it in 2009.

73, Dennis W0JX
Milan, OH