[TheForge] Cost of shipping HD stuff?

[Ries Niemi]

On Saturday, January 1, 2005, at 01:57 PM, northpt at blarg.net wrote:

> Hello TheForge
>
> 	 I sometimes run across heavy equipment (less than 15,000lbs.) on the 
> net,
> like old planers or power hammers and the like. The price is okay, but 
> shipping is the
> show stopper. I am out here in the Pacific North West and most of the 
> good ol'
> equipment is out on the east coast or the midwest.
>
> 	I am looking for the least expensive way of shipping. Is Rail 
> possible? I have
> heard of "Less than normal load shipping" how does that work?
>
> 	Any advise would appreciated.
>
> Thanks!!!
> _______________________________________________
>

I also live in the northwest, so I understand completely about the lack 
of used tools. I also make really large scale sculptures, which I often 
need to ship to their ultimate destinations elsewhere.
I have found that by using a freight consolidator, I can get my loads 
booked with independent truckers, and get pretty reasonable prices. For 
instance, I recently shipped a full 40 foot trailer to San Jose Ca. 
from my studio north of Seattle, and it cost me $1375. I thought that 
was amazingly cheap- Yellow freight could charge that much just for a 
couple of pallets.
I use a couple of different consolidators- I like Long Haul Trucking, 
out of the Bay Area, at  1-800-255-5153, and I also have had really 
good luck with Allways Trucking, in Medford Or, at 1-800-888-6230.
What you heard about is actually called LTL- it means "less than 
truckload" and it refers to any load less than a full trailer. So one 
machine is an LTL. The broker will find a trucker who has some load on 
his truck, but room for more, and he will schedule him to go and pick 
up your load. This means it goes on one truck, and then, with perhaps a 
few stops on the way, comes to you. This is much better than some 
company like Yellow Freight, where the loading dock gorillas may load 
and unload your stuff 3 or 4 times in transit. They can damage almost 
anything- I had a big Knaack box shipped with my tools back from an 
installation site on time by Yellow Freight, and they managed to dent 
it on almost every side- looks like they were playing forklift polo 
with it. I much prefer it being on one truck all the way, driven by an 
independant trucker who pays his own insurance bills, and so is more 
careful.

ries