quote:

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Originally posted by gcpicken

I don’t see any reference to FEDEX Banjo shipping??? Is it insane?

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I've used FedEx on a couple of banjos/miscellany. Their slow ground shipping is more reasonable than UPS, and I've found them more reliable. I I try to never use the USPS, particularly to receive packages. They just leave boxes on the street outside my place when they have the code to get in. 

Just visited FedEx. They wanted over $631 to overnight their standard guitar box at 25lbs. Plus over $30 to pack it “fragile’. The guy was very nice and said I could probably fly round trip for less.

Here are rates for Fedex shipping their "Guitar Box" 20X8X50.
If shipped on November 15 from Nashville to a West Palm Beach residence. This does not include the cost of the box and "Fragile Packing", which is about $38.00.
ARRIVES ON
Fri, Nov 17
DELIVERED BY
12:00 PM
FedEx 2Day® AM
$392.29

DELIVERED BY
8:00 PM
FedEx 2Day®
$319.45

DELIVERED BY
End of Day
FedEx Home Delivery®
$107.55
 

Here are rates for Fedex shipping their "Guitar Box" 20X8X50.
If shipped on November 15 from Nashville to a West Palm Beach residence. This does not include the cost of the box and "Fragile Packing", which is about $38.00.
ARRIVES ON
Fri, Nov 17
DELIVERED BY
12:00 PM
FedEx 2Day® AM
$392.29

DELIVERED BY
8:00 PM
FedEx 2Day®
$319.45

DELIVERED BY
End of Day
FedEx Home Delivery®
$107.55

I chose the “End of Day” option, but they delivered just before 11:00 in the morning!

quote:

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Originally posted by gcpicken

Just visited FedEx. They wanted over $631 to overnight their standard guitar box at 25lbs. Plus over $30 to pack it “fragile’. The guy was very nice and said I could probably fly round trip for less.

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If you play your cards right, that can be made to work.

I routinely ship 36x12x6 boxes weighing 8 lbs anywhere in the continental US for under $30 insured, via FedEx ground. I have a business account so I get a pretty good discount over a walk-in customer. In 20 years and around 700 packages they have never lost or significantly damaged anything.

My local UPS store, on the other hand, used to charge me oversized rates even though my boxes are not over 36" long. "It's just for convenience" they would tell me. Convenient for them to charge me more money, I guess. I stopped using them the first year.

quote:

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Originally posted by banjoy

I think that anyone who ships stuff out regularly should have one of those re-sizer tools. I got mine years ago from U-Line, but it's the same thing. Here's their video on how to use it:

youtube.com/watch?v=GnkJW-spk5s

That little thing will pay for itself, often with only one use (for example, the 52" to 44" box cut down I priced above ... the savings on that one box can pay for this tool).

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That's great, I had no idea. I shipped a banjo cross country UPS ( they boxed it). $320 insured. Lesson learned. Thanks for the info. 

I would like to see some fedex pricing . I have just sent 2 banjos out fedex and was half the price of usps which I have used for years . I was astonished how expensive usps has become . But usps shipped a banjo from California to Spain for less than half the prices to ship from California to Oregon ?

I would like some info on fedex . 

I’m receiving a banjo and guitar from Costa Rica today. DHL is charging me $1,300 based on an estimate with a +/- 20% allowance — if it goes over 20%, I pay the difference; under by more than 20%, I get a partial refund.

The frontman of my longtime band passed away in January at age 89 and these were the instruments he was known for during our heyday. As he got older, a masterclone became too heavy and he was borrowing my open backs for the last decade after he moved to Costa Rica when he came up for gigs. His family in Chicago doesn’t want them after learning how much this costs.

One thing nice about the process was that I was able to set the whole thing up over the phone including Customs declarations etc. The person settling the estate dropped off the instruments an hour later. I’ve little doubt that I could have flown down and back for less but travel is difficult since my handicap.

A fan will be reimbursing me in full plus any costs I incur restoring/setting up as needed. One is a top of the line Iida and the other is a Takamine 12 string, both with 45 years of gigs and international road work. I’ve let her know that there’s no way these instruments are worth this much.

quote:

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Originally posted by banjoy

In another thread KCJones mentioned the last time he shipped a banjo it cost about $150. The last time I shipped a banjo it was under $60.

I did some comparative pricing, those who ship banjos should really pay attention.

His post to that other thread prompted me to do some price quotes on pirateship.com (I really love that site)!!

A box 52" x 18" x 8" weighing 24 pounds, priced from Spartanburg, SC to Boston MA (straight up the eastern seaboard) is as follows:

--UPS Ground $47.16
--UPS 3-day Select $61.93
--USPS Parcel Ground Select $91.13
--USPS Priority $116.90

Anyone who has shipped instruments knows that stock instrument boxes are often 52" to accommodate just about anything. But at that length you'll pay a premium price for shipping dead air.

Now, if I cut the box down to 44" -- just about right for a 5-string banjo case -- here are the prices, everything else being the same:

--UPS Ground $30.96
--UPS 3-day Select $43.96
--USPS Parcel Ground Select $83.86
--USPS Priority $108.81

You can see that dead air cost some SERIOUS money.

Now, the 44" box from South Carolina to California (cross country)--

--UPS Ground $53.01
--UPS 3-day Select $79.11
--USPS Parcel Select Ground $125.22
--USPS Priority $159.15

I'm not EVEN gonna quote a 52" box to California. You don't want to hear it :)

As you can see, the Postal Service is pricing themselves out of business, probably by intent from the moron now running the post office, in my opinion.

Anyway, you can see there are some deals to be had, you just have to cut boxes down to fit.

If folks reading this thread need a quick tutorial on cutting boxes down to size, I can make a post to this thread on how to do that, and save some serious money.

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It would be nice if USPS could price themselves out of business. Unfortunately, they are subsidized by the US tax payers and still charge the highest premium! Sorry, but I was just talking about this today. Off topic of size of a banjo-- Remember when you could mail a little envelope with something small, yet dimensional, inside? It went First Class by weight. Now, it is a minimum of $5.00!

Rant over. Thank you for posting this information, it is incredibly valuable for people trying to ship large things. The last banjo I acquired cost me $140 bucks to ship, including packing. Still made it a good deal, but it sure hurt.

Anything dealing with the USPS risks getting into a political discussion because, even though now supposedly independent of Congress, it is a political institution. I have always shipped USPS and have found it cost less and was, for me, more convenient. I don’t know if I would use it now; I would not ship via FedEx because I’ve seen how carelessly and roughly they handle packages. No shipper is cheap, and no shipper handles packages as carefully as they should for the rates they charge. Anymore, I’ll be inclined to consign my banjos to a store with the experience to pack and ship them; the lack of hassle is worth the cost for me.

USPS is not subsidized by the taxpayer. It is entirely self-sufficient. Congress plays all sorts of games requiring USPS to pre-pay retirement decades into the future so they can present a false narrative of financial instability.