Parcels Shipping

most of these fuckers piss me off on a daily basis.

I've had a lot of bad experiences with UPS, myself. FedEx, far fewer.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

If you sign for a neighbour's package, are you legally responsible for it from that point? My wife signed for one on Thursday and left it in the communal entrance to our house, which we share with one other flat. On Saturday morning I answered the door to bloke coming for parcel, only it wasn't there any more. It was there Friday night when I got back, so it disappeared Friday night or Saturday morning early.

Our upstairs neighbours deny all knowledge, we've since had angry woman and angry courier come round demanding the package. The woman said she would call the police to which I just said OK then cos fuck it we haven't got the stupid package.

There's only really 2 things that could've happened, either upstairs neighbours or one of their friends stole it, or they left the front door unlocked (which they do sometimes) and someone else stole it. Either way we're never signing for anyone else's bastard parcel again.

Anyway, could we end up having to pay for this?

let's do an update check-in, and also i'm just doing this because i'm hoping someone here will have an insider tip.

here's my deal: i need to send a painting from Chicago to Brooklyn. It's 40"x60", a couple inches thick. i could find only one box that would work, the Home Depot Extra Large TV Box, a telescoping piece of american innovation

https://i.imgur.com/lLiLdZf.png

after wrapping up the painting in some layers of protective bubble wrap and crumpled up paper, the dimensions are:

Length: 64"
Width: 48"
Height: 6"

It's 30.4 pounds. i know this because i brought it into fedex, and 15 minutes into the process they said it was over the limits for the size of it. The max size of a box at FedEx, and USPS and UPS as well, is 165 inches of "length and girth combined".

length + (2 x width) + (2 x height)
64 + (2 x 48) + (2 x 6)
172"

Instead, they told me that i should go back to my studio and schedule a pickup since it's an oversized item. so i went back here, set up an account on fedex, and set about creating a shipment. at the dimensions above, these are the best quotes they can offer me:

https://i.imgur.com/FSxNsKv.png

jeez it's kind of expensive for a 30 fucking pound package. but what if shave off a precious few inches on the packaging to get it under the holy 165" standard of parcel service? if i do, it opens up a new low-income level kind of shipment, made available as a favor by fedex to me and the boys down at the docks, the skeleton crew, we're son hungry. here's the quote:

https://i.imgur.com/GbyrrFz.png

jfc

you also have to imagine me being a frustrated guy because i had strap this fucker on the top of my car and take it off 3 different times today, and i kept breaking car things on accident as i was doing it

so now i'm working out deals with people i know to gradually drive this to NYC on the top of their vehicle

See if you can talk to a gallery owner on the phone and get any advice they are willing to offer about how large pieces of art in the sub-$2000 range might be economically and safely shipped.

imagine me being a frustrated guy

sorry cant do it

USPS an option?

sorry I see it's not. Have mercy!

i do ask for mercy!

have mercy on me parcel services! haha

aimless, i'm reaching out to a friend of mine who fits the bill, we'll see what they say. i expect that $250 for a big one is about what i should expect, so in this case i think i will be able to repackage it, tighten it up a little, and get it under 165" total so I can get the lower rate of $250.

as for paintings, i'll have to keep in mind that if it's something really large, make sure the canvas can be removed from the stretcher bars so it can be rolled up. Much easier/cheaper to ship a rolled up canvas than a gigantic rectangle! in this case, i accidentally bought a canvas that couldn't be easily removed from the stretcher bars, so it is in fact a big rectangle.

i don't know the answer but this seems silly. i bought a rowing machine last year and fedex shipping was $50 for a similar weight (40-50 lbs?) and awkwardly sized, long box.

If you have a Paypal account, check UPS pricing with their shipping label buying thing (it doesn't have to be a Paypal transaction).

Alternately, sign up with Shippo (or a similar shipping service but Shippo is free at the basic level IIRC) and then set up with FedEx/UPS from there. It's been years since I did it so I can't remember if they set you up with the parcel services automatically.

Those options would save you a lot under normal circumstances (like a 30x40 painting) but looking at Shippo I can't figure out a feasible option for shipping a 40x60 painting through normal channels.

yeah, right?! it's a amazing - the shipping industry is well-equipped to handle a 30x40, really anything up to 36x48. you go beyond that, though, and everything absolutely falls apart

but thank you for those recommendations! i will take a look - wasn't really thinking beyond the FedEx/UPS/DHL trio but should probably look a bit more.

There's a max size built into their handling chains - scanners on belts to route things in depots, size of the openings on trucks, safe dimensions to carry without overbalancing etc - once you go over that, they have to handle it separately by hand, so the costs skyrocket. That's when smaller freight companies can be worth looking at.

yeah, looked at some of those freight options too. as you'd expect, it makes sense if you're going to ship in bulk, but for a single item - this thing is only 30 pounds! - it costs over $500. which...is actually better than the $900 fedex quote i got, lol!

this thing would easily fit in most of today's mega-cars! in fact, with just 42"+ height clearance in a van, I could easily fit 6 or 7 in a van!

if there was any sort of real life art market happening between normal people, i would start a business where i deliver your pretty-big painting whereever and it only costs you $150. i don't make much, personally, but then it starts to get word of mouth and pretty soon we go global. soon afterward fedex is the one calling ME