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Shipping a guitar


Pieman

Question

I can no longer use my former place of employment to ship via UPS and FedEx.   How do you hand over your shipments to UPS or FedEx?   I believe the UPS stores are franchised and add more to the cost, but I stand to be corrected. I don't want to leave the guitar with the drug store guys. Should I arrange with UPS or FedEx to pick up at home?  Is US post office worth considering? Should I just take the package to the UPS facility about 15 minutes away to be sure?

Related question.   I want to ship a bike to a bike store in Austria and I would pick it up for a road trip.   Does anybody have experience with DHL or FedEx for shipments to Europe?

As ever, thanks in advance.

 

 

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open a UPS account if not already, purchase a UPS label online, add 1 inch to total box dimensions, make sure you use a scale for weight.

Drop off at a Brown Store that has a good report card.

Do not use USPS. Times are pretty bad for them and packages are limbo'd with nil tracking.

Shipbikes.com  I think it is...... Uline sells Bike boxes as well.

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Thanks   I will open a UPS account.   

My local bike shop (REI) is going to service the bike and pack it for shipment.  You might be thinking of Bike flights  although i will look up shipbikes.com.

I asked about the USPS because... in December I went to the main post office in Cleveland and noticed a guitar box in the hamper.  It was a Nash guitar being sent by GuitarRiot to England.  

 

 

 

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I usually get better UPS prices buying the label through Paypal than when using my own account.  Google "how to use paypal to ship anything" or just use this handy link.  You'll be taken to your login screen followed by the page for shipping info.  You can select the range of UPS or USPS services.

Re: adding dimensions, all shipping services round to the nearest half inch.  10.49 inches is 10, 10.5 is 11.  There's no reason to add more.

Re: USPS shipping.  If shipping internationally, USPS should be your only consideration.

Re: Bike shipping.  I haven't shipped one in twenty years but last I did I worked with a bike shop and they took care of things for under $100.  Alternatively, I've flown with a bike packed in a normal cardboard bike box.  Contact the airline to ask how.  Again, it's been a bunch of years but the added cost was less than shipping.

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The only thing I would add is ABSOLUTELY watch the UPS Stores.  They're not UPS - they're someone who purchased a franchise name and marketing package from UPS.  Some are okay, others not so much.  I had a guy walk a guitar in to his local UPS Store shipping it to me on my UPS account - they refused citing they "didn't know how to do that."  They talked dude into using the Store's UPS account.  Total cost was more than double!

Find your local UPS terminal.  They'll accept properly boxed and labeled packages with no additional charges.

Okay, one more thing (dealing with UPS every single week for fifteen years), I'd offer a friendly amendment to the foregoing statements on rounding: always round up.  UPS is notorious for very liberal adjustments to dimensions.  The UPS bill has a section at the very back, "Adjustments and Other Charges" where they nitpick anything they can.  An adjusted inch can cost a couple of bucks.  An address correction can run fifteen bucks on plain Ground service (don't ask about overnight).  Too many adjustments on a single bill carries its own additional charge.

Sorry if this seems like a rant.  UPS is a sore spot.  Interesting, FedEx has never corrected a single package.  We tend to go with the least expensive carrier for a given route and it varies month to month.  FedEx was on a tare last year and was cheaper on nearly every route nearly all year.  This year, so far, we haven't shipped anything FedEx since January.  YMMV.

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1 hour ago, velorush said:

UPS is notorious for very liberal adjustments to dimensions.

yeah ($$$) . this is why I suggest adding an inch. even thou a box may be printed exact dimensions, and pointed out as such, it does not matter to them.

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I’ve had a UPS and Fed Ex account for ions. Everything said above is 100%. I’ll add that Fed Ex has been consistently  less expensive than UPS, and I’ve never had them lose a package in the last 15 years. UPS has lost three on me and each time it was a royal PIA to deal with them.

Also, not only has FED EX never upped an invoice, but on several instances they CREDITED ME for overpayment! 

 

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I have a FedEx account and have used it for eons without a mishap.  It tends to run cheaper than OOPS.  I take the package straight up to the depot, so avoiding the potential franchisee upcharges.  Like I said nary a goof in over a decade.  Buy insurance and take before pictures.

If you want to get a little special treatment from FedEx and don't mind the added expense, get their cheapest air service.  They treat air stuff much more carefully (per an employee friend) with a "daylight" rule that is enforced.  That is, if you can see daylight under the package, it's not to be dropped.  Sometimes it's worth it, other times??

I've used USPS twice, once was shipping a guitar to Europe, the other a box of pedals.  The guitar was a Standard and went in the largest U-Line guitar box, which just squeaks under the maximum dimension limit.  At first I was flatly refused without them even measuring.  Then I pointed out the dimensions printed on the box and made them measure.  USPS is probably your best choice for international as both OOOPS and FedEx have all these funky extra tariff/brokerage charges that either you or your buyer will get rudely surprised with.  USPS is pretty fast, tends not to get hung up as long in customs and is a bit cheaper from the outset.

DO NOT I repeat DO NOT ever use DHL.  In my experience, you have a better than 50% chance of your package getting lost, delayed or damaged and their retail customer service is virtually non-existent.

My $0.02

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21 hours ago, velorush said:

The only thing I would add is ABSOLUTELY watch the UPS Stores.  They're not UPS

This x 1000.  

I use them as a drop off for smaller, less fragile packages because my depot is about forty minutes out of the way of anywhere else I go.  If they aren't making money off you they're intentionally useless, and they'll never get a cent from me.  It's a fair arrangement.

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100% to all above.  I opened a FedEx account years ago and have had good luck with them.   I measure and weigh at home, print my label and drop it off at the FedEx Office place.   As others mentioned, UPS Stores are pirates.   I’ve had horrible luck with the USPS, particularly since Covid.  Haven’t shipped a guitar through them, but in the last 6 months they’ve managed to lose 2 priority mail items I sent as well as one of my Amazon purchases.  Amazon made good on it in no time flat, in fact they contacted me.  Not a fan of the USPS unless absolutely necessary.

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