Can anyone recommend a reliable and economical shipping or freight company that can safely pack, pickup, and ship speakers that weigh about 150lbs that don't have their original boxes or crates from Maryland to Rhode Island?
I shipped an item from a UPS terminal in New Stanton, Pa. Near my home. maybe 10-12 years ago. It arrived at the buyers home in Ohio, looking like it was tossed off the top of the building. A Nakamichi cassette deck with a smashed in corner. It was inspected by the counter people before being approved for shipment. The box was opened, inspected, then resealed in front of me. It was insured. The claim was denied. They said it was my inadequate packing. I have never, nor will I ever use UPS again.
Craters and freight forwarders could be rough on the speakers.
for big heavy studio gear, have used Plycon with great success. ask them for a quote for their Blanket wrap. They will wrap the speakers in heavy pads, then get tied to the wall of one of their air ride trailers. much smoother than a freight trailer. Link below.
Packing is a big part of not getting your products damaged. Use open cell packing not styrofoam. It is too rigid and does not allow for cushining from impact. Swimming noodles are excellent and cheap to. I will use styrofoam around the outside and noodles next to the gear. Minimum 2" to 3" aroind what you are shipping. Dishwaser / appliance boxes are free, you just have to custom fit them. Costco produce boxes are very rigid for things like amps. I sometimes put 1/8" plywood around it. So far so good with things shipped as far away as NewZealand and Belgium.
Shipping services, had bad results with them all. USPS is the way I go now. Not a federally funded branch so all of those people that worked like lazy, ignorant bmv workers now hustle lol.
The first pair of Khorus speakers Talon shipped me I got out to the truck just in time to see them dropped three feet off the tailgate, cracking the wood at the base. The second pair I got there before the truck could stop, so I was watching when they opened the back, and saw how THIS END UP was on its side. Both speakers were broken at the base from being laid sideways.
The third set I got pro-active, learned what time they were supposed to arrive at SeaTac, borrowed a pickup truck and picked them up at the airport.
You want to ship speakers without damage forget about the shipper. Pack them as if the shipper don't care. Because, the shipper don't care.
Having used all flavors of shipper over my 17 years as a Fire Commissioner -- and the Fire Dept. deals with a LOT of unusual, unwieldy, heavy shipments for all kinds of Fire tools & implements -- I can say that UPS is near the bottom. FEDEX in my experience much better. But for a heavy shipment that requires LTL (tractor trailer) shipment, there are any numbers of companies that do this, including transportation brokers who will help find the most cost-efficient options. Locally, we use J.B. Hunt, a national shipper, who has a depot about 15 miles fron us. Last 2 times, I used them to ship a fire pump (maybe 400 lbs) and a large air compressor (about 250 lbs).
Get a quote from U Ship.You might get the speakers there in one day. You can supervise the loading and the buyer at the other end can supervise the unloading and get them delivered directly to the desired location.It would be a good idea to wrap them in plastic and specify the fragile nature of the speakers and that you will need them wrapped in blankets and secured within the truck or trailer ...and take a lot of pictures. Knowing how these shippers work your speakers will among other items to be dropped off,that is how you get a good price from these independent shippers. You might get them delivered for two hundred dollars or even less if you get someone who is going that route and has room.I would call it an option,might even call it an adventure.Good Luck.
Fun fact about UPS: If you ship from a UPS Distribution Center they have there own insurance but if you use a franchise outlet or a UPS Store they have other insurers which causes most to the claim problems. This information is slightly dated but can be verified with a quick call to UPS proper.
Somebody was sending me a package, and they chose UPS. So I arranged for pickup at the UPS center, instead of having it ride around in a hot truck all day.
So the website showed they opened at 9 a.m., which was great! I got there a few minutes after 9, the parking lot was empty. There was a big sign in the window, "We don’t care what the website says, we don’t open until 10." I couldn’t sit around for an hour waiting for them, so the 16 mile round trip to their place was wasted, and I had to go back in the afternoon, another 16 mile round trip.
So as parker65310 is still soured after several months, I’m still soured after a couple of years. I’ve never used UPS after that.
Definitely don’t use UPS. It’s guaranteed they will damage your speakers and then string you along several months until they 100% screw you out of any payment towards fixing the damage they caused out of sheer employee apathy. I’m still soured and this happened to me several months ago :).
I would think it would be just as cheap to rent a U Haul and drive them to the destination if you consider shipping and insurance charges from a third party. I figure it couldn't be much more than 400 miles from MD to RI but I've never been to either state. At 200 miles an hour it would only take a couple of hours to get there.
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