What's a reasonable shipping cost?

[Opsimath]

Are these estimates of $50 to $60 including insurance? If not, how important do you folks think insurance is?

I got a UPS quote to ship to Fixit and it wasn't too bad, until I added insured value of the guitar at which point it doubled. The thought of shipping without insurance is pretty frightening, but then do any of the shippers really honor claims in the unfortunate event that something does happen?

Cynthia

 

[twocorgis]

Are these estimates of $50 to $60 including insurance? If not, how important do you folks think insurance is?

I got a UPS quote to ship to Fixit and it wasn't too bad, until I added insured value of the guitar at which point it doubled. The thought of shipping without insurance is pretty frightening, but then do any of the shippers really honor claims in the unfortunate event that something does happen?

Cynthia

Cynthia,

Both FedEx and UPS tend to overcharge for insurance.When I recently sold a guitar, the buyer clued me into a third party insurance carrier called u-pic.com. they don't insure everything (computers and jewelry are excluded), and there are some zip codes in NYC and LA the exclude as well, but they're about 1/10th the price of UPS or FedEx's insurance rates. I've not had to file a claim yet, but have heard that they're better about that, too.

 

[Opsimath]

Thank you! I'll check into that. This guitar may make it to Fixit yet!!

Cynthia

 

[Texasdave75229]

Thank you! I'll check into that. This guitar may make it to Fixit yet!!

Cynthia

I just shipped one and went to Guitar center they had no boxes but Fedex has guitar boxes for $12 something. I would think with shipping and insurance in state would be less that $47.00 Pack it yourself. I just did, Sandy is an expert shipper so I know he can give you some packing tips about securing the neck. I put the guitar and case in the box and filled the box with wadded up newspaper so the case could not shift around in the box, and it got there fine. I put a label on the box to not ship flat but standing on its side with up arrows. Reason is so its not on the bottom of a pallet with lots of other boxes stacked on it. Hope this helps Fedex is cheaper than UPS in my opinion.

 

[Aristera]

Just a fyi...

It seems dimensionally derived weight pricing is the way UPS calculates things against actual weight. They use the greater weight.

(length x width x height)/166 = dimensional weight

The UPS store had what they call a standard guitar box which was 46x20x12 = 67lbs

Insurance over $2001 is $1.40 per $100. I think it was $1.60 per $100 for $1000-$2000.

 

[tjmangum]

Several months back, I sold a Collings guitar to Acoustic Music Works in Pittsburg. I'm in Oregon. Total cost, insured for $2,750, was $67 via FedEx. I do have a FedEx account, but I'm thinking I only get a couple of percentage points off. Now this was a Baby Collings and went in a Taylor mini box, so a bit smaller than a standard dread.
I once bought a banjo from a guy in Georgia, who packed it in a large square FedEx box that was about 20 inches square by 50 inches tall. I'm sure he got killed on his $35 shipping fee.
T

 

[Texasdave75229]

Several months back, I sold a Collings guitar to Acoustic Music Works in Pittsburg. I'm in Oregon. Total cost, insured for $2,750, was $67 via FedEx. I do have a FedEx account, but I'm thinking I only get a couple of percentage points off. Now this was a Baby Collings and went in a Taylor mini box, so a bit smaller than a standard dread.
I once bought a banjo from a guy in Georgia, who packed it in a large square FedEx box that was about 20 inches square by 50 inches tall. I'm sure he got killed on his $35 shipping fee.
T

I did ship one yesterday and the lady at Fedex said if I had an account it was a savings of 8% They measure the box too but I am not sure how they calculate the rates. I just know compared to UPS it seemed cheaper.

 

[twocorgis]

AFAIK, all normal size guitars ship by "dimensional weight", not actual weight, whether it's UPS or FedEx. That's because as long as it's under the max weight limit of 70 pounds, the actual dimensions of the package (i.e. how much room it will take up on the truck) is far more important to the courier than the actual weight. Also, when shipping guitars, it's far more important to completely immobilize the guitar inside the case than it is to immobilize the case inside the box. Also very important to remove the end pin if at all possible, and if there's a pickup installed, make sure there's plenty of padding around the output jack. It's this kind of "internal whiplash" that causes the vast majority of damage during shipping. Also, as counterintuitive as it sounds, it's actually better to ship via Ground service, because the package actually gets handled less, and that's when damage is most likely to occur.

 

[Neal]

Sandy, do you also endorse slackening of the strings during shipment? Whenever I sell one (which, evidently, isn't quite often enough, given the number of guitar cases I am currently tripping over), I like to tune down a step or so, but keep some tension on the neck.

Neal

'65 Mark I
'71 F-20
'71 D-25
'73 D-35
'74 G-37
'81 D-212
'99 X-150
'11 F-30 Std
'12 F-50 Std
'13 F-47R
'13 Orpheum 12-fret D
'14 Orpheum 12-fret 000 RW

 

[tjmangum]

AFAIK, all normal size guitars ship by "dimensional weight", not actual weight, whether it's UPS or FedEx. That's because as long as it's under the max weight limit of 70 pounds, the actual dimensions of the package (i.e. how much room it will take up on the truck) is far more important to the courier than the actual weight. Also, when shipping guitars, it's far more important to completely immobilize the guitar inside the case than it is to immobilize the case inside the box. Also very important to remove the end pin if at all possible, and if there's a pickup installed, make sure there's plenty of padding around the output jack. It's this kind of "internal whiplash" that causes the vast majority of damage during shipping. Also, as counterintuitive as it sounds, it's actually better to ship via Ground service, because the package actually gets handled less, and that's when damage is most likely to occur.

Great words of wisdom Sandy.

 

[twocorgis]

Sandy, do you also endorse slackening of the strings during shipment? Whenever I sell one (which, evidently, isn't quite often enough, given the number of guitar cases I am currently tripping over), I like to tune down a step or so, but keep some tension on the neck.

Neal

'65 Mark I
'71 F-20
'71 D-25
'73 D-35
'74 G-37
'81 D-212
'99 X-150
'11 F-30 Std
'12 F-50 Std
'13 F-47R
'13 Orpheum 12-fret D
'14 Orpheum 12-fret 000 RW

Neal, I take all tension off the strings when I ship, but there seems to be varying schools of thought on this. I've had guitars arrive here with all manner of tension, and it doesn't seem to make much difference as long as they're packed properly otherwise.

 

[geoguy]

Here's a good guitar-packing tutorial, from the frets dot com website:

http://www.frets.com/FretsPages/Musician/GenMaint/Packing/packing1.html