Shipping my Rig - FedEx?

[ntrprnr 0]

Hey gang, and happy new year...

Heading to a trade show for the week, then skipping town and jumping all weekend at a drop zone near the show. Planning on FedEx'ing my rig directly to the hotel so I don't have to carry it on the plane and deal with the nightmare that accompanies the largest trade show of the year.

Any thoughts on FedEx other than full insurance? Figured I'd ship it to the hotel I'll be staying at, with my name as the delivery contact.

Shouldn't be a problem, just curious as to thoughts.

Also, will ship it 3-day - cheaper, and I don't need it till Friday, anyway.

Any thoughts? Thanks!

_______________
"Why'd you track away at 7,000 feet?"
"Even in freefall, I have commitment issues."

[FrEaK_aCcIdEnT 0]

only thing that comes to my mind is...

Make sure to contact the hotel and see uf they are willing to do it.

but u probably already did that.


good luck and hope everything works out.

ExPeCt ThE uNeXpEcTeD!
DoNt MiNd ThE tYpOs, Im LaZy On CoRrEcTiOnS!

[sundevil777 94]

Use a sturdy box, with the rig in a couple of garbage bags, and wrap the box with packing tape all the way around in both directions in several places.

Pack it like you know that it will be repeatedly tossed around and landing on concrete floors, and being crushed by many other heavy boxes.

People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

[gravitational 0]

Quote

Pack it like you know that it will be repeatedly tossed around and landing on concrete floors, and being crushed by many other heavy boxes.

I've been to the sort facility in Memphis. Pack it better than this and you'll be fine.

------
Michael

[mx757 4]

I used to work for FedEx at their AFW hub. big bulky items like Suitcases rubbermaid boxes etc get hand loaded on to convary belts and then hand loaded on to "baggage cart" like airlines use to putt luggage on at gates. it is then moved to "can" for city its going to by hand regular card board boxes and stuff get put on a elivated convery belt (about waist high) and then get kicked off belt by bar code readers and slide dow chutes where they crash into all other boxes and more boxes crash into it later...put it in rubbermaid box or suitcase or such and it'll get handled better. yea insure it it's cheap airbills do come off and they have no idea where freight goes. so it get kicked to memphis what they do with unknown/ no address freight there I have no idea...FedEx is quick on paying any insurance claim too.

edit I'm typing this at work and the keyboard is carp. haf the keys are stuck. you got to POUND the keyboard to type excuse spelling errors

[hobbes4star 0]

Having worked for fedex do exactly like mx757 said. if it gets lost fedex will send it to memphis where they put it in a giant warehouse and then auction it off after 1 year or so. I have worked two differant sort facilities and boxes get a beat down like you could not imagine.

if fun were easy it wouldn't be worth having, right?

[FlyinseivLP2 0]

I work for them and ship gear all the time. Pack it well, in a box. Use filler in the box to make it sturdy. Also put it in a garbage bag before you box it and put your address and phone number on the bag or attached to the rig. This way if the airbill was lost, they would still have your address to ship it to.

[GravityGirl 0]

I'll use UPS or FED EX. But I never use FED EX Ground. FedEx farms out their ground shipments to various delivery services. The problems that I have encountered include:

Couldn't find us, so never delivered. After much research and an hours drive and reaming some ass, I got my packages.

Left out in the rain. Yes. Rigs.

And although it didn't happen to me.... a delivery service acting on behalf of FedEx left their truck running with the keys in it downtown San Francisco while he was running a package in to a building. THe truck was stolen.

So our company policy is UPS or FedEx Air only.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Peace and Blue Skies!
Bonnie ==>Gravity Gear!

[tso-d_chris 0]

Quote

Any thoughts on FedEx other than full insurance? Figured I'd ship it to the hotel I'll be staying at, with my name as the delivery contact.

We prefer UPS over FedEx.

A couple things to keep in mind:

If you ship via air service, the UPS/FedEx your shipment will be in the shippers system for the least amount of time, minimizing chances of loss.

Go big on insurance (think replacement cost, not value). This won't guarantee you will be reimbursed for the full insured amount if your package is lost, but it does help decrease the chances of your package being lost or stolen. UPS insurance is pretty cheap.

For Great Deals on Gear

[Ron 7]

I work for FedEx still.

Fix the lost airbill problem by putting the address INSIDE the box as well.

If a package looses an AWB it goes to a recovery area. They open the box and look for an address inside the box from a packing slip, or invoice.

If there is no address they record the contents of the box and wait for a complaint call. They then try to match the contents to the claim.

On some really out there things...Rare types of shipments they start making calls to the producers on the product.

An easy way to save the trouble is just drop an address INSIDE the box as well.


In this case, call the hotel and make sure they will hold it. Most good hotels have no problem and a few will put it into your room for you.

"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

[Eule 0]

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Any thoughts? Thanks!

Call the hotel to let them know it's coming. I've never had a hotel refuse to accept a shipment, but it
could happen. They will usually keep it in the office or some reasonably secure place, and can give it
to you when you check in.

Put the address on the outside of the box in a couple of places besides on the FedEx paperwork. If
you use a label to do this, put some clear tape over the label. Also put the address inside the box in
more than one place.

I would avoid putting "parachute" in the "what is it" field on the shipping label, unless you have to for
the insurance. I worked at a place where we were set up to print our own FedEx labels and we could
put whatever we wanted in the "what is it" field.

There is some information on how to pack a rig here: http://www.chutingstar.com/archives/00000112.html

Eule

PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

[crotalus01 0]

i have worked in the hub at Memphis for 13 years loading airplanes, there should be no problems shipping fedex. just do as recommended, get replacement value insurance, pad the shit out of it as it WILL get thrown around a lot and possibly crushed, and be sure to put an address inside the package, including a phone number where someone can reach you.

As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD...

[MagicGuy 0]

USPS Priority Mail is another option. It will cost you in the $40 range, but it will get there in 3 days without a problem. Putting it in a Tupperware or Rubbermaid container is a great idea before putting it in the box that it will be shipped in.

I just prefer USPS over any other kind of shipping. I've had problems with FedEx and Airborne, UPS just takes way too long and will leave things outside. USPS is the way to go, IMO.