Shipping instruments

Gandalfe

Gandalfe

Striving to play the changes in a melodic way.
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Helen said:
FWIW, and I know this will fly in the face of what many readers here have done, I would not buy a brand of horn that I have not had the opportunity to play test first. With us being in Canada, the shipping, taxes, customs hassles, etc, are too great.
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I was shocked to find it cost $150 to ship a 20 lb instrument to Switzerland this week. And that was going the slowest way possible. Three day service was over $300!
 
Gandalfe said:
I was shocked to find it cost $150 to ship a 20 lb instrument to Switzerland this week. And that was going the slowest way possible. Three day service was over $300!
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Now that's strange - the USPS online calculator says ~$90 including insurance. :confused:
 
Gandalfe said:
Depends on the size of the box and then the weight after it's packed too. So, you bring this up because...?
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Oh, I didn't mean to bring this up in a specific way - I probably was shocked as well. Apparently an online calculator is telling only half of the truth, I'll have to keep that in mind when shipping stuff myself. No problem, really.
 
Well, best thing is to get the box as small as possible as that can save a lot of money and is something you can control. The weight thing is only controllable by using peanuts or bubble wrap vs. newspaper. Newspaper doesn't work as well and can add some serious weight.
 
Minnesota would have been darned cheap by comparison! (I boughta 5 string bass instead)
 
Gandalfe said:
Well, best thing is to get the box as small as possible as that can save a lot of money and is something you can control. The weight thing is only controllable by using peanuts or bubble wrap vs. newspaper. Newspaper doesn't work as well and can add some serious weight.
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Yes, but OTOH making the box as small as possible means less protection. It also depends on the case, and a shaped case with not much protection can get instruments seriously damaged. This happened when saxophones were shipped to me this way. I'd rather pay a bit more for a bigger and more protected box than save a little. It's going to be expensive anyway, and I don't think a slightly bigger box is not going to be a lot more expensive (compared with the price of shipping, and usually the price of the saxophone).
 
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Oh this thread is making me nervous. I hate shipping horns. I hate receiving horns from far away. I'd rather drive to go get them, but in this case it would not have been practical. I'm currently awaiting 2 tenors from Europe. :-?
 
clarnibass said:
Yes, but OTOH making the box as small as possible means less protection. It also depends on the case, and a shaped case with not much protection can get instruments seriously damaged. This happened when saxophones were shipped to me this way. I'd rather pay a bit more for a bigger and more protected box than save a little. It's going to be expensive anyway, and I don't think a slightly bigger box is not going to be a lot more expensive (compared with the price of shipping, and usually the price of the saxophone).
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True enough, but is there a difference between three inches of styrofoam peanuts vs six inches surrounding a good case with bubble wrap used inside of the case?
 
Gandalfe said:
True enough, but is there a difference between three inches of styrofoam peanuts vs six inches surrounding a good case with bubble wrap used inside of the case?
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Are there no padded envelopes of that size? :p

I usually fill the case with peanuts, 1 layer of bubble wrap around the case, then Kraft packing paper.
 
tictactux said:
Are there no padded envelopes of that size? :p

I usually fill the case with peanuts, 1 layer of bubble wrap around the case, then Kraft packing paper.
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And put the clarinet in the envelope? :???:
 
It's rare that I get to quote myself. About a year ago, I sold my (formerly Ed's) bari to a gentleman from England. The thing was 29lbs.

pete said:
Here's the rundown, from the USPS for you UK-ians.

1. The shipping charge should be between $118 and $140 for Postal Priority (cheapest). It depends on the final weight, after packaging. Insured.
2. There are no customs charges on my end. There may be some on the receiving end. You may wish to check with your customs folks. (I did see something online that says Australia doesn't charge any fees if the value of what's being received is under $1000 AUS. USPS didn't have any other info when I called. See the FredEx website for some Customs info, but no actual fees are listed.)
3. I do have to fill out a customs form. I need your real name and a phone number to do that. It's the 2976-A form.
4. Insured value is only $650 maximum, therefore that's what the declared value is. I asked for more and that's not available.

Further, from HaRon:

For any potential EU buyers, import duty on saxes is 3.2% and on top of that you have to pay VAT (percentages are different per EU-country) and maybe some handling fees.
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I also found, when I was actuallt shipping the thing, that there was a max. length/width/height to get the $140 price and the original box I bought from a UPS shipping store who said that it's work just fine with USPS was 3" too long, which almost TRIPLED the cost of shipping. That means that I had to cut down the box and use a lot less packing material. Luckily, even though the case was "form fitting", there was enough space to use a lot of bubbles and peanuts. And the case was built quite well.

So, in other words, Gandalfe, you really didn't pay too much ....

(Original thread's at http://woodwindforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1392)
 
I'm fairly sure that it was the same rate for *most* countries in the EU. I seem to remember that there were some exceptions.

It was awhile ago, tho.
 
Gandalfe said:
Now I also wonder if shipping to a land-locked European country is more expensive than an island like the UK? There are potentially so many variables.
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Shipping by air usually arrives to the airport of the country, so that would be mostly irelevant if it was UK or another country in Europe, but there are always some unpredictable things (e.g. maybe flights to a certain country are more expensive for reason). Even if the flight has a stop in the middle, that could still be less expensiv than a direct flight sometimes. So basically there is no real way to know.

Gandalfe said:
True enough, but is there a difference between three inches of styrofoam peanuts vs six inches surrounding a good case with bubble wrap used inside of the case?
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I don't know. I think as long as the overall packaging is good it should be ok.
 
Gandalfe said:
Now I also wonder if shipping to a land-locked European country is more expensive than an island like the UK? There are potentially so many variables.
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The USPS don't use ships any more for their "shipping" :)

Bloody shame they ditched their "economy (surface)" rates. Was very cheap for the price of being a rather lengthy process. (I waited 10 weeks for my Alto clarinet)
 
I'd look at that as more of a ten week reprieve, myself...

There is an unconfirmed rumor that the Stockholm was intentionally set on a collision course with the Andrea Doria when news of a shipment of Orsi alto clarinets on that ill-fated vessel reached the members of the super-secretive Society for the Extermination Of The Alto Clarinet (better known to the general public by the acronym SEAC). Nothing more than a rumor, though.
 
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