How to ship a back seat cross country?

JFENG

JFENG

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Guys,
I found a back seat on the other coast (private seller). Problem is, how to ship it once it's bought. UPS.com rate estimate was close to $200 (not including boxing them up). Seller can't be bothered with something elaborate such as dropping off at a Greyhound station.

Any ideas for how to get the seats boxed and shipped for less than $500 the pair?

John
 
I had an electric incinerating toilet shipped from TExas to Buffalo with R+L trucking and a very heavy compressor shipped from Georgia. Both cost less than $200. It is cheaper if you have the package dropped off at a freight terminal.
 
Thanks the great suggestion.

That sounds reasonable. I still need to convince the seller to devise a packing strategy. Maybe one of those U-Haul "wardrobe" boxes?

At $500, I was thinking of just flying out and bringing them back as checked luggage. But $200 would be a great shipping rate.

John
 
I think I paid $175 for a 500 pound compressor if I remember.
 
I also had two Lotus Elise seats shipped UPS in one big Box for my Miata. I think it was well under $200. I'd imagine you can fit two rear seats in a single box.
 
Do you have a company discount with any carriers or know somebody who does? Our corporate Fedex rates are much lower than individuals (like half) as well as our LTL rates from common carriers.
 
A previous owner shipped me an engine block, transmission and 12 boxes of misc. parts via UPS. Worth a little more to me for door to door service.
 
Try the good old US Post Office. I shipped rear seats to Florida via them and the price was 1/2 or less of UPS.But, I made the box for each seat myself from cardboard (used a refrigerator box from a local appliance store) and the boxes were shaped like the seats i.e. triangular. Realize your seller may not be as cooperative as I am...
 
Packaging

The easiest thing to securely package I think is the pallet wrap film. You can buy it on Ebay for about $20 for 18" x very long, drop ship to him. He places the seat vertically and walks around it about a 100 times and voila! The stuff is nearly impossible to rip through if wrapped enough times...
 
bfeng said:
Guys,
Seller can't be bothered with something elaborate such as dropping off at a Greyhound station.


John
Click to expand...

This is strange! Why the reluctance to use Greyhound by the seller? There's no more work involved than dropping the packages off at FedEx or UPS. The only reason maybe is the nearest Greyhound station is more than 50+ miles away from him (highly unlikely).

I had 2 front manual Recaro seats shipped from the East Coast to San Francisco using Greyhound for about $150 about 2 years ago. When they arrived, a call was received from Greyhound and the seats were picked up at the SF station. Quite a simple process.

On another occasion, had a pair 635CSi rear seats and armrest shipped from LA to SF via FedEx using a single oversize Uhaul moving box for around $75. So, I would assume a cross country shipment would be at least 3X or 4X this amount.

I also echoed giving USPS parcel post shipment (3rd class) a try. This could potentially be the cheapest option. Just make sure it is packaged really well using lots of padding and plenty of strong sealing tape.
 
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You could try

Getting the dimensions from him and getting a box that could handle the seats (craigslist), then go to UPS- NOT the UPS store, and get a collect tag and send the seller the box, some bubble wrap, some tape and the pick-up tag.

I think it would cost less than 100.00 all said and done. I understand that you are not shipping them and the seller does not want to jack with them, but UPS would deliver your box, he would pack them, and call 1800-pick ups, UPS would come and get them later that day or the next and life could be swell.

Once I had a friend in NY with Grateful Dead tickets for an LA show that evening- he could not go, so he went to JFK, Pre 9/11 and found a flight going to LA. He waited for the Capitan and explained that someone would meet him at LAX with a bottle of liquor of his choice- just give him the tickets he gave me the flight number and I gave him the bottle.
It worked like a charm as the show was sold out- Sometimes a little imagination :)
 
uship.com

Try uship.com. It's like ebay just for shipping stuff - you post what you want to ship, when and where, and the shippers bid for it. If someone is already going cross country, there's always room for something like a back seat in their truck. I shipped a boat on trailer from FL to CA, after they dropped it off they had 3 more stops in my area for smaller items that fit in their truck. I can only imagine that my boat paid for most of their expenses and the other stuff was pretty cheap. The first bid came in at over 2k, and I ended up with a reliable team for around $1k. Just a thought.
 
rear seats

If things completely blow up, I have a rear pair (only) with no covers, but good horsehair/foam; ...or a complete rear assembly (early tan seats with vertical pleats, and armrest parts) with tired leather covers intact on east coast and not afraid to bus....Email/pm if interest.
Dave V. in NC
 
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