$200 to ship a guitar??!??!

Danhedonia

Danhedonia

Noted duckfat enthusiast
Yesterday I tried to ship a guitar. It was packed in a Reverb guitar-shipping box, and weighed 16 pounds all told.

UPS said $136 to ship, and the Post Office said "it's oversized; it'll wind up on a commercial flight" and quoted $196!!!!

Are you kidding me???!??!?!

I do not have access to an account where I work (public school; doing stuff like that is a big no no and I wouldn't even know how).

What in the heck am I supposed to do to ship a @#()$%)(*% guitar?
 
I feel you. I sent my niece a guitar and couldn't believe the shipping cost. Thankfully I sold the last guitar through Reverb and could use their shipping contract to ship at a decent price

Mojo.
 
I can't say I'm surprised. I've never shipped a guitar but one time I was going to ship a tumbleweed to a friend as a joke—it weighed essentially nothing but it was oversized and UPS wanted $60.
 
  • Like
Reactions: OGG
guitars always seem ridiculously expensive to ship (because they do go in big boxes), but that seems exorbitantly high.

Did you sell it through reverb? the shipping prices through them are generally decent like Gary says.
 
Yeah. Check the weight and measurements again and buy shipping through Reverb. Even in a hard case and with my usual insane packing job, the most I’ve paid is about $50.
 
Not sold through Reverb (or I'd have had access to their rates).

I was just going to send it to Jelloman for a mod. I feel ... like a kid who found out "we're not having Christmas this year." My heart is filled with 'fuck you' for these carriers.
 
Yeah there's something wrong there...unless you're shipping above ground level it shouldn't be more tha 50-60 to ship a guitar complete....

But since I'm not doing any neck work to it anyway just take the neck off and ship me the body and parts...
 
jelloman said:
Yeah there's something wrong there...unless you're shipping above ground level it shouldn't be more tha 50-60 to ship a guitar complete....

But since I'm not doing any neck work to it anyway just take the neck off and ship me the body and parts...
Click to expand...

Exactly. Removing the neck can result in a smaller box. Also, UPS stores are franchises and can have different rates. If you find the service desk at your closest actual UPS hub, you can save a little cash.
 
I got quoted a ridiculous rate like that one one of the local UPS/USPS franchise shippers. Something like $210 to ship by USPS. Even more for UPS. When I told the lady at the counter she was nuts and that I could ship it from the post office for a fraction of that price she got all huffy and told me to take my cheap ass over there and see what happens.

So I did. And it was like $40-something.

I don't mind folks making a profit from providing a convenience, but fuck me, that's highway robbery.
 
Danhedonia said:
Not sold through Reverb (or I'd have had access to their rates).

I was just going to send it to Jelloman for a mod. I feel ... like a kid who found out "we're not having Christmas this year." My heart is filled with 'fuck you' for these carriers.
Click to expand...
I have a business UPS account. If you want to pm the addresses to ne I can get an estimate and email you a label if the price is better. Up to you.
 
What a racket.

UPS franchisees get to 'set their own rates.' Which means: local price fixing/non-competitive. Ultra-fuck them.

As for the Postal Service: Well, I'm sure that any job that combines "deal with the general public" with "dodge bullets" is going to make people miserable; but that kind of miserable? I swear, I just made a commitment to bring 17 packages in 10 minutes before closing on December 22nd and throw a tantrum. "Commercial flight?" Listen, shitbag, I can fly to Dallas and back for less than that roundtrip and that's me, a fat white American (which, most days, is ostensibly a much more valuable thing than an Indonesian Jazzmaster).

And a minor shout out to Reverb, who sell "boxes made for shipping guitars" with the dimensions 53 x 21 x 9. What the FUCK guitar are you shipping there, buddy? I had to put an empty box inside the box just to get it still, let alone the scads of bubble wrap and crumpled newspaper.

Jello, you are a nicer than nice man. I will ship the body.

But first I'm going to fantasize about gouging out that asshole's eye and making them keep the other one open so they can watch me eat the eye I just gouged out of their miserable fucking head.

This is not how we won 2 world wars.
 
Picture of the guitar I was shipping. Not sure why it was so costly.
naples-florida-luxury-destination-wedding-photography-8598.jpg
 
Danhedonia said:
And a minor shout out to Reverb, who sell "boxes made for shipping guitars" with the dimensions 53 x 21 x 9. What the FUCK guitar are you shipping there, buddy? I had to put an empty box inside the box just to get it still, let alone the scads of bubble wrap and crumpled newspaper.
Click to expand...

Box dimensions to accommodate shipping in a hard case plus room for padding. UPS, FexEx, etc. all advise 2 inches of padding around whatever you’re shipping (and they’ll try to weasel out of damage they cause if it’s not there). And double boxing/shipping in a bag/case is the standard for guitars per most commercial shipping advice. I hoard every single bit of bubble wrap, foam, packing paper, etc. that comes in the door because I know it takes a shitload of that stuff when you’re shipping a guitar—case or no.

The Reverb boxes are a bit larger than necessary for many items—I think their boxes are generic for basses, weird shaped cases, etc. I usually save whatever shit my purchases came in and reuse those. Sweetwater, Musicians Fiend, etc. tend to ship in smaller boxes—because they’re trying to keep freight costs down.
 
I stopped shipping guitars a while ago because the shipping prices were getting higher and higher.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top