Important info to those who ship guitars....

[baimun]

I was shipping a hollowbody guitar today so I had to track down a larger box because all of the guitar boxes I had were too shallow.

When I got to UPS... Insured for $500 and.... Whoa... $70 ? ? ? ????? This guitar and case are really really light.

The UPS guy at the counter (who I know pretty well from shipping and receiving gear over the years, he's come to several of our gigs too, but I digress)

He told me that I was getting dinged on box volume.

The box was bigger than my other guitar boxes in every dimension, probably could have put a bass in it...... so I cut open the box, removed some of the foam around the case, and cut down the end of the box to fit around the case tighter. Probably knocked 7 or 8 inches off the length of the box, then folded the sides, front, and back in and made a new top for the box.

Knocked the shipping down to $50.

Maybe everyone else already knew this but I was shocked at how much was knocked off just by shortening the length of the box by just a few inches.

 

[smorgdonkey]

You'd be surprised by how they treated you if any damage was sustained as well I would guess. UPS told me that 2 full inches of packing material had to surround the item in all dimensions.

In most cases the packing is fine, it's just the odd one that gets killed that they have to deny coverage and fight about.

 

[Scott Powell]

Its called Dimensional Weight. If a package is under a certain weight ( i think its 25 pounds) yet exceeds 120 inches by the sum of its Three Dimensions you are charged the extra fee for being " over sized" . The bastards in Corporate feel your light "over sized" pkg is taking up too much space and charge for it

 

[baimun]

You'd be surprised by how they treated you if any damage was sustained as well I would guess. UPS told me that 2 full inches of packing material had to surround the item in all dimensions.

In most cases the packing is fine, it's just the odd one that gets killed that they have to deny coverage and fight about.

Actually, there is 2 inches of foam around the case and in the box.... originally there was several pieces of the 2" foam stacked up around the top of the guitar case, so I'm good there.

 

[jelloman]

I ship through the corporate account at work...saves me a ton of money...

 

[wok]

I ship through the corporate account at work...saves me a ton of money...

cop0

 

[jelloman]

cop0

I reimburse them...

 

[Prages]

Yet, the front bumper for Mrs. P's Jeep, which weighed in at over 100lbs and came in a box big enough for 3 guitars and a small combo amp, had free shipping.

Go figure.

 

[Kerouac]

Yeah, I've run into that when shipping acoustics. Electric shipping usually isn't quite as bad, unless it's an Explorer or something with a really wide case.

 

[335clone]

Found that out the hard way. We bought our granddaughter a cheap first act acoustic, and it cost way more to ship than to buy.

 

[Modern Saint]

I ship through the corporate account at work...saves me a ton of money...

I do something similar. At our company we can ship personal items but must write a check for the exact amount of the item being shipped - I love it!!!

What kills me though is having to ship it back home as I don't get the corporate discount. This killed me when I played nieces wedding 5 years ago. I paid something similar to what @baimun paid to ship it home (also through UPS). For my other nieces wedding, I installed a pickup into my Taylor Baby and just carried it on the plane avoid anymore shipping issues.