TubeNet

Hey guys,
Wich options do you think are the best to ship a tuba from the US up to Canada. I'm mostly talking about shipping companies since I don't have a car and I need to find a way to get a tuba from Florida to Quebec.

I've shipped a tuba from Arizona to Quebec before - by Greyhound, and it got there safely. It will be cheap, but they only insure up to about $2,000 so there's that risk.

A quick search of the archives should help a little...

First UPS highlighted:
viewtopic.php?t=17111&highlight=ups

viewtopic.php?t=17860&highlight=ups

viewtopic.php?t=14925&highlight=ups

viewtopic.php?t=12610&highlight=ups

Then Greyhound:
viewtopic.php?t=16889&highlight=greyhound

viewtopic.php?t=11491&highlight=greyhound

I shipped a horn via UPS not too long ago. I packed it like crazy, using many of the suggestions previously posted on here, so it arrived with no more dents than when it was sent. I particularly appreciated the idea of putting a basketball in the bell for the tuba to ride on.

One word of warning, however: I used their online calculator to figure the cost of shipping. It told me that it would cost somewhere around $70 including insurance. When I got it to the UPS store, though, the dimensions of the box brought the cost up to $168!

I have not shipped a tuba out of the country, so I can't offer advice specific to that, but it seems like I've shipped a tuba in the continental United States via just about every commercial method available.

Here is a quick run down of my experiences and things I've learned:

FedEx Ground

Shipped an F tuba in an Anvil flight/shipping trunk cross-country (to myself, actually) without any problems. I made all the arrangements online and arranged and had it picked up by FedEx the next day without any problems. Cost wasn't unreasonable, but totally depends on size, weight and where the package is coming from and going to. Depending on the location of the recipient, FedEx could be one of your only options, as they seem to go just about everywhere.

Overall: No problems.

UPS Ground

Shipped the above mentioned F tuba in the same Anvil case that had gone through shipping and air travel (with no problems). The recipient discovered that the top bow of the tuba was partially crushed in transit. I had made the shipment from a real UPS drop of location (mostly for air cargo), not one of those mailboxes/pack-n-ship type places, and had insurance on it. I made an insurance claim on the damage, UPS "investigated," and I ended up with a check from them that covered all of my shipping expenses (including return shipping to me) and full repair costs to restore it to former glory.

I used them again several years later to ship a tuba inside a gig bag and inside of an Anvil trunk. Did the arrangements online, had it picked up and shipped with no questions asked. That time, no problems whatsoever.

Overall: 1 good, 1 bad. Paid on insurance claim (though I wouldn't count on this always being the case).

DHL Trucking

Shipped a MW in an aluminum flight trunk. Case got a little banged up (as you might expect), but no serious damage to case and none to the tuba. I'm not really sure if that's a testament to the MW case or the way DHL ships things though...

I also received a tuba this way (packed in huge cardboard box) without incident.

DHL was pretty cheap when shipping, too (c. $30 something dollars, as I recall).

Overall: No real problems. Case getting banged up was inevitable.

Greyhound

Shipped a big CC tuba from Texas to far northern Michigan via Greyhound (at buyers request). Package service on Greyhound is cheap, but they don't provide service everywhere like FedEx or UPS does. Greyhound also offers no tracking service and very little insurance coverage. It might also be worth mentioning that with Greyhound your tuba is never more than a foot or so off the ground. That doesn't make it damage proof, but it sure helps.

Overall: No problems. Was cheap and only took about 3 days.

Amtrak

I've sent and received tubas via Amtrak. It has always been under $50, fast, and reliable, and incident free for me. In addition, they let you (or at least did) buy insurance in whatever amount you want. The kicker is that you have to live somewhere that Amtrak provides their package express service. They don't do it for all of their stops. Their paper work also serves as a way to track the shipment.

Overall: No problems. My personal favorite.

Things I've learned:

-Nobody really cares about your stuff. They will throw it, stack stuff on it, drop it, etc.

-Don't ship a tuba in a case. I've had mixed results with this. My UPS shipments were with custom form fit Anvil cases, which are a lot beefier than the cases most people use and I still got damage. On the other hand, the big CC I shipped via Greyhound went in a regular wood case (though the horn was tightly packed inside) without any problems.

I consider myself lucky when it came to shipping in cases and wouldn't ship that way again.

Maybe you should give Baltimore Brass or Dillon Music a quick call to ask about how they ship tubas...they might have some good advice to offer up. When I received a tuba from Baltimore Brass it came in a huge box full of packing peanuts and bubble wrap and held together with large brass staples that could have probably fit 3 tubas. You could do a home brew version of this with a really large appliance box or your could piece one together from several boxes.

Found this online. I've never done it exactly this way, but it's something to consider:

I have shipped by Amtrak, was well and had good success, Conn 5J in a case with padding in bell and it was unscathed. I also used to use R & L / Gator truck lines (in the East, only) and they were very careful and did a lovely job for me. Each tuba was palletized and shipped without stacking. I retrieves all shipments to me but my buyers had delivery to their doors and both worked well.

Amtrak works well within the US; this OP concerns going to Canada.

eupher61 wrote:Amtrak works well within the US; this OP concerns going to Canada.

Actually, Amtrak offers service to many parts of Canada, including a couple of stations in the Quebec area.

circusboy wrote:One word of warning, however: I used their online calculator to figure the cost of shipping. It told me that it would cost somewhere around $70 including insurance. When I got it to the UPS store, though, the dimensions of the box brought the cost up to $168!

That was exactly my experienced when I shipped a tuba using UPS.

Lesson - let buyer arrange the shipping and pay direct to incur any additional cost.

We received a tuba via Amtrak and it arrived in great shape.
It went from New Jersey to Seattle in 3 day.
Ditto for Amtrak!

Sold my euph to a fellow tubenetter.


I shipped it greyhound. It took almost a month. Here is the kicker. A worker at the greyhound station in North Carolina (where it was shipped to) took the instrument and pawned it for drug money.


THANKFULLY, the greyhound manager there (named Robert E. Lee of all things) caught this guy on tape. The legal stuff is going on right now. In his exact words, "Greyhound loses hundreds of parcels a month, so I wouldn't ship anything valuable with them."


The tubenetter got his horn back a-okay.


Lesson, don't ship greyhound. The insurance policy also doesn't cover things stolen. So we would not have been able to cash out even after the employee had been the one caught stealing the item. Plus, the insurance is way less than most of these instruments cost anyway.


Spend the extra dough AND DO NOT SHIP GREYHOUND WITH ANYTHING VALUABLE.

Imagine ...
The Tubenet Pony Express: A relay network of Tubenetters. Shipper and seller pay for beer and cheese coneys.

Imagine ...
The Tubenet Pony Express: A relay network of Tubenetters. Shipper and seller pay for beer and cheese coneys.

Doable! And only one word could describe it - GLORY.

I've had two horns shipped via USPS, just wrap the hell out of them with bubble wrap INSIDE a GOOD flight case and you should be good to go. A fellow tubeneter even stuck a large inflateable rubber bounce ball in the bell of the horn. No idea if this helps.

I have had successes and failures with UPS and DHL. One junk tuba was shipped to me wrapped like a mummy in strips of corrugated cardboard, and it arrived with no shipping damage. In general, you should plan on the package being dropped 3 or 4 feet on a concrete floor at least once. Bigger tubas are much more likely to be damaged. Here is one story with a happy ending:
[url]http://www.galvanizedjazz.com/tuba/BigConn.html[/url]

minimum 3/16" thick wooden crate (with minimum 1-1/2" sq. frame lumber) and pack with the protected-from-energy-transfer principle.

An idea comes to mind: Perhaps suspend the thing in the crate with a bunch of bungie cords? It seems like it should work, but Murphy's Law always sides with the hidden flaw.

I had a UPS guy actually tell me once that if a shipment won't survive a six foot drop on one of the corners... it wasn't packed well enough!

Amtrak now has a 50 pound weight limit on their regular shipping service (as well on their checked baggage).

I've used UPS Ground twice in the past 6 months, both times nearly coast-to-coast across the country. It was a little expensive, but both arrived without incident.

Both shipments were in the original box from my new Miraphone 1291, which was filled with a crapload of styrofoam peanuts. It was good enough to get it from Germany to the US, so within the US, on the ground, I would not have expected any problems.

I was told by Greyhound (Greyhound Package Express) that they will not ship to Canada. Flat out no, and no additional information was made available.

Try <uship.com>. Various professional and amateur shippers there and some do dogs and cats, so they should be able to do a tuba. For myself, I often have time on my hands and would transport a tuba for fifteen to twenty cents a mile. Anywhere under 800 miles from me in East Tennessee in one day. You don't pack the tuba, just put it in a case or even on my back seat or in the trunk with blankets. If it takes overnight, the tuba sleeps next to me in the motel with the door locked and chained . . . . if the burglers come in, do you think that I, another tuba player, would let them have it without a fight? At least it will be blood stained when they get it . . . . My car insurance should cover it if someone got it out of the car while I was in the Seven-Eleven . . . .