Shipping Tubas
Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2011 12:32 am
Hi!
I'm in the middle of shipping my largest order to date, and I learned a few things that should be of interest to all 'netters!
First,
when shipping via Greyhound, try to avoid the little mom & pop outfits if you can! I live in the sticks, and there are 8 possible locations between the Olympia and Portland Bus terminals at my disposal. All of them have friendly, well meaning owners/employers, and will sell a person some yummy chicken strips, and a slushy to wash those strips down with!
None of them knew a thing about "priority" shipping though!
Since I had to go to the Amtrak station anyway, I filled my redneck limousine ('75 Ford 3/4 ton factory Highboy...) with instruments to ship from the Bus station across the street. I took care of the Amtrak horns first.
I paid about 60 bucks to ship an F tuba in a shrink wrapped case to Colorado. The price included $5.00 for $1,050.00 in coverage. A Mini Bb, also in a shrink wrapped case left for New York for the same money! ETA Colorado was 2 days, New York, 3 days.
At the Bus station, I was able to park right by the door, and my buddy I brought along borrowed a nice cart from inside. Supervisor Phil Kostelnik had good news and bad. The good was he'd be happy to ship my order, but the bad was that there would be NO priority shipping for my Tubas, since they would be travelling over 1,000.00 miles. Also, the most I could insure each Tuba for was $300.00!!! He did say he would be happy to answer any questions I assured him that the TubeNet Family would be posing, so here's his #: 503-243-2337. Again, his name is Phil, and he is the Package Express Supervisor. Phil did say he had the authority to match Amtrak's fares, and apologized about not being able to match Amtak's insurance...
It came to about $80.00 to send a Tuba to Tennessee, and $55.00 to send a Euphonium to Mississippi.
Phil advised against using the mom & pop agents, and against shipping on weekends, as he and his crew go out of their way to stick and/or wire at least 4 tags to each package! Mom and pop are busy selling gas and filling the slushy machine, and ticket counter people man the package department on weekends...most of the time those folks only put ONE label on your package. This is important information, as all packages that lose their labels end up in a wharehouse in Texas, and are auctioned off after a waiting period! The GLI# Greyhound provides is only usefull when the package arrives at it's destination city. Phil will run any # I give him to see if the package was scanned in after hours or on a weekend, and forgotten in a dark corner of a larger facility!
Bottom line is I will encourage my clients to use Amtrak if possible! And for those who do use the mom & pop Greyhound agents, stick around and politely insist on more than one label/tag!!!
Al
I'm in the middle of shipping my largest order to date, and I learned a few things that should be of interest to all 'netters!
First,
when shipping via Greyhound, try to avoid the little mom & pop outfits if you can! I live in the sticks, and there are 8 possible locations between the Olympia and Portland Bus terminals at my disposal. All of them have friendly, well meaning owners/employers, and will sell a person some yummy chicken strips, and a slushy to wash those strips down with!
None of them knew a thing about "priority" shipping though!
Since I had to go to the Amtrak station anyway, I filled my redneck limousine ('75 Ford 3/4 ton factory Highboy...) with instruments to ship from the Bus station across the street. I took care of the Amtrak horns first.
I paid about 60 bucks to ship an F tuba in a shrink wrapped case to Colorado. The price included $5.00 for $1,050.00 in coverage. A Mini Bb, also in a shrink wrapped case left for New York for the same money! ETA Colorado was 2 days, New York, 3 days.
At the Bus station, I was able to park right by the door, and my buddy I brought along borrowed a nice cart from inside. Supervisor Phil Kostelnik had good news and bad. The good was he'd be happy to ship my order, but the bad was that there would be NO priority shipping for my Tubas, since they would be travelling over 1,000.00 miles. Also, the most I could insure each Tuba for was $300.00!!! He did say he would be happy to answer any questions I assured him that the TubeNet Family would be posing, so here's his #: 503-243-2337. Again, his name is Phil, and he is the Package Express Supervisor. Phil did say he had the authority to match Amtrak's fares, and apologized about not being able to match Amtak's insurance...
It came to about $80.00 to send a Tuba to Tennessee, and $55.00 to send a Euphonium to Mississippi.
Phil advised against using the mom & pop agents, and against shipping on weekends, as he and his crew go out of their way to stick and/or wire at least 4 tags to each package! Mom and pop are busy selling gas and filling the slushy machine, and ticket counter people man the package department on weekends...most of the time those folks only put ONE label on your package. This is important information, as all packages that lose their labels end up in a wharehouse in Texas, and are auctioned off after a waiting period! The GLI# Greyhound provides is only usefull when the package arrives at it's destination city. Phil will run any # I give him to see if the package was scanned in after hours or on a weekend, and forgotten in a dark corner of a larger facility!
Bottom line is I will encourage my clients to use Amtrak if possible! And for those who do use the mom & pop Greyhound agents, stick around and politely insist on more than one label/tag!!!
Al