POLL: Greyhound Shipping Stories

[Z-Tuba Dude]

Over the years, I have seen references to various stories about shipping tubas using Greyhound.
It might be interesting to see what the stats are about using Greyhound, based on our collective experiences.
If you have multiple experience scenarios, you can vote up to 7 times.
Of course, you can elaborate...

[bort]

Three times in the last 18 months, zero issues.

Worst part was when the Minneapolis office called me about 2 weeks after I picked up my tuba, and said "Hey man, you'd better come pick up these bumpers or we're going to start charging you $5 a day until you get them." They also called the person who shipped my tuba to me, saying the same thing.

Was cleared up with a simple phone call to the station... but it also meant that there was no record taken of me receiving and leaving with the tuba that I picked up. Even though it took me an hour to unpack and repack it. Even though the attendant was there the whole time. And he and I chatted for about 20 minutes, because he was a nice guy and, well, very chatty.

But the tuba arrived just fine!

[SousaWarrior9]

I've shipped 4 times and received around the same from greyhound. Never had a horn damaged. Only bad experience: Had a helicon get lost at a station in St Louis for about a month, but I called and they found it. That's the only issue I ever had with them, and it's been fine otherwise.

Definitely my preferred method over anything else (besides going and getting it yourself, of course)

[cjk]

To be honest, the numbers this poll produces aren't worth anything.
it gives the same weight to a single experience as "I have shipped tubas many times, without any problems".

So if someone has shipped 100 instruments via Greyhound without incident, that's given the same numerical weight as someone who has shipped one.

[bort]

Wait, a Tubenet poll is unscientific?!

[Donn]

If you have multiple experience scenarios, you can vote up to 7 times.

So it does fall short of 100. The real science problem here is that there isn't and can't be a poll to fill out the implicit comparison(s) with alternatives. I mean if Greyhound were simply the only available choice, it would be a whole different story, but it's really a lesser known alternative to UPS, truck shipping etc., and we have no way to assess the risks posed by those carriers compared to Greyhound. Everyone knows things often go wrong with UPS, but then orders of magnitude more tubas get shipped that way, and as UPS is the most familiar carrier, 100% of the most inexperienced shippers will choose UPS - and nearly all will pack the tubas poorly. (Or experienced shippers, for that matter - thinking of my big tuba that arrived in a cardboard and tape bag made by taping two boxes together. Dang UPS, they dented my tuba!) Anyway, if you could get complete numbers, there'd be an awful lot of successes balancing the failures, but complete numbers comparing like to like - same packing skills, etc.? Not going to happen.

[Dan Schultz]

Yes... I have shipped tubas many times without any problems.

That's actually pretty close to choice #1 but I could not select that one since this is no real timetable for transit and delivery. I've had tubas arrive nearly overnight and then again some have taken a week or more because freight moves on a space available basis. They've always reached their destination but exact schedules are neither posted or predictable.

[acemorgan]

Good rates, on time, no problems. I would recommend it.

[vespa50sp]

Good rates and safe shipping a well packed horn. It's better to ship to major Greyhound stations. I once tried shipping a horn to St. Paul. I think it took longer for the horn to get from Minneapolis to St Paul than from Texas. It was easier just to drive the extra 20 minutes to Minneapolis.

[cjk]

The standard service and the priority service are two different things.
Priority doesn't cost much more. It guarantees your package a spot on the bus.
Standard is the "only as space is available on the bus" service.

I've always used Priority when I have a choice. I've only used Greyhound for 3 horns. One showed up literally the next day from Memphis to Atlanta. One came from Texas and was too far for Priority. It showed up in 6 days.

http://www.shipgreyhound.com/e/pages/OurServices.aspx" target="_blank

STANDARD

Standard service is the economical choice for non-time-critical shipments.

Packages are shipped on a space-available basis. Estimated transit times are available here​
Available as door-to-door, counter-to-counter or variation
Oversize shipments require additional transit time
Pick-up and drop-off are available during normal business hours
Web Only - Buy Now is considered Standard service

PRIORITY

Priority service is your choice for time-critical shipments.

100% money-back guarantee that your shipment will arrive on the schedule you selected
Available as door-to-door, counter-to-counter or variation
Various pick-up and drop-off options are available, including after-hours
Guaranteed to go on the next available schedule to your desired destination
Available for shipments of less than 800 miles