Greyhound express?

[clintow]

I saw this mentioned in the For Sale forum and wanted to see who has had experiences with them before. In perusing their website, they say that they won't ship anything over $1000, but then one doesn't necessarily have to declare the value of the shipment, one must just be willing to accept whatever happens.

So who has shipped horns (or anything) with them before? Has it been a good experience? How "safe" would you say shipping via Greyhound is, compared to shipping with a more standard carrier, such as UPS, DHL et al?

Thanks for any info!
Clinton

[eupher61]

Greyhound won't INSURE anything over $1000.

It's a great way to ship. The only better, IMO, is Amtrak, but the big difference is accessibility. Greyhound goes a lot of places Amtrak gets no where near.

With Greyhound, as bloke aptly put it, cargo is never more than 2 feet off the ground.

BTW, there are plenty of threads elsewhere on here that discuss shipping. Do a search, you'll find pages and pages of hits.

[clintow]

Thanks, sorry for the redundancy.

[Alex C]

To satisfy your curiosity:

Greyhound will only insure the value of anything up to $300, currently. I don't know where $1000 figure came from.

If you are going to ship with Greyhound you had better have it insured personally, it's just too great a gamble with a valuable tuba. I have used Greyhound package express more than I ever thought I would in the past year and haven't had any problem. I think it was Dan O. who advised me that if you use a box, create handles on it somewhere so that the package loaders will treat it a little more kindly.

[ASTuba]

To satisfy your curiosity:

Greyhound will only insure the value of anything up to $300, currently. I don't know where $1000 figure came from.

If you are going to ship with Greyhound you had better have it insured personally, it's just too great a gamble with a valuable tuba. I have used Greyhound package express more than I ever thought I would in the past year and haven't had any problem. I think it was Dan O. who advised me that if you use a box, create handles on it somewhere so that the package loaders will treat it a little more kindly.

Alex,

Last time I used Greyhound to ship, they'd allow you to purchase up to $1000 in insurance on a package. Glad I did, as I got a small amount of damage to the tuba. I want to note that after shipping a tuba with Greyhound about 100 times, this is the first time anything has gotten slightly damaged.

[Dan Schultz]

.... Greyhound will only insure the value of anything up to $300, currently. I don't know where $1000 figure came from. ....

Whether the liability limits are $300 or $1,000 depends on how may 'zones' the package has to travel through. Usually, within 1,000 miles or so is good for $1,000. Over that drops to $300.

I ship and receive large packages such as tubas and sousaphones almost weekly and have never had a problem. Greyhound freight is 'lightly' handled bus to bus as opposed to having to pass through large freight hubs that involve conveyor belts. Service is usually pretty quick but tracking is not possible and freight moves on a space-available basis. Passengers and their stuff goes on the bus first. If there's room left, then freight is loaded.

That being said.... liability limits and insurance don't mean much. Even with some of the other commercial shippers, you'll play hell trying to get a settlement out of any of them.

If you have something particularly valuable you need to check with your homeowners, professional, or business insurance if you want to make sure your covered.

[ZNC Dandy]

I shipped a tuba a sold earlier this year via Greyhound. It had no hard case, so I built a travel case of sorts out of 1/2" flakeboard. The instrument arrived safely, and was still under the weight limit. I wouldn't hesitate to use them again.

[jonesbrass]

I've shipped a couple horns via Greyhound Package Express, never had a problem. Cost less in both instances and got there more quickly than with the "other guys."

[jmerring]

Is it safe to send a horn in it's regular hard case (MTS), by Greyhound? The bell would be packed with a ball of some sort and there would be packing material inside the case to be certain that it does not shift around. I am going to sell my 1 1/2 year old Mira 186 (along with mouthpieces, gig bag, Denis Wick practice mute, hard case, resting stand) and don't want to get into a whole big hoo-ha over the expense. Thanks for any advise.

[sungfw]

Is it safe to send a horn in it's regular hard case (MTS), by Greyhound? The bell would be packed with a ball of some sort and there would be packing material inside the case to be certain that it does not shift around. I am going to sell my 1 1/2 year old Mira 186 (along with mouthpieces, gig bag, Denis Wick practice mute, hard case, resting stand) and don't want to get into a whole big hoo-ha over the expense. Thanks for any advise.

It SHOULD be safe, however, it would be prudent to tape/tie/strap/otherwise secure the case closed against the possibility that the latche(s) accidentally coming open.

[jmerring]

[

It SHOULD be safe, however, it would be prudent to tape/tie/strap/otherwise secure the case closed against the possibility that the latche(s) accidentally coming open.

[/quote]

That is very good advice; I didn't think of it!

[Dan Schultz]

[

It SHOULD be safe, however, it would be prudent to tape/tie/strap/otherwise secure the case closed against the possibility that the latche(s) accidentally coming open.

That is very good advice; I didn't think of it![/quote]

If you want to offer some protection to the case AND remove any possibility that the case might come open... go to one of the office stores and purchase a roll of 8" wide stretch-wrap. Wrap the entire case end to end with several layers leaving only the handle and wheels exposed.

[Dan Schultz]

..stuff about stinky bus stations...

Hey Dan,

How much (or not) does that old silver tuba suck?

I don't remember saying "stuff about stinky bus stations". Where did THAT come from?

Anyway.... dunno about the junky old silver tuba. The sender said the guy behind the counter in Memphis said it would leave Memphis on the 9:15am and be in Evansville at 5:35pm. It wasn't here last night and not today. Greyhound is undergoing some changes and many of their stations are being converted to contract stations. It the horn went to Mt. Vernon, Il (as it should have), it may have been unloaded and place into a locked room at a McDonald's (believe it or not). I imagine it probably arrived here at 5:35 tonight (Thursday) but I told the agent here not to bother to call because I would wait until Friday to pick it up any. Greyhound is reliable but not necessarily as speedy at their web site says. Memphis should have been a 6 hour ride but if the morons sent it to Nashville, it could take at least another day simply due to the fact that the terminal here is only open from 10am until 6pm. Buses come through here all hours of the day but if the station is closed, the freight continues in a loop and the passengers just get booted out in the dark.

[Dan Schultz]

I don't remember saying "stuff about stinky bus stations". Where did THAT come from?

The thread topic in general...I was too lazy to hit the "p.m." button. Since my question to you was a non sequitur -to the thread, I truncated/completely-deleted/substituted-something-ridiculous for whatever-you-had-written.



bloke "Don't you just hate it when stuff that you're eager to get doesn't arrive in a timely manner?"

No problem. I had a quartet rehearsal tonight so I just played my other 'crummy' old Marzan.

[rocksanddirt]

[

It SHOULD be safe, however, it would be prudent to tape/tie/strap/otherwise secure the case closed against the possibility that the latche(s) accidentally coming open.

That is very good advice; I didn't think of it![/quote]

Yes, I tape the latches on nearly every thing I ship. For work used to ship ice chests of dirt across the country via an overnight service....you cannot over secure anything the least breakable/damage-able.