I usually have problems with in-country shipping as these guys completely don't know how to work with their customers. I've ordered some automatic parts for my old car and they said that my order will arrive after 3-4 days. I was happy because I wanted to upgrade my old car quickly and go fishing with my family. And you know, I had not only to wait for 23 days for my order to arrive, but the half of ordered parts somewhere disappeared. And they blamed me for that, LOL. This BS doesn't happen if I use china post tracking services or other shipping services outside of the country. It seems like American shipping companies don't know how to work with their clients.

P.S. Always video record orders when they're delivered.

 

Shipping big parts is always a big problem. I remember when I bought on eBay a new engine for my Nissan GTR R32. I used the services of UPS to transport it through the while continues on the other coast.

 

Shipping big parts is always a big problem. I remember when I bought on eBay a new engine for my Nissan GTR R32. I used the services of UPS to transport it through the while continues on the other coast. It cost me three hundred dollars, which is insane, but at least I got it really fast, and everything was alright with the engine. I could begin the work on my car as soon as possible. Whenever I checked the epacket tracking, I wondered how fast the parcel status was changing every time. You pay more but obtain quality service.

 

I've used Fastenal and Greyhound without issues. I received a 4sp for my Mustang via Fastenal. I think they required the shipper to drop it off secured to a pallet. My shipper didn't have any issues with that, and the trans arrived just fine. I think in some cases Fastenal may have pallets laying around for use. I think Fastenal is regional, not sure if you can cross boundaries.
I recently had four phone dials shipped via Greyhound (Busfreighter) without issues as well, but it did take three weeks transit time. Fastenal wouldn't ship the wheels because AZ and VA were in different regions. The reviews for Greyhound aren't spectacular. Both methods were very affordable and no issues with either. Decades ago I received a bumper cover for my Grand National, appeared that they pushed it out of the plane when they flew over my house - since then I've paid for additional insurance and have shippers take photos when packing the items.

 

I can vouch for Fastenal. I sent a pinball machine to FL this week from Duncan, SC and it was a three day trip. Service was great.

sending another next week.

 

I recently shipped my seats off to Sonderwerks in NC for recovering. I got online quotes from the usual carriers, FedEx, UPS, etc. It looked like it was going to rum anywhere from $300 and up to ship the seats. Trying to save a few bucks, I also explored the LTL (Less Than Load) option from commercial carriers. I went to Freightquote.com and got estimates from several carriers which were all considerably cheaper than FedEx and UPS. I decided to use AAA Cooper, a company with an extensive network in the Southeast. I had never shipped with a freight carrier before and it was not quite the experience I expected. The quote was just over $150 if I dropped the seats off at their terminal, so off I went. When I got there, they asked me if I had a bill of lading and of course I did not. Then they asked me for the quote number, which I also didn't have. It seems these carriers expect their customers to know all about the freight business before you get there. They handed me a blank bill of lading to fill out, and gave me their corporate telephone number to call for the quote. I got the quote over the phone while sitting in their lobby and it was even less than the online quote, now down to $115. I had to give my credit card info to the person that gave me the quote since the terminal people have nothing to do with the money. I gave them the seats and off they went. The seats got there in 3 days without problem. Dave at Sonderwerks said he thinks they even strapped them to a pallet for me but he didn't recall for sure when I asked him about it.

The lesson I learned was that shipping by freight is cheap but you do only get what you pay for. You are going to have to do most of the work. If you are going to ship large heavy items, you will definitely save money but do your homework first. Get your quote over the phone and write down the quote number. Take your items to them. They will pick up at your house but it's expensive. It's also expensive if you are shipping to an address without a forklift or loading dock. Big parts like engines will have to be palletized.

 

jschiller, that was pretty much the same as my experience with ABF (ArcBest Freight) at the beginning/middle of this year. The loading dock was about an hour away from me so I talked to them on the phone quite a bit before I actually went there for the drop off. They forewarned me about making sure I had a Bill of Lading and had a blank one on their website that I was able to download and mostly complete before I got there. Once I arrived, there was something else I had to do (maybe with the quote number) and/or wait on someone's signature, but they were quite efficient about it and then I just offloaded my two large boxes to the ground where they then loaded them onto a forklift and off they went. Also only took three days to ship and the price was about half of what FedEx/UPS quoted me.

Yesterday, I heard a news video preaching about Supply Chain problems, so I don't know if things are any different today.