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freight carrier needed

4/14/17       
greg

I have a used machine, fully crated, that I need to have moved from the west coast to Philly. Normal LTL is just asking for trouble as the crate would be moved in and out of trucks and terminals every 8 to 12 hours, and every time its picked up is a chance for something bad to happen.
In my mind I'm looking for a way to find a trucker who has empty space and already has reasons to be coming east, but how to find said truck?!
Anybody have any experience and/or ideas about this?
Thanks


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4/14/17       #2: freight carrier needed ...
Bill

I would put fragile, do not stack stickers on it with a do not stack cone. And ship it LTL.

4/14/17       #3: freight carrier needed ...
Pete D

Contact a freight broker. I've used Sue Wheeler of Wheeler & Co and she's exceptional.

4/14/17       #4: freight carrier needed ...
Mark Elliott Member

I second the recommendation for Sue Wheeler.

Mark

4/15/17       #5: freight carrier needed ...
Tncarpenter


My experiences with freight companies have been less than stellar. If you want to guarantee no problems then your best bet to rent a box truck and take it out there yourself. This probably isn't reasonable.

A freight broker is just a middleman. If something goes wrong they will not be much help. They will connect you with a freight company who will bounce your freight across terminals.

What you need is a "hotshot" driver looking for a side load. I've had limited success with Uship.com. You can usually deal with the driver directly rather than a broker or freight company. Be sure you use a highly rated driver. Anyone can sign up to be a driver on Uship.

I wish there were better alternatives available.

4/15/17       #6: freight carrier needed ...
Pete D

"A freight broker is just a middleman. If something goes wrong they will not be much help. They will connect you with a freight company who will bounce your freight across terminals."...not accurate. If you use a REPUTABLE broker they DO NOT simply connect you with a freight company that bounces your freight across terminals. They will find a legitimate, licensed, insured driver/transport company and freight is loaded at pickup site then unloaded at destination.

Freight company's are notorious for damaging items in transit, but in my experience 100% of the problems were due to poorly crated machines. Shit happens, but if you've properly palletized and secured a machine sending it LTL is probably fine. Be aware freight companies will provide virtually no insurance to cover used machinery compared to new. If this is a concern make sure to pay the additional fee to insure it for its actual value/sale price.

4/16/17       #7: freight carrier needed ...
greg

To Pete D. and others. I'd guess that 75% of what I've received via LTL has had problems, and only once was the issue been packing related. I had a machine fully crated coming to me from less then 200 miles away, meaning only 2 or 3 terminal stops. But they managed to drive a fork lift right through a 6'x6'x7' crate. I've had veneer destroyed, I've had boxes that apparently were left out in the rain. Secondary insurance is available, but the one time I bought it I ended up having to hire a lawyer in order to collect anything. All this just bad luck or a industry wide problem?
Tomorrow I'll try the broker you suggested, but LTL is the very last option on my list.
I've tried Uship during the last 2 weeks and only had 2 bids, both for LTL. Yes, "hotshot" sounds like what I want, but the only quotes I've been able to get have been for a half truck load of space, at over $4K. "Sad, so sad" says our dear leader.

4/16/17       #8: freight carrier needed ...
Pete D

Clearly you have reason to find an alternative to LTL, my experience hasn't been that bad, but that's irrelevant.

Only thing I'd add regarding finding a truck that accommodates your load without overpaying for half the load can take time. One machine took a few weeks to find a truck others shipped out within a couple days. My freight costs have always been reasonable, however the machines only traveled up and down the east coast.

Good luck

4/16/17       #9: freight carrier needed ...
Bill

We ship thousands of fragile LTL crates a year. Your fears are overblown.

As I said earlier put fragile stickers, high value stickers, and do not stack cones.

Include do not stack, fragile.... on the BOL.

If you want to go nuts put impact indicators all over it.

Will the crate not survive being moved several times roughly? Not forks through the side but up and down pushed around?

By the way what's in the crate?

4/18/17       #10: freight carrier needed ...
greg

Re. Wheeler & Co. how about a address or better yet a phone number. Thanks

5/1/17       #11: freight carrier needed ...
greg

Well, just in case anybody wants or needs to know, I tried working with Sue Wheeler. She sounds helpful and interested but after two weeks and broken promises and regular excuses, nothing got done and my crate is still sitting in CA. So I'm back to square one. Waste of time!


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