 |
| Posted: Wed May 4th, 2011 02:44 am |
|
1st Post |
morrissanford
Guest
|
I stumbled across this website. http://www.busfreighter.com . Authorized reseller for GPX. For a relatively small fee, they'll actually pick up shipments being sent via greyhound package express, plus provide a grand of coverage, though you might need a lawyer to decipher the terms and conditions and what / who is going to pay you in the event of a problem.
That said this might provide a viable option for those times when the seller expresses a reservation about shipping. I'll let everyone know how it goes for me. Having bare frame and 4 boxes totaling 180 lbs shipped cross country next week...frame wrapped with movers blankets/ duct taped... cross your fingers for me.
If anyone has used them would be interested in how they handled the pickup?
|
|
Back To Top
|
| Posted: Wed May 4th, 2011 01:11 pm |
|
2nd Post |
David Luciani
Administrator
|
don't know about these guys myself.
sounds like somebody finally figured out using grayhound to move bigger stuff could be profitable.
what kind of money are they charging for the pickup and get to grayhound service?
frames shipped by grayhound usually cost around 90$ and bribing the seller to do it runs from 50-100$ which is still cheap considering the other options.
when there's no chance of finding a parts stash i prefer to ship the frames on anything past 150 mile radius.
gas and my time will cost more than that.
have shipped many frames with grayhound zero problems with the bus company.
the only issues i had was with the seller screwing up but with persistance i fixed that problem too.
way back about 4 yrs ago a roller kart supposedly got "lost" by grayhound.
that started the whole watch out for grayhound thing in the first place.
the workaround everybody started using was to remove the wheels and have the frame wrapped with big trash bags to obscure what it is to potential theives.
grayhound will insure to about 400 miles with a regular customer.
i've been told if you open up a commercial account they'll insure for longer distances.
if the kart is really nice there's other options all of them expensive.
dave
|
|
Back To Top
|
| Posted: Wed May 4th, 2011 04:18 pm |
|
3rd Post |
morrissanford
Guest
|
I got it quoted on just the frame; los angeles to lafayette louisiana with greyhound was 91 bucks... To have them pick it up from the seller was only 34 bucks...
I had the seller wrap the frame in moving blankets and duct tape it all up. He stripped the frame, and boxed everything up in 4 boxes. Total cost to ship 4 boxes and frame to LA with 1k of insurance is $181 including pickup at sellers residence. I don't think there's a less expensive way. He was very happy not to have to hustle the frame to greyhound since the terminal is 45 minutes from his home in burbank.
The total weight was 184 lbs; the minimum for the 5 items was 200; they must have a minimum weight per # of pieces. I could have even had the company deliver to my residence for another 44 bucks, but the terminal is about 4 blocks from my office.
I'll post the results here next week once I get everything here.
I have to say this about everyone I've dealt with so far... what a great bunch of people there are in the vintage karting world... The seller had other offers, but because he knew my intent is to restore it and run it he went to the extra trouble to box and ship when he had an opportunity to sell locally... apparently the other folks were going to part it out/ resell. As a former racer he couldn't stand the thought!
|
|
Back To Top
|
| Posted: Wed May 4th, 2011 06:38 pm |
|
4th Post |
Michael Burke
Member
|
It was a Hornet SS kart being sent to me that got "lost". It left Wisconsin and only made it as far as the Chicago transfer point when it went rolling out the door by a thief. GreyHound has NO tracking ability based on conversations I had with bus station employees and a supervisor. I was only able to get a supervisors number because a bus station employee gave me the NON public number that a shipper would likely never get. I was eventually able to get a list of all the stops the bus would make on its way to Ca. and I personally checked each one. Greyhound didn't do that. NEVER ship a kart with GH unless you remove the wheels and make it a little more hassle to steal it. Completely wrapping it in plastic etc also helps to keep a potential thief from seeing what condition it is in. I doubt the Hornet would have been stolen if it hadn't been so easy to just roll it away. The bigger terminals don't control access to the storage areas very well. I had a friend go to the Los Angeles terminal and he was able to walk thru the stored freight without anyone questioning why he was there. I still use GH, but only when reasonable packing efforts are taken. The problem with GH is that karts can be removed from a bus and sit for days while awaiting space on another bus. Packages are removed if space is needed for passenger baggage. That's why the rate is lower for large items. If the item is shipping for less than 600 miles you can get $1000 in insurance for a low cost. If it ships over 600 miles the value drops to $300 max. Apparently they don't trust themselves not to lose things and won't risk having to pay more. The supervisor I talked with never would give me a reason for the drop in insured value for longer shipping. GH is fine for the cost, but be sure to take precautions or you too could lose a collectible kart.
Michael
|
|
Back To Top
|
| Posted: Wed May 4th, 2011 06:54 pm |
|
5th Post |
morrissanford
Guest
|
Check out busfrieghter.com and see what you think; they use greyhound, but they provide insurance at least...plus they pickup at the sellers...
I did heed the advice of others here on the forums; the frame was stripped and wrapped in movers blankets with copious amounts of duct tape. The rest of the stuff is securely packaged.
I agree, shipping a roller makes it an attractive item for a thief. Absent wheels, tires, engines and all other components would look like work for most thieves, which should serve as a deterrent... this assumes of course that thieves are lazy... I suppose some of them are quite industrious...
Wish me luck. Sorry to hear about your experience...
|
|
Back To Top
|
| Posted: Wed May 4th, 2011 08:35 pm |
|
6th Post |
David Luciani
Administrator
|
sorry mike i'd forgotten the who part.
anyway another reason to remove the wheels is it's harder to take out of the bus and move around.
the drivers aren't that motivated to drag heavy clumsy stuff out and will tend to leave it in the hold.
and mikes right, the number they assign the package has NOTHING to do with tracking.
it's what they use to i.d. the package.
there is NO TRACKING with Grayhound shipped items.
i've often wondered why they didn't copy the brown truck methods.
seems like a no brainer , they already drive everywhere and have a kazillion terminals.
adding effective tracking would make them reliable and they'd make a ton of money too.
dave
|
|
Back To Top
|
| Posted: Wed May 4th, 2011 09:10 pm |
|
7th Post |
Carl Haydt
Member
|
Hi,Here's an example of how to do it correctly. Remove wheels,steering wheel ,pedals ect & box them seperately & if the combined weight doesn't exceed 100 lbs (Greyhounds max limit per parcel) place the box in the seat area & secure it with large zip ties. Cover all sharp ends like the spindles & axle ends with foam pipe insulation (available at Home Depot) Cover the entire frame with black plastic garbage bags (so nobody can see thru) Tape SEVERAL brightly colored pieces of construction paper containing YOUR name,address & phone number PLUS the buyers name,address & phone number on the black plastic THEN cover the whole thing again with clear plastic wrapping (available at Office Depot ect). Also if possible try & leave 2 areas as "handles" so the bus driver has a place to grab.
If you must ship in 2 parcels then be SURE to mark each parcel as: BOX 1 of 2-BOX 2 OF 2 ect. Same thing applies to put all your info plus the buyers info on ALL parcels!
I go as far as putting all my info & the buyers info on a piece of paper INSIDE the box & taped DIRECTLY to the frame!
Lastly,When you drop it off at the Greyhound , Take a picture of it in their terminal! This would be very handy in case anything should happen to it!
I have used Greyhound without a problem many times & the only fault I had was shipping 2 parcels to the same address and having the second parcel show up a week after the first one arrived (Greyhound had seperated them due to lack of room on the same bus) Carl
Attachment: small0903.jpg (Downloaded 128 times)
|
|
Back To Top
|
| Posted: Wed May 4th, 2011 09:24 pm |
|
8th Post |
| Posted: Wed May 4th, 2011 10:49 pm |
|
9th Post |
morrissanford
Guest
|
Good Info; I'm passing on to the seller. One thing busfrieghter does is emails large labels to the seller that they affix to the packages, that indicate as stated 1 of 5, etc . This identifies the shipment as being through busfrieghter as well, and since it is insured I guess the hope is that at least a modicum of care will be taken. Busfrieghter apparently does a high volume with greyhound so hopefully that will improve the odds of everything arriving here next week. Seller said he'd drop me a note after pickup to tell me how that went.
These photos will be handy to send to sellers in the future. I'll bet everytime a hornet ss shows up for sale it gets the eagle eye from this group. How unfortunate.
|
|
Back To Top
|
morrissanford
Guest
|
courier for busfreighter.com showed up at sellers residence promptly at 9 and delivered to the terminal. Guy at terminal called me to confirm order # from Busfreighter and prepaid status... Seller emailed me to say no issues with pick up, driver was cordial and loaded everything without assistance.
|
|
Back To Top
|
| Posted: Tue May 10th, 2011 01:55 pm |
|
11th Post |
morrissanford
Guest
|
Bug Sprint arrived yesterday from California.. seller did an incredible job packing; I sent the pic that Carl posted to the seller; wrapped a movers blanket around the kart, and then wrapped with plastic wrap, then a second blanket, more plastic wrap and strapping tape. Only a karter would have recognized the shipment as a kart!...
I was also able to utilize the tracking number provided by busfreighter to confirm that the kart was picked up. I did not even bother to track until yesterday, and noted it said "delivered".... Picked up from seller on May 5th; taken to Greyhound that morning, left the terminal on Friday, and arrived at the terminal here by Monday. All in all a pretty good experience. Having the option to get it picked up from the seller may go a long way in helping secure a deal at distance with a person who has expressed a reluctance to ship.
See photo's; Thanks Carl for posting the other as a reference.
Attachment: kartshipsmall.jpg (Downloaded 58 times)
|
|
Back To Top
|
|
|
|
