Need advice on shipping via freight

[reed1285]

I need some advice. Anybody here ever shipped anything through a freight service? A guy in Arizona has a cage for my rzr I want to purchase, and he is willing to ship it. Obviously it will need to go through a freight service, perhaps SAIA or Estes. It actually wouldnt take much work on his part other than wrapping what he can up in plastic and dropping it off somewhere. The problem is neither him or I have ever went through the process of shipping something over freight so we are both kind of lost. Would he just need to take the cage to his local SAIA or Estes hub and get a quote? Thanks for any advice or insight on the matter.

[macville]

I've had stuff shipped to me via freight (woodstove, business furniture, kitchen cabinets, other equipment) but never actually shipped anything freight. I would think the best way would be to see if there is a site that can let you put in the to/from, size and weight of what you want to ship and would give you quotes from different freight companies. What I have discovered is that unless you pay extra, you won't have liftgate service at your end and even if you do, it will be from, most likely, a bigger truck than a normal box truck with a lift gate. So you have to consider if such a truck can get into your location. What I've done for all my freight delivery except for one, is gone to the freight shipper center with my trailer and had them forklift it onto my trailer. Easier for both of us.

[MudBugjr]

You can call the freight service and they will pick it up from him as well. But I find it always better if you can take it there to be loaded and get an exact price. Most any LTL company will do the same. If yo need a lift gate for sure ask up front.

[abusfullofnuns]

Cheapest and  easiest option is to use fastenal. I shipped 1500lbs of car parts on a pallet from jersey to here for $300. 

Off road world uses them a ton. You just put a request in on the web. They contact you with an estimate. You sign and return. Your seller deoos it off. Has to be palletized. You’re charged by weight and distance. Not sure how cheap it gets for light weight stuff.