How Do I Ship An Arcade Cabinet?

[fjl]

Sadly I still haven't started my cab yet(still in the works, honestly) but the other day I was telling my brother all about it building cabs. Now he wants one too. Although he lives two states away from me. While he gladly agreed to pay for the parts and shipping, it got me to wondering how I would go about shipping such a monstrous thing. I it possible to have some shipping department like UPS come to my house, wrap and haul it away. Or how would I go about wrapping it or putting in a crate myself.

Basically, what should I do to ship it? How much would shipping a cabinet cost?

[btp2k2]

Well, you are going to need to send it through a freight company. UPS or Fed Ex wouldn't be able to handle it.

You are looking at least a couple hundred.

[fjl]

What about the wrapping part? They do that too? Come pick it up? And I would think UPS and Fed-Ex would have its own freight company as well.

[horseboy]

When it comes to freight companies, you pretty much pay for everything that they have to do. I don't know about crating it for you, but some freight companies will take unpalletized items for an additional fee. I don't think you would want to do something like that. There are a million factors at play here that could affect cost.

I assume you would be shipping from your residence? Unless you have a truck high loading dock, you are gonna need a lift gate. With most companies that is a $50 fee. You can double that because I am sure your brother doesn't have a lift gate. Anything else you may need will cost you extra as well. If they have to call your brother to comfirm he is home, there is an extra fee.

Not to mention what it costs just to ship the thing without fees. I get a 73% discount with freight companies, and I have never thought it to be a viable solution. Shipping a cab say 200 lb (conservative weight estimate) 350 miles with no discount and 2 lift gate will probably cost you over $500.

If you must ship it, find a buddy that works in a shipping dept of a company ships lots of pallets. See if you can use his discount and loading dock. He might even have an extra pallet. Good luck. 

[Tailgunner]

Can either you or your bro borrow a pickup truck or a van for a weekend? If you plan around the weather you can haul a cab on it's back in a pickup without anything more than a blanket or some cardboard to keep it from rubbing the paint, and spend less on gas than shipping it will cost.

[horseboy]

Can either you or your bro borrow a pickup truck or a van for a weekend? If you plan around the weather you can haul a cab on it's back in a pickup without anything more than a blanket or some cardboard to keep it from rubbing the paint, and spend less on gas than shipping it will cost.

This is by far the best solution, if it is at all feasible.

[fjl]

I live in L.A., he lives in Seattle. You tell me.

[horseboy]

Well, it is going to cost quite a bit to ship, but that is a long ass drive, too. 

[Tailgunner]

I live in Charlotte, NC, and over a weekend drove up to and hauled a game home from Milwaukee back in January. Going to Seattle, I'd suggest you take a tarp.

[Jeff AMN]

If he lives in Seattle, he should be able to find a usable cabinet NO PROBLEM. Have him call a distributor in the area and see if they have something cheap.

[knave]

If he lives in Seattle, he should be able to find a usable cabinet NO PROBLEM. Have him call a distributor in the area and see if they have something cheap.

I was thinking the same thing...Have your bro look in his local Craigslist or Ebay within 200 miles and buy what he wants.  I'm really sure there are lots of cabs on there for just what you would pay for shipping alone.

Me I complain if the cab is more than an hour away and there are lots of those in my area.  It just takes looking.  If I had money I'd have a dozen cabs right now.

[Minwah]

Does anyone remove the monitor when transporting cabinets?  I'm in two minds about whether to remove the monitor from mine to make it easier to move about...

[Hawk Daddy]

I live in Charlotte, NC, and over a weekend drove up to and hauled a game home from Milwaukee back in January. Going to Seattle, I'd suggest you take a tarp.

This is way off topic, but I live in Clover, SC, and I go to Charlotte, NC, everyday for school.

Hawk

[leapinlew]

I live in L.A., he lives in Seattle. You tell me.

Yes, you guys can meet half way. If he really wants a cabinet - he'll have no problems making that trip.

Best thing to do is to tell him to make his own though.

[unclet]

Making a long drive to meet half way would be the answer to me.   Basically, one day of long driving up and back would be the money savings for me, plus you get to see your brother for lunch/dinner .....  just make sure the tarp is on nice and tight and that rain water (if it rains of course) does not drip "into" the tarp ..... make sure the tarp allows rain water to drip towards the outside.    Obvious recommendations, but thought I would mention it since you need to be careful when wrapping it with a tarp.

However .......  if you really do not want to drive, then I would recommend calling moving companies (not freight companies) to ship your item.  I am in Florida and sold my regulation sized arcade air hockey machine (200 lbs at least) to someone in Texas.   The buyer set everything up.   I would like to remember he paid about $200 or $250 for this, but I can not remember .... a few years ago.  Anyway, a moving company came to my house on a Saturday and loaded the air hockey table into their truck and strapped it down and covered it with heavy shipping blankets.  They did not require it be on a pallet or be wrapped with bubble wrap or anything.   They just treat it like furniture they are moving across the states.    I have heard of people do this when moving pianos and such .... sicne they are heavy and they do not want to ship them via frieght since it would be way to expensive.

What I understand is moving companies love to fill their trucks before they drive.   So if they have spare room, they will swing by your house and pick up stuff for you.   

Hope this helps ....

[grundle]

I think there may be multiple sites like this, but you can list it on here: http://www.uship.com/

Basically you say where it is coming from/going, and different companies/truck drivers bid on moving it for you.  Having talked to moving truck drivers in the past, they do little jobs like this to make a little extra money.  So if someone is moving from LA to Seattle, and they know some room will be left in the truck, they'll charge you a couple hundred and move the arcade for you.

[knave]

If you're gonna drive half-way you can come park it in my garage...In Nor CAL.  OH...what's that your brother...your brother who?  LOL.

Although It might still be cheeper for you to fly to seattle and help him buy his own cab for $200-$300.  Plus you get to visit that way...

[Jeff AMN]

Does anyone remove the monitor when transporting cabinets?  I'm in two minds about whether to remove the monitor from mine to make it easier to move about...

I've moved a few cabs and I've never bothered with the monitor. I just checked to see if it was bolted securely, and then made the move.

[Jake]

I've worked for a couple of trucking companies in my time as a billing clerk so I can only tell you how Fed-ex Freight and AAA Cooper works.  They don't charge you for shrink wrap and they don't charge for putting it on a pallet.   You can drop it off at the terminal and supervise the packaging of the cab to make sure they do it right.   Part of the shipping fee is the gas fee, which is actually most of the shipping fee.  I think you'd pay 100-200$ and maybe less if your arrage a dock pickup so they won't have to deliver it to your brother.  They charge at least 75$ just for a liftgate fee so you definitely want your brother to go to the terminal and get it.  I'm not sure what companies are on the west coast but they all pretty much work the same. 

[fjl]

Uship sounds interesting. I'll look into that, thanks!

And I can't get my brother to build the cabinet himself. He's mechanically inclined as a monkey. 

[btp2k2]

Oh yeah! I think I used something like that to move once.

[brian23]

Get a Penske with Unlimited miles.. Take a little trip with your family up to Seattle in the Summer. Drop the Penske off at a local Penske dealer and ride with your family back. That would be the cheapest and easiest way versus dealing with a freight company. They are normally designed for companies that ship ALOT.

[urbecrisch]

I live in Charlotte, NC, and over a weekend drove up to and hauled a game home from Milwaukee back in January. Going to Seattle, I'd suggest you take a tarp.

What were you in Milwaukee for?  I live 45 miles from there and just curious what kind of CAB/deal you struck to drive to Milwaukee from NC?