On 10/4/2019 5:21 PM, Tom Kunich wrote:
On Friday, October 4, 2019 at 1:40:49 AM UTC-7, Chalo wrote:
I just got a Shipbikes online quote for shipping a frame-sized box (42" x 27" x 7") with a weight of 25 lbs. from Boston to San Diego. It was $58.

Was that a private or commercial rate?


There is a rate. It's DIM based, that is, weight and volume.
Keeping an eye to total carton weight _and_ carton
dimensions[1], you can drop into a significantly lower rate
than another guy crating the same bike (or frame).

After that there are discounts. You, a walk-in retail
customer, get no discount. We get a puny discount although
it was much bigger when we were using more international
freight services. Shipbikes.com and other brokers get enough
discount to profitably land you a better price and still
make a buck. Discounts are based on annual billings, BTW.

[1]A frame carton cut from a standard bike carton can be
eight or even nine inches wide. Ouch. Trimming to six inch
width (as Chalo notes above) brings down the total carton
volume and hence the rate.

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Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971