Shipping A Big Piece To Washington State???

[Randy]

Randy:

I have a piece going to Bellingham, WA, and I was wondering--ballpark figure--how much I should expect to pay to ship it. I contacted a shipping place, and the quote they gave me was a lot. The piece is 375 pounds, and it's 13 feet long and about 4 feet wide. I know you have shipped some of your stuff in the last year or two....do you have any company that you would recommend? I am just south of Toledo...the piece has to be out there by early May.

Thanks for any assistance/advice you can give...

Greg Mueller

Greg . . .

Let's post this on the Help Center at the new ISC Sculpture Community. <www.sculpture.net/community> Have you checked it out yet? You "register" and then dive in!

If you can get the thing crated, and if you can load it yourself, you can probably find a decent (relative!) rate through trucking companies. You will be requesting an LTL (less than load) that will fit on a trailer with someone else's stuff.

There are many on-line dispatchers. The trick is that it is a one-time shot. You have to do a lot of calling, but it can be done.

Last week I dealt with Glenn at Handsent out of NJ to truck some sculpture from DC to Pgh. He now knows me, he knows sculpture, and he may be able to recommend someone, if you're out of his range (west coast).
1800 334 9171

Best,
Randy

[sculptorsam]

Congratulations, Greg. I assume you're shipping a piece for a show or commission, either way good deal.

Perhaps one function of this site could be to form a national data-base of people who regularly transport large artworks. Rather like a college bulletin board of people carpooling home, artists could piggy-back with each other if they were headed to the same shows. Last year I found myself in CO, KS, RI, MI, and every place in between delivering works to shows. Artists willing to endure a mild inconvenience could split the gas and if they join for the ride, perhaps a bit of conversation. Just a thought.

Sam

[Randy]

Greg. . .

Hope you're not too depressed. I think you got a pretty good rate. I don't ship a lot anymore, but this seems pretty reasonable to me compared to what I used to get. Getting a U-haul quote is pretty easy, and if you do, I hope you'll let me know what it was. My guess is it will be around the same amount, you'll have to buy gas, you'll have to do that three day drive, you'll have to figure out how to get back, you'll have the stress of orchestrating the whole thing. (Did I tell you why I don't ship a lot anymore??)

Building a crate for the piece to go LTL on a flatbed should be cheaper. Building crates is kind of a pain, but kind of fun somehow, too.

Keep us posted, please.
Randy


Greg and Meg Mueller wrote:

Hello Randy
I thought this "crash course" in shipping sculpture from Karen at
Freight.com could benefit many sculptors if you would like to post it.

Thanks

Greg Mueller



Subject:
RE: quote
From:
Karen Kaffenberger <kkaffenberger@freightquote.com>
Date:
Tue, 22 Apr 2003 09:38:54 -0500
To:
'Greg and Meg Mueller' <g.mueller@verizon.net>

Greg,

Unfortunately, no. I did try quoting the regular LTL carriers to begin with, & the cheapest was Watkins at $1033.87, assuming that it was delivering to a business that has a way to get the sculpture off. If the delivery end needs a liftgate, it was actually more expensive than N. American Van Lines at $1086.87. LTL carriers charge for everything- if they have to make a call before pickup or delivery, liftgate, inside delivery, etc. North American has pretty much everything built into their pricing.

The reason this is so expensive is 1)it's moving over 2,000 miles 2) the item you are trying to ship is considered to be a density item, which basically means it takes up a lot of space but doesn't weigh much, so they charge more. (carriers like heavy items that don't take up a lot of space. They can move more freight & make more $$ that way.) For instance, shipping plastic tanks that weigh little but take up a lot of space is far more expensive than shipping steel parts to the same place. 3) there is not a lot of freight coming out of WA, so it's more expensive because after a carrier delivers, they want to be able to pick up enough shipments to fill up a truck so they can make $$ on the return trip.

Another problem: I seriously doubt that Watkins (or any other LTL carrier) will take this sculpture because it is not crated but only strapped on a pallet. Since it is "fine art" even though it is obviously sturdy being steel, they are worried about the liability. LTL carriers move heavy freight- they are not gentle with it. Your sculpture would be in a truck shoved up against all kinds of freight. They would be moving it from truck to truck with a forklift, & could damage it that way.

If you choose to use an LTL carrier, you could either put it in a crate, or build one around it on the pallet. Keep in mind, however, that should it be damaged, carriers are notorious for not paying claims. They will say that the item was not packaged properly & therefore they have no liability. Additional insurance is only available for new items worth $5,000 or more, & again, they may not pay off if they feel it was not properly packaged.

Although I would hate to lose the business, I also don't like to see you having to pay that much if there is an alternative. There are a couple of other things you might look into- you might call FedEx and ask about their hundred weight program. They will now move heavy items like that for a pretty reasonable price, but I don't know if they will take something 13' long.

Another possibility is hiring someone to drive it there- that would certainly be cheaper, I would think, even if you have to rent a U-haul. According to mapquest, it is 2414 miles, & drive time is 39 hrs.

I hope this crash course in shipping helps. Let me know what happens, & if I can think of any other alternatives for you, I will pass them on.

Regards,
Karen

-----Original Message-----
From: Greg and Meg Mueller [mailto:g.mueller@verizon.net]
Sent: Monday, April 21, 2003 9:49 PM
To: Karen Kaffenberger
Subject: Re: quote

Hi Karen
thanks for taking the time for such a detailed quote---as an artist I am
new to Shipping and really do not know where to begin. My sculpture is
steel and probably would not qualify as "fragile" it is very sturdy and
solid-- Would that lower my price at all? by putting me into another
catagory?
Thanks

Greg Mueller

Karen Kaffenberger wrote:

> Hi Greg,I got the quote to pull- North American Van Lines is the
> cheapest, at $1053.70, estimated transit time of 10 business days
> (does not count day of pickup, weekends or holidays). Also, they
> require a minimum of 5 days notice for pickup. The nice thing is you
> don't have to worry about whether or not the receiver has a loading
> dock, as liftgates/residential delivery are always included in their
> pricing.Under contents of shipment, I rated this as
> "fragile/unpackaged goods", with the subcategory of "fine art". If you
> need packaging the quote would be $1439.25. North American Van Lines
> is a blanket wrap carrier, which is probably your best bet with
> freightquote. I tried the quote through our regular less-than-load
> (LTL) carriers, & the price was virtually the same. The LTL carriers
> would only be useful on something like this if it is well packaged in
> a crate-- they tend to be rough on freight, so I wouldn't recommend
> them for something like a sculpture.Let me know if I can be of any
> further assistance- my contact info is listed below in the
> logo.Warmest Regards, Karen KaffenbergerAccount ManagerHours: M-F,
> 8am-5pm CST 7301 College Blvd., 2nd FloorOverland Park, KS 66210Ph:
> 888.595.6347 ext 1264Direct Fax: 913-319-0493CUSTOMER SVC:
> 888.595.5664; Hrs: M-F, 7am-7pm
> CSThttp://www.freightquote.com-----Original Message-----
>
> From: Greg and Meg Mueller [mailto:g.mueller@verizon.net]
>
> Sent: Sunday, April 20, 2003 10:08 PM
>
> To: ContactUs
>
> Subject: quote
>
>
>
> Hello
>
> i am experiencing trouble receiving a quote--perhaps you could help.
>
> I am looking for a truck to freight a steel sculpture from Bowling
>
> Green, Ohio 43403 to Bellingham, Washington 98225
>
> in late April. The weight is 375 pounds. Size is 13' x 4' x 4 x 4'
>
> strapped to a pallet. Loading dock on my end here in Bowling Green,
>
> unsure if there is a loading dock on the Bellingham end.
>
> Thanks for a quote
>
> Greg Mueller

[gordonrogers]

Just a thought - are there any dedicated art carriers in the US?

I used to work for one here in the UK (C'Art - www.cart.uk.com ) and the whole point of the business is that everything is part load, everything is fragile, every delivery is to venues without loading bays and so on and so on. Companies that deal with antiques might be helpful too as they work on the same premise. The bigger the window of time you can allow for collection and delivery, the better. And consider any company between you and the destination, not just the ones at either end.

A lesson you learn is that the materials you buy come in certain fixed units, sizes and lengths, these largely relate to what will fit on a standard pallet or the floor pan of a panel van, what will fit through a standard size door (and go round the bend in the stairs). When your work starts to exceed these sizes, even by an inch everything starts to get difficult and expensive when it comes to getting the work moved.

At C'art all the vehicles were specified a little over-size in every direction for just this reason

The fun I've had going to collect artworks that went into the studio as raw materials, but won't come back out again. Then theres taking the doors off galleries to get the art in. And don't get me started on artists describing their work as "quite heavy" or "quite big".

If your work had been made in two sections, to be fitted together on site, you could stick it in the back of a panel van and drive it there yourself, and who knows even pick up a load to bring back and earn yourself some beer money in the process. In the UK the magic measurement is 8ft x 4ft which is the flat area (between the wheel arches) of a bog standards Ford Transit Van. I don't know what the US equivient would be. Go bigger and the cost of hire vans (box vans and lutons) shoot up, and fuel consumption doubles as well

I always found older sculptors a joy to work with, because by trial and error all these things have sorted themselves out, a sort of logistical natural selection. I transported work by one guy that had descrete little handles sculpted into the work, in just the right positions for the work to balance and be carried without twisting and straining. Inside the base of each work was a little repair kit, with samples of the finishing materials, so that bumps and scratches could easily be dealt with by the future owner. This all sounds like extra effort, but in fact its avoiding extra effort.

Last year I managed to fit an entire solo exhibition into (and onto) a little VW Polo, simply by not permanently fixing any of the joins in he sculptures, that way everything packs away when you get it back as well.

I now own an old MGB GT........ Its an interesting challenge, maybe I should start balloon modelling :^b

Gordon

[sculptorsam]

While not directly related to shipping a sculpture to Washington...

Did anybody else read the short article by Bob Emser on the Portfolio homepage about shipping sculptures? The part I found most interesting was his anecdote about traveling via plane with a sculpture packed away in a special case for the Sculpture by the Sea exhibit in AU. That was such a great idea. It actually got me to thinking about the piece I'm working on right now. I would love to be in that exhibit but am too poor to ship a work there. But, if I take my wife with me and we each bring a large case with half a sculpture in it, I think I just might make it!

Sam