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Shipping Hardware Cross-Country?
ae0nflx asks: "I just graduated from High School and the computer that my parents gave me four years ago has finally died. I've decided to spend all that money that I've been hoarding for a few summers on a new G5. The problem lies in the fact that for college I'll be moving to the East Coast (Upstate New York), from the foggy shores of the San Francisco Bay. Does anyone have any insight on how to ship my brand new machine cross country? Cheap would be good. I'll be flying back in late August and I don't think that I'll be able to take her back with me because I'm assuming she'll be a little big for the overhead bin... I'm not sure if I can trust this to the Postal Service alone." It may not be the same as shipping the big iron, but when you trust your hardware to any shipping company, be it Federal Express, or UPS, you do have the expectations that what you ship, will get to where it's going, and hopefully get there in one piece. Which shipping companies would you recommend for this job? For those who have done this, what experiences have you had, and what suggestions can you pass on to ae0nflx?
First, just hold off on that purchase until you move. That'll eliminate the problem entirely.
If you're not willing to do that, save the boxes. Most machines (and Macs for certain) come in large styrofoam-lined boxes that can handle a lot of abuse.
When you ship, the important rules are:
Rattling is your enemy.
Rigid and brittle is your enemy.
Make sure that nothing in the box can bang into anything else in the box. Gently loosen (but don't remove!) any non-critical screws that make the inside more rigid (add-on card screws, for example), but ensure that anything that holds important parts in place (hard drive screws, etc.) is tight.
When you ship, take it to a mailing place like Mailboxes Etc. They'll charge you $30 for a box and shipping material, but then they'll pack it well and ensure that it's shipped with appropriate labels. For a $3000 computer, that's a bargain.
Finally, do a thorough inspection of your machine when it arrives. Ensure that every internal cable is attached, every screw is in place and tightened, every bit of packing material is removed, etc.
Forward, retransmit, or republish anything I say here. Just don't misquote me.
I work as a loader at UPS and I have a few comments.
1. Stuff gets misloaded. It ends up on the wrong truck. Right now our region is the top in the nation and we around 1 for 3000 misload rate. My shift handles between 55,000 and 75,000 boxes everynight this time of year. Stuff WILL be late some of the time. It just happens.
2. Stuff gets damaged. Not really all that much, but it happens at least once or twice a night on my belt. (My belt handles between 5,000 and 7,000 packages/night). We as loaders are expected to load approx 10 packages per minute or 1 every six seconds. We do not have time to insure that your box is treated perfectly well. We throw boxes (not computer boxes but little ones). Things get dropped. Boxes break open. My best advice is do what every one else has said. Take anything out that my be dislodged by droping the box. Put it in its original packing (we ship tons of apples everyday). I have never seen a computer box break open. And take the hard drive out.
3. If you ship something ground, it is going by train or truck. We do not put ground packages on a plane ever(that I know of). In fact most close destinations, we even ship the air packges by ground. We are not going to fly something if it is only a 4 hour drive away. That said, see the first comment. I have misloaded a package that was supposed to go by truck to another hub about 3 hours away. Instead it went to North Carolina (I work at Portland, OR). That package took 13 days after I loaded it to get to its destination.
So over all my best advice is this, we dont damage all that many packages, but it is enough. Just get insurance and you willl be fine.
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