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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?
Admittedly, I know nothing about Apple hardware, but generally speaking the packing materials that it came in should be more than sufficient to make the trip via FedEx or UPS. I shipped literally hundreds of PC's this way and never had one damaged.
Back up your hard drive, either to another HD, or tape, or DVD. Remove the hard drive, carry it with you. Leave the backup with someone trust worthy. Ship the machine UPS or Fedex, insured for enough to replace it. The hardware is basically worthless, it's your data that has value. As long as the machine is at all replaceable, you have no worries.
But losing your pr0n collection, *that's* bad.
Pull the hard drive, then ship it UPS (or Fedex, or UPS) insured. About 50% of the time they'll trash your computer but they'll give you cash equal to what *you paid* for your computer, not what it's worth today. Think of it as regular free upgrades.
As long as you don't trust them with your data this is a much easier policy than trying to figure out a safe way to ship it.
As far as packaging, I've had good luck double boxing it (put computer inside tight fitting box packed with foam, put box inside larger looser box packed with styrofoam peanuts). The outside box ends up looking trashed but the inside box is fine. Again this is with pulling the harddrives and carrying those personally.
It may seem awkward to keep a large cardboard box, styrofoam moldings, and large plastic bags, but unless you plan on driving cross country with it in your trunk, those are the best tools in which to ensure that your baby gets to its destination safely, while in someone else's hands. If you have already disposed of the original packaging, you may be able to drop by the local Apple store, and ask if they kept the original packaging for one of display units that you could have.
As an alternative, you may be able to partially disassemble your machine based on what might get damaged if part of the internals of your computer came apart during shipping. For example: Pull out the hard drive, and keep that with you (as it has all of your important data), while pulling out all internal cards (PCI, AGP, ISA, etc) and putting them in seperate protective containters.
When Intel had their cartrige processors (during Pentium 2, and early Pentium 3 days), the massive cartrige and its heat sink had a tendancy to come off during transport, and flop about wildly inside the computer case during transport - damaging just about everything inside of a computer. If you feel that your heat sink/fan is too big you may consider removing those, along with your processor, and placing them in protective containers as well.
This way, you reduce the chance that one breakage would destroy the entire computer, and help to minimize your costs to repair/replace parts. As well, you also maximize the survivability of your important information.
I haven't lost my mind!
It is backed up on disk...somewhere...
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.
Airborne is late more often the FedEx who is late more often then UPS. Personally, I'd ship it UPS, and add $3K in insurance. I'd ship it ground, (it'll probably end up on a plane, but if you can deal with not having it for 5-6 days it's a lot cheaper).
Get it ensured. Keep the insurance slip. Make sure it's a must be signed for shipment, and call UPS to have it be arrange for pickup if you don't get it the first time they attempt to deliver it.
If it's not there, and you don't have a note, call UPS. Check the website.
If it's not there within 3 business days of the scheduled delivery date, you are screwed, call UPS, file a tracer. Start the process of getting your insurance money.
Every Tom, Dick and Harry on here is going to tell you their personal story about how they got screwed by carrier X, and how they will never use carrier X again. They think the carrier has some personal vendetta. It's comical. All of the carriers move millions of items a week. An success rate of 5 9's, still means a lot of screw ups a week. Make sure you have the documentation, make sure you take care of it quickly, make sure you follow up with them. You can successfully get your refund if it gets lost or damaged, sometimes it takes a little while, if you can't deal with that rent a car, drive the damn thing.
Kirby