cross-canada shipping

[freshbreath]

I have to ship a bunch of crates full of personal items to someone in BC (they moved)
what's the best way? anyone have experience doing this?

2-3 heavy crates

 

[Papi Chulo]

You will have to use a carrier such as Consolidated FastFrate or Day & Ross.

If you do not have an account with them, you will not get a good rate, but call them. You will need dimensions and weights, for them to give you an estimate.

 

[freshbreath]

cool, thanks

most places I've found do full household moves, that would be overkill for this situation

and I'm not sure what Canada Post would charge for this, if they could indeed do it

 

[papasmerf]

Use a comon carrier to ship them that can do straight truck pick up and delivery. You will need to know the weight and footprint of the boxes.

 

[freshbreath]

Use a comon carrier

can you give me some names? do you mean like FedEx and Purolator?

 

[LancsLad]

Any of the companies that do LTL ( Less than Truck Load) can help you. You will get the best rate if you can wait while its consolidated thru a forwarder.

FedX Ground or UPS may also offer a deal since it doesn't need to be overnight.

 

[freshbreath]

I just called FedEx, they can't do it since the boxes are full of a variety of things, it's a liability issue (they won't be able to properly assess a cost if something happens)

argh this is frustrating
people must move cross-canada all the time, there's gotta be an easy way

 

[Dawgger]

I have to ship a bunch of crates full of personal items to someone in BC (they moved)
what's the best way? anyone have experience doing this?

2-3 heavy crates

A couple of things...how heavy are the crates? are they going to and from a private residence? LTL carriers are not the greatest at picking up and delivering to private residences, they want to go dock to dock,loading and unloading much simpler and less work.Purolator and Fedex ground will give you a rate based on the total weight of the shipment.Think the max a single
piece can weigh is 65 lbs.(it may be slightly higher), Not sure if they have a max on the total shipment weight.I would get rates from both the LTL and couriers,If you opt for the LTL carrier make sure the person receiving them will be able to carry them inside as I doubt if the driver will.

 

[doinker]

try bus parcel express they are fairly cheap and the service is good

 

[xarir]

Greyhound
Via or CN Rail
Moving companies such as Atlas might have an available option

 

[tboy]

I'd stay away from the couriers, they will charge you a fortune. Why not tell us the size and weight of the crates? Can you take them to a distribution centre in the back of a pickup?

LTL carriers are the best and cheapest route. CN/CP will be the cheapest as your crates will be combined in a box car with a bunch of other crates and may take as long as 2 - 3 weeks to get there. I'd contact a company like Clockwork Logistics who broker out space from many common carriers. Say they have x amount of trucks heading to BC, they will combine many shipments from many locations to fill the truck.

Even Atlas Van Lines might be able to help you.

I do have a question: why wouldn't whoever moved out there, just U-Haul the stuff with them?

 

[freshbreath]

I haven't seen the boxes first hand, I just know there are apparently 2-3 that need to be shipped (I have to head over there to pick them up, and do the measurements)

She flew out there with her necessities to survive for a few weeks, but needs the rest of her stuff eventually (she didn't drive, thus couldn't u-haul)

so far Greyhound is looking good...

CN/CP do personal items? I checked their websites, it looks like they're interested in services to product companies
there's no mention of non-commercial shipping

 

[steveng]

greyhound is pretty cheap and good too. my gf shipped three boxes from ottawa to Vancouver, cost less than $100

 

[Gentle Ben]

Why not call a few moving companies? they may have room on a truck headed west, and might not charge all that much!

 

[bananaman]

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