I am considering buying a used lathe from a private party. The biggest challenge is to find a reliable and reasonable freight company that will pickup and deliver between states. Any recommendations/suggestions/experiences would be helpful.
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Freight/Shipping Companies
- Thread starter Frank Calzaretta
- Start date
I bought a jetski hull from a seller in Florida. He crated it and shipped to Texas by Forward Air.
Took about 3 days, and cost $125 or so. This was almost 10 years ago, but they had the best rates of anyone I talked to.
might give them a call to see what their rates are now.
another option is uship.com
Took about 3 days, and cost $125 or so. This was almost 10 years ago, but they had the best rates of anyone I talked to.
might give them a call to see what their rates are now.
another option is uship.com
I used Freight quote dot com to ship 3,000 pounds of woodworking machinery from Phoenix, Az to Peoria, IL. You get competitive quotes and you choose the company. I got a really great quote and used Yellow Freight. After the delivery I got a notice that per our signed agreement, more was going to be added to the charge card number I gave them. I underestimated the weight by 100 pounds and used the wrong freight class, according to them. It ended up being a little over $700 total which wasn't bad for two large skids and 3,000 pounds over 1600 miles. They also kept moving the delivery date. They base their low quote on letting it sit in a terminal until they get a full truck. So overall I would give that all a rating of 5 out of 10. If you do use a company like this, make sure you have them assign a freight class for you, and have that choice in email form so you can dispute any further charges.
I just sold my Long bed VL300 a few months back. The buyer arranged for the pick up and shipping but he found the best rate with Yellow Trucking as well. An affiliate (YTD or something like that) actually picked it up. I built a pallet, bolted the lathe to it, and then built a simple OSB box around it and the guy paid me for the materials. He offered to pay me for my time making it but I was happy to see the lathe find a good home so I didn't charge him for my time. The trucking company came and picked it up when they said they would be there. Lifted it with his pallet jack, I helped him push it into a safe position on the lift gate. The new owner received the lathe about three days later. Shipped from Colorado to Washington. Buyer said it was costing around $750.
Thank you all for the inputs....very helpful...that helps calibrate the value of the purchase...
john lucas
AAW Forum Expert
Check with Fastenal. You know the screw company. I found that they will ship things in the truck that they deliver in. It takes longer because they have to bring the box back to the center area and then back out again but I had a 900 lb lathe shipped for less than half what all other carriers in my area would do and it only took a week to get from Tennessee to Maryland. You do have to deliver the package there or in your case pick it up there but then have fork lifts to help load and unload.
Used to work at Fastenal. Had a guy in the store ordered a kayak and the Fastenal truck delivered it to our store. Might be worthwhile to check on it.