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Enlarger Shipping Woes

dynachrome

Member
Allowing Ads
Joined
Sep 16, 2006
Messages
1,888
Format
35mm
I want to ship a Bogen 67 Special enlarger from Wichita, KS to NJ. The rates I have been given for doing this are quite high. I wonder whether there is a photrio participant in the Wichita area who could help me. If the baseboard is removed and the head is also removed, the enlarger could be sent in three packages with UPS or FEDEX.
 
What do you consider quite high?
What weight and dimensions are you coming up with?
When I’ve shipped large or heavy items I’ve found UPS ground to be much less.
 
I have put ads in Craiglist for things like this and offered to help pay for gas. There are quite a few people looking for shared rides and wouldn't mind doing it instead of having a stranger in the car.

Brian
 
Time for a road trip. Bring your camera, film or memory cards, and National Parks Pass.
 
The devil is in the details w/ this sort of thing. First, open an online USPS account. That way you can get their good buddy rates, and print your own paid shipping labels. Second, cram as much as you can into their flat rate boxes, since each box comes w/ a set price and $50 of insurance. The long post for the enlarger should fit into a shipping tube. If you go about it systematically, you can save some money.
 
You might find someone who has a Shopify account. Our UPS prices are about 1/2 of retail.
 
If you have a Fastenal Tool location at both ends you can ship your enlarger through them at a very competitive rate.
 
there is an issue here that isnt being discussed..

its NOT about wieght its about DIMENSIONS..


thus knocking it down in size. im not familiar with the enlarger you want to ship, but if you had the original factory packaging youd probably be able to save 30% on costs
 

But possibly and the need to do alignment steps because of the disassembly.
 
But possibly and the need to do alignment steps because of the disassembly.

yes alignment is a doozy of a turd, but original packaging helps with damage issues.

And as far as cost goes, i did tests when i purchased a 23c. new from maker in factory packaging that is just wrapper on the factory parts box everything comes in, is 30% less then shipping if you send it in a box twice as deep