General Cycling Discussion - Shipping a bike: who and cost?

How cheap can you send a bike to Florida from colorado?

So I bought for one of my parents, a comfort bike and they live in florida, I live in Colorado. so I need to get it there.
I boxed up the bike in a standard bike box: 53" x 10" x 30".. weighs about 44lbs all said and done.

Everyone at the shop said that a shipping a bike would be about $30-40, but plugging in the numbers into UPS gives about $108 standard and the FedEX ground is $78... am i missing something?

Thanks, eric

ask a guy at the shop what service he was talking about. They order bikes in numbers so it may cost less for him.

Sounds high but fuel prices have bumped up shipping costs generally and UPS charges a premium to
walkin shippers sending to home addresses. If the bike was shipped by Galactic Distributors
to Colorado Cyclist as part of a 15 bike order the cost would be a LOT less. Xmas probably warrants
a surcharge also just because of the crush of work and 'what the market will bear' standard.
Canadians really get screwed by UPS for shipments from the US as they charge a $35 custom broker
fee on top of everything else. I have twice shipped my 23# bent in an 8-10# box from AL to California
by UPS for $40, but last time was 2002. Steve

I have and idea! :D Why not ride the bike to your parents?

I've found Fed Ex cheaper than UPS. UPS has some kind of "oversized" charge they tack on that drives the price up.

A business may be able to ship Fed Ex cheaper than you can, so maybe that's where the $30 - $40 fee comes in. I think I paid $50 to ship a bike earlier this year to CA via Fed Ex.

Get a smaller box or find out what the limits are. There is some magic number that is the total of the measurements that once you hit causes the price to go through the roof. I just sold my Litespeed Firenze on ebay, and I got the quote to ship it last night from UPS (Ca-CO). 38 bucks & change without insurance, less than 50 with. It shocked the heck out of me because a few months ago I shipped my sister-in-law a mountain bike (she is also in CO) and it was like 109 bucks to ship it-it was the size of the box that killed me. I didn't know that then, but I do after last night. FY the box I used for the cheaper rate was 52x8 and I don't remember the other measurement. It was a trek box for a comfort bike.

The problem is that you have to cut down the size of your box. To ship at the lower rate the dimensions have to be something like 40" x 27" x 7". The formula to determine the shipping cost is L + 2*W + 2*H where L is always the longest measurement. Your box is 50 + 2*10 + 2*30 which = 50+20+60 = 130". The cutoff for the lower rate is 108". Good Luck!

Ok I just shipped a bike via UPS ground and all I can say is that it cost NO WHERE NEAR $108 to do. At the size of a bike you are dealing with pricing based on the volume of the box so if you can get a smaller box you are better off, but I am guessing you can't. The box I used was the same size and you are paying for a 70lb package. Are you having them pick it up or something? Maybe you checked a wrong box? You want it to say "your packaging" and you want to drop it off rather than schedule a pickup. Should be no more than $60 fully insured and probably more like $50.

Edit: Um ok I am baffled I just made a shipment from Boulder to Key West and it was $108 with drop-off and $500 insurance. If you take the package to UPS store it would cost you $125 and if you have daily pickup (at your work for instance) you would only pay $89. And the dimensional weight of your package is 90 lbs. Oh and the USPS doesn't even want to look at your package so UPS, FedEx, and DHL are your choices. :o

When I have shipped a bike, I let the guys at the LBS pack it. They know how to get it into the smallest possible box, and get a commercial rate from UPS and FedEx. Usually $25 to $45 from Texas to any of the 48 States. DHL can be even cheaper. And, they know how to pack a bike so it won't arrive with the fork bent, etc.

I work for a shipping department and there is no difference in price between UPS and Fedex ground it will cost you no where near $108 to ship your bike I am not sure what you did when you where on there site but I shipped my bike last summer for 40$
DHL is touch and go right now because of the recent merger with airborne, I would give them some time before shipping with them. There corporate bureaucracy is a nightmare right now.

There is a little known secret with using UPS online. I got an account with UPS a year or so back. You just give them your credit card and it prints out one of those shipping labels that we are all so familiar with.

Then you just look out the window for your nearest UPS man and hand it to him. (I have a UPS driver that lives down the street. He takes, LONG lunch hours. He told me to just throw the package in the cab anytime i have something. He leaves the cab doors open. Cargo doors are locked.

The thing is, it is all based on the honor system. You input your measurements for the package and presumeably if you are dishonest you could ship your bike all the way across the country for $8. (input 12x12x8 and 3 lbs etc.) I asked my local UPS guy what checks were in place to see if you were honest on your measurements and weight. He laughed and said, "you are going to try and cheat aren't you?" He told me that there were basically NONE.

He said that they randomly, check packages but that is all. What would they do if you under paid? He didn't know. I am not telling anyone to cheat. I am just saying "if" you were dishonest you could rob them blind. ;) ;)

. He laughed and said, "you are going to try and cheat aren't you?" He told me that there were basically NONE.

He said that they randomly, check packages but that is all. What would they do if you under paid? He didn't know. I am not telling anyone to cheat. I am just saying "if" you were dishonest you could rob them blind. ;) ;)

Couple of pointers here from someone who ships bikes regularly through UPS.

~First of all, I wouldn't try cheating. Oversize boxes are pulled more often for checking than most others. At least this was the case when I worked at UPS many years ago.

~If possible, ship from a commercial address to another commercial addresss. This is the cheapest way to go

~A box that is as little as 25x25x6 is still considered oversize, so packing your bike into a smaller box to beat this would mean chopping it up into little pieces.

~Oversize #1 -ships at 70#s, (This may have recently gone to 80#s),so weighing it won't matter. Most bikes with packing material and box come out on one side of 40#s or the other. If you have other stuff to ship to the same address, jam it in there. It won't matter.