Originally Posted by
indyfabz
In 2014 I shipped my bike to the Missoula REI. I arranged the shipping myself through bikeflights.com. REI assembled and tuned the bike for $40, held my CrateWorks box and duffel bag for free and offered to let me use one of their repair stands to put on my racks, which I like to do myself. At the end of the trip, REI packed the bike for $40. Again, I arranged the shipping through bikeflights.com and had the bike picked up from the store. I will be using them again this June. Judging from the number of used, non-disposable bike boxes they had around, it appears they get a fair number of bikes shipped to them. I saw a good four or five besides mine when I picked up the bike.
That sounds more reasonable than what I was quoted. But then I think the problem was that I was looking at using them for shipping, not just as a receiving location for another shipping service. So I was looking at packing fees + shipping fees + assembly fees. And then the same thing on the way home.