Shipping - Why so expensive?
 

I've done a few searches and found that most people aren't spending more than $60 to ship a bike. I just shipped a bike in a standard road bike box (51"x31"x8") weighing 26.6lbs and UPS's quote was $101. What gives?!

I actually paid 105 to ship my bike about the same weight.

What makes you think people are spending 60 bucks?

I used FedEx for the last couple bikes I shipped and it was pretty close to $60 as I recall. Check prices on their web site. I plugged your numbers in for shipping from Mpls to Denver and it was $47 without insurance ($50 with $500 insurance).

The box size makes a big difference (as does the distance that it is shipped) . I have also modified my packing boxes in the past to get the smallest possible size which can reduce the cost considerably.

I'm gonna guess its the weight... u said road bikes were shipping at 60, and those are around 20lbs. M aybe u should try USPS or fedex....

I've spent $120 to ship mountain bikes via UPS and Fedex. If you're shipping over seas USPS is by far the best route. The size is the biggest factor because these aren't small boxes, even though they are typically pretty light. I'm selling my 29er on eBay right now and have it listed at $65 for shipping, but I expect it to be considerably more.

+1 use fedex

UPS sucks.

Bike boxes are right on the border between two oversize classes. For FedEx and UPS, the rule is length + 2*width + 2*height < 130". Your box comes out to 129", so you or the person at the counter mismeasured, or he didn't measure it at all and just assumed it was extra oversize.

For example, go to UPS.com and do "Detailed Time and Cost." For a cross country trip, a 30 lb box that measures 51"x31"x8" is $80, but a box that measures 51"x32"x8" is $140. In order to get a decent price, you have to make absolutely sure that your box is under the limit, and that the clerk is not being sloppy.

Bit of a breath of fresh air to know I'm not the only one being suckered into paying over 100 bucks for shipping. The road bike weighed 20# and was going from NYC to Texas. Bike was insured for $2400 which I imagine may have contributed a little jump in price.

I did learn that FedEx does not insure over $1,000, or at least that's what they told me over the phone. I have a hunch they may insure corporate accounts for more, else manufacturers wouldn't use them to ship pricey items (or I guess they'd get an insurance company to give them supplemental insurance?).

Also USPS only ships boxes up to a certain size, I forget the exact dimensions but it's smaller than a bike box.

Does anyone know anything about DHL?

Also, who has some insight on shipping internationally? I got a quote from UPS on the same box to go to the UK and it was $485!!! At that price it's worthwhile just to buy a roundtrip ticket and fly the bike myself.

Because truck drivers like to eat, too.

The UPS Store is absurdly expensive. When I was in college, we got to use our campus' commercial shipping station. Shipping my $2k bike and $5k saxophone with insurance cost about $60 total. We also used to be able to drive out to the local (~20-30 minutes away) UPS facility and ship from there for similar prices, but that option got shut down when they started opening UPS Stores in the area and charged double that, and made you buy their stupid boxes and insulation materials.

They're punishing you for not having a high end bike in the 15 lb range.

UPS is owned and operated exclusively by cyclists.

It's the dimensions of the box that makes it expensive.

Bikes (typically) don't trip the excess weight charge.

I had to ship something (not a bike), which, once I broke it down, cost (about) $30 to ship instead of $120.

Definitely use smallest bike box possible. Also, ship via Fed Ed Ground - Home Delivery. $56 to ship my bike from L.A. to Brooklyn.

Shipping internationally can be expensive.

I'm shipping all my stuff (including 2 bicycles) from Canada to Australia for $18.5 per cubic ft (plus insurance, and other fees), and that was one of the lower quotes I got. Some companies quoted me double that and more.

If you find UPS etc. too expensive, you might try getting quotes from international movers. They'll be slow because they ship by ship, but may be less expensive. You might also try the Cargo departments of airlines. I think they are a bit less than places like UPS.

my brother has a personal Fed-ex account. He shipped his old mountain bike out to me from NJ to IN so we could ride while he was visiting. It cost ~30$ without insurance to ship it in a standard bike box from the lbs.

I shipped it back to him for ~60$ with 600$ insurance (just to be covered).

DHL doesn't do domestic (within the US) shipping anymore. That's what they say anyway...the truth is that they do, but it's very limited so for all intents and purposes they don't ship domestically. They have a huge presence overseas, and may be competitively priced.

And it's mostly the box size, as others have stated. I worked for DHL designing and supporting their sort centers, and the extra charges for the oversized items are because they're too big for the the automated handling at the sort centers and thus have to be sorted/handled by hand.

And from my experience, I can suggest the following: packing tape is cheap...don't scrimp when taping your box. Also, assume that something will hit your box from all sides and pack accordingly. The package following yours on the conveyor system could be a 75-pound box of bolts that is the size of couple of tissue boxes. Your large box with non-reinforced sides won't stand a chance against it...

Charles

Actual shipping costs for me have been closer to $100 lately using Fedex. I use whatever box I can find though rather than trying to minimize the size.

You are correct. Both FedEx and UPS have spent the great recession raising rates about 30%. Last bike I shipped via FedEx cost $114! Pa to Montana.

Competitive Cyclist manages to ship bikes anywhere in the world for $230 or something like that. They are the only ones with such a low rate. Most other places give a rate that is comparable (speedgoat.com wanted $900 to ship me full-sus 29er!!).

Try using a freight forwarding company like usamail1.com - their rates are often cheaper than the international rates quoted by most bike places. Because the bike box is so big, it ships by Volumetric Weight. Basically, this means Shipping Weight = L * W * D / 166 (where L, W and D are in inches, and Shipping Weight is in pound). Get the bike box dimensions and compare it with the shipping rates on usamail1.com.

V.

You can ship large items via Greyhound (yes the bus line) from depot to depot for reasonable costs.
look up PackageXpress

Example: ship 32 inch long box from Los Angeles to Miami for $42.

Only drawback is max declared value of $1000, so insure your bike some other way.

Here's a bit of perspective on the expense of shipping bicycles ...

A coworker and one of her good friends are into dressage. The friend decided she wanted a horse from Germany. She flew to Germany, bought the horse, and had it shipped to Australia. It cost her $30,000 to ship the horse.

Suddenly $60 or $120 or $450 don't seem like much, really.

Awesome, I may try this. Thanks.