Shipping Destination needed in San Francisco
 

I'm planning on shipping my bike out ahead of me tp San Francisco, for the start of my PCH tour.

One option I have is to use REI. Someone on this forum said you do not need to have REI pack up the bike but everyone I have talked to so far at REI insists that they need to pack the bike. The total bill to pack and ship is around $130. I'll pay it if I have to but I'd like to look into other options.

Any ideas on where I can ship a bike and have them store it for a couple of days? Maybe a tourer friendly bike shop?

I already checked FedEx and while they have decent ground shipping prices, they do not have pickup locations for ground shipments.

Ship it via Fedex to a Kinkos in San Francisco, they will hold it until you arrive at no extra charge, I have done this several times without hassle

They will only hold your package if you ship it via Fedex Express, not ground

I just looked, you are right and I stand corrected! They no longer accept ground shipments to Kinkos. Last I did that was in June of 2007. I'll check my FedEx Account to see if that now applies to Fedex account holders also.

Edited to add: Looking at my FedEx account, The no ground shipping to Kinkos rule also applies to FedEX account holders as of Jan 1 2008. Ground shipping a standard 52x8x28 bike box weighing 40 lbs from Pittsburgh to San Francisco is 32.63 on a FedEx account. To use FedExpress it is $161.70 to ship to a Kinkos in SF using a FedEx account

I'm not sure where you get 32.63. I get $62 (includes insurance, without insurance it is something like $57). It is $200 for FedEx Express.

Do you get that much better rates if you are an account holder? How does one become one?


I wonder why they took away the storage for ground packages? Heck I would even pay $10 or $20 for the service.

OK since Kinkos is out, any other ideas for San Francisco?

See if you can send your bike to yourself care of the USPS. I used to ship food, and backpacking supplies from CA to various post offices along the Applachian Trail care of General Deilivery with my name attached. The post office would hold it for a few weeks and if unclaimed send back to sender, which would be me.

Give 'em a call.

Thanks but not an option. USPS wants $120 and that does not include insurance. I might as well use REI.