You can use the USPS Flat Rate box 
70 lbs ~ 29 boxes
Large Box = $18.85 for 2 day or $546.65 total
It would make a funny video showing their reaction when you came in!!
I have heard of people shipping whole library’s by USPS at the book rate. Very inexpensive, if you don’t mind wrapping each book individually.
Don’t wrap the books indivudually; pack them in boxes designed to hold hold liquid in glass. That’s what my wife did before we married; she sent her books to me by mail–in boxes from a liquor store. Of course, the rate is higher now than it was 46 years ago.
I’ve read someplace that many years ago, people in Alaska would have building materials (I suppose boards, nails, shingles, etc.) shipped to them by parcel post, since it was by far the cheapest method.
- PDN.
I’m not trying to be Rude, REALLY, but the world “Does NOT Need” a train consolidator. How many people are going to be willing to wait MONTHS on a shipment just to save a few bucks, which is still not likely to pan out.
Just how much do you think that consolidators warehouse is going to cost, it sure isn’t going to be FREE, just storage is expensive, then you will need some personel to recieve, sort and consolidate the freight. Labor isn’t cheap either.
If there really was a market for this, someone would already be doing it. LCL freight died a LOOOONG time ago, for a reason, it wasn’t profitable.
I understand you are a railfan, and it would be “Neat” to send a shipment by rail, but the product that you want to ship, just isn’t a practical commodity to ship by rail. In the end getting a shipment where it needs to get to in a timely manner(some shipments are more time sensitive than others) undamaged and for the Best/at least acceptable Rate, is what matters, not HOW it gets from “Point A” to “Point B”
Doug
I don’t know about that, but in the mid-60’s my father built our family home in Alaska. Instead of sheetrock on the walls inside, they were finished in sanded plywood. The freight cost to get the items up to Alaska made the plywood less expensive.
Best way to move it would be by truck… call a freight broker or one of the big LTL’s and you should be able to get it moved for $400.00 to 700.00 if you’re patient.
Moving it by rail? Sure… try the pool car guys. They specialize in consolidating freight into boxcar loads… only caveat is that its probably the slowest way to go. Not sure what pricing you can expect… Being in Canada, I’m not familiar with US pool car operators that much. But for comparison purposes… I’ve moved a 2000 lb pallet from Toronto to Vancouver, BC for $120.00. Took three weeks but if speed isn’t that important then that might be the best way to go.
It would be interesting to price it by pool car operator. Where can I get a list of operators and the areas they service?
Murphy - I suspect one reason the freight for the plywood cost less is because there’s less risk of weather damage and breakage to plywood than to sheetrock.
- PDN.
If you shipped it by truck it would be there by now…
But I don’t need it for three months. I need it cheap.
The service you’re looking for is called a freight forwarder; they consolidate smaller shipments intended for the same region into truckloads or carloads (though with the continuing exodus of high-value freight from non-containerized rail movement, I doubt that there’s much demand for the latter anymore) and used to cover operating expenses and profit from the differential in rates.
A few of them still operate, and their equipment shows up on TOFC trains – Clipper and Arrow/Lifschutz come immediately to mind, But the margins are thin, the ranks are thinning, and I doubt you’ll see much interest in a one-time, possibly hard-to-load shipment. The business itself doesn’t get much attention, so if anyone here can provide some links on how LCL and forwarder traffic was handled in an earlier day, it would make some interesting reading – at least for me.
These guys may be able to handle rocks … 