I need a trucking/shipping quote for transporting a cooking range from
Texas to San Diego. I don't care whether it's a private party carrying
it in their pickup truck during a vacation trip to Southern
California, or a professional shipping company. I'm simply looking for
the best price.
Here are the details:

Origin: Brazoria, TX (60 miles south of Houston)residence
Destination: San Diego, CA residence
Shipping weight: 530 lbs
Crated dimensions: 40" x 60" x 60"
Contents: residential propane cooking range
Desired delivery date: preferably before the end of July, but I'm flexible.

Best price wins! Thank you for your help!

---

Request for Question Clarification by smudgy-ga on 25 Jun 2004 11:14 PDT

Hi sdchap,

I imagine you're looking for direct, door-to-door pickup and delivery?
As opposed to you having to drop off or pick up at a shipping depot?

Thanks,
smudgy.

---

Request for Question Clarification by smudgy-ga on 25 Jun 2004 11:20 PDT

Hi again sdchap,

Sorry for the double clarification request.

Here are some questions that have come up in my explorations which may
affect the cost of shipping:

What floor is the stove on at origin and destination?
How many vertical steps between the stove's location and street level?
(include porches, etc).
How far from the stove's origin and destination location to the street, in feet?
Can the street nearest the stove's locations be accessed by tractor trailer?
Will the stove need to be put on a pallet, crated, or otherwise
prepared for shipping? (This may be a requirement depending on the
shipper as well.)

Thanks again,
smudgy.

---

Clarification of Question by sdchap-ga on 25 Jun 2004 12:50 PDT

The stove will be on a concrete driveway at street level.
The street nearest the stove's locations is accessible by tractor
trailer if necessary.
Our intention is to crate the stove though we can meet whatever other
requirements might make shipment cheaper.

---

Request for Question Clarification by smudgy-ga on 25 Jun 2004 17:27 PDT

Hi sdchap,

Since it'd be hard to get an absolutely definitive "lowest possible
price" for moving your range, I'm wondering what your opinion is on
the numbers I've received so far. That way I can at least get a sense
of whether you think these prices are reasonable for your needs.
(Ideally a concrete line would be best -- "If you can get a quote
below $N, then it would be worth my $50," but I understand that you
want to get the best deal possible....)

In any case, the low quote that I have received so far is just under
$250. What are your feelings on that kind of price range? Again, I
will continue to look for lower quotes, but I wanted to get a feeling
for what kind of territory we're in with this number.

Thanks,
smudgy.

---

Clarification of Question by sdchap-ga on 25 Jun 2004 18:59 PDT

Smudgy,
Thanks for your request for clarification. (Point well taken.)
Assuming that the $250 bid you received is a valid door-to-door bid,
that's already worth my $50. I wonder if you could ask if they need
the range crated (it isn't yet), or if they can help in packing it
themselves. Thank you,
Steve

---

Request for Question Clarification by smudgy-ga on 25 Jun 2004 19:26 PDT

Hi Steve,
The quotes I have been asking for assume a crated item being shipped
from street level driveway to street level driveway. (It also assumes
that, with the stove at 530 lbs., a lift-gated truck would be a
necessity.) I imagine that the shipping company could possibly do the
crating themselves, though I have no idea what the crating fee would
be like. I'll try to find out.

I'd personally like to hold out until Monday before posting an answer,
because I'm waiting on a few more bids to come in. If you want me to
post the information I have so far, I can, but I'd like to make sure
you get a five-star solution to your problem.

-smudgy.

---

Request for Question Clarification by smudgy-ga on 29 Jun 2004 05:48 PDT

Hi again Steve,

It's Tuesday morning and the leading quote is still the $250 one.
Also, I checked with a few shippers and it is broadly the case that
shippers will not crate (there are separate crating services
available, but my sense is that this would not be cost-effective).

Would you like me to post the information I have found as an answer?

Thanks,
smudgy.

---

Clarification of Question by sdchap-ga on 29 Jun 2004 08:58 PDT

Hi Smudgy,
Yes, please post the information regarding the $250 quote. Perhaps you
can also ask them if they're capable of shipping the item without a
crate (perhaps with some additional TLC), for perhaps a little more
money. Or, alternatively, if they have any local suggestions for
crating.
Thanks!
Steve

---

Request for Question Clarification by smudgy-ga on 06 Jul 2004 08:03 PDT

Hi Steve,

I'm still working on your question; sorry for the delay. I've been
trying to find some crating quotes for you but the quotes are
surprisingly hard to come by. I've called a few Houston-area craters
and I'm waiting on quotes from them.

If I don't get some good information on crating shortly, I will just
post the information I've found so far as a comment so that it will at
least be available to you.

-smudgy.

Hi Steve,

I hope you find the following answer satisfactory. If not, please
request a clarification before rating and I will do some more digging
for you.

I apologize again for the delay in getting this information to you. I
have only been able to get a very quotes for crating; either the
services never got back to me with quotes or they didn't do on-site
crating. That being said, I have a few very promising quotes for
shipping, with which I think you will be pleased.

The first set of quotes I received was from Sonya at freightquote.com.
Freightquote.com is a service that forwards your shipping needs to
many shippers, and returns the best quotes to you.

The assumptions I made were:

Item: kitchen range, crated
Shipping weight: 530lbs
Crated size: 40"x60"x60"
Shipping from zip 77422 to zip 92135
Liftgate service required
Residential pickup and delivery

Keep in mind these quotes may not match the quotes you receive, since
there may be information that I did not have which is relevant to cost
calculations, and since the quotes were not associated with a specific
customer account they could not be saved.

Sonya quoted me the following rates: USF BESTWAY: $244.94; ROADWAY:
$254.25; SAIA: $262.69.

Sonya assumed a freight class of 85 for this item, assuming it would
be crated. Based strictly on the weight and dimensions, this item has
a freight class of 100. (The higher the freight class, the more it
costs to ship, in general (but see below)). It seems that the freight
class can vary depending on what type of packaging the item is in; if
the stove were, say, palletized and wrapped (which might be easier for
you to do at home), the freight class might go up.

Here is Sonya's contact info at freightquote.com: Sonya Jackson,
sjackson@freightquote.com, (800) 323-5441 x1684. Please let her know
that "Smudgy" referred you to her.

Freight101.com, like freightquote.com, sends your shipping information
to several shippers in the hopes of finding you the best quote. At
freight101.com, I used their "instant quote calculator" to get the
following quotes: $218.26, $242.81, and higher (one shipper quoted a
price of over $1000). Again, this is assuming a liftgate will be
necessary; without liftgate service, some of these quotes drop to
under $200, though I would assume a liftgate is necessary to load a
500lb box onto a truck. (These quotes did not change significantly
whether I used freight class 85 or freight class 100.) The stated
transit time for these quotes was 3 days.

As for professional crating, it seems to be prohibitively expensive. I
received two quotes for crating, one on-site, and one combined with a
shipping quote. The combined crating/shipping quote, from Craters and
Freighters in Houston (888-495-SHIP), was over $1000 for a boxed
shipment and nearly $1500 for a crated shipment. This included a $300
pickup fee for picking up the item at the residence.

The quote I received for crating alone, from Danny Szell at EDC Movers
(dszell@edc-mover.com), was $680, which seems a bit excessive.
However, Danny did say: "I can even ship this item without a crate. We
have been doing pad wrap service since 1890.  Your cost for pick up,
transportation and residential delivery ( which is no extra charge )
would be $522.03 total." This option may be worth considering,
depending on how much time and money it would cost you to crate your
range yourself.

If I get any late-breaking quotes for crating or shipping, I will
append them to this answer. Meanwhile, I hope you find this answer
satisfactory. Again, if you have any questions, please request a
clarification before rating and I will do my best to make things
clearer.

Good luck,
smudgy.

---

Clarification of Answer by smudgy-ga on 08 Jul 2004 07:11 PDT

Hi Steve:

I forgot to include my search strategy.

Search Strategy, shipping:
Google search for <freight shipping quote>, <residential shipping>
<discount shipping quote>
Many phone calls and e-mails.

Search strategy, crating:
Google search for <on-site crating houston> <crating houston>
Many phone calls and e-mails.

Have you tried putting an ad in your local paper's WantAds? If you
were to pay someone's gas bill from Tex to CA I'd bet "they" would
jump at the chance.  All they would need is a truck or rent a Uhaul
OneWay trailer they could put on the back of their car or truck.