Thread: What's the best way to ship large props?

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Can someone who has experience shipping large props tell me what shipping method is best/cheapest? I need to ship an animatronic & I have no experience in this area. The box will be approximately 3 ft. high x 2.5 ft. wide x 2.5 ft. deep & should weigh around 15-20 lb.

I just got a shipping quote to ship FedEx ground from my work. I had them check the price for shipping to 3 different locations across the country & the price range for each zip code was from $135-155, which seems really high to me.

How do people on ebay ship similar props for around $35? Should I be looking into shipping this a different way?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Yea, I think FedEx is always high.
I use UPS because I have one of those UPS Stores close by. I even ship a lot of stuff to Canada and they are pretty reasonable.
Just try and make it fit into the smallest box you can, without risking damage to the item.

The basic problem is the size of the box, which works out to 36x30x30. What that does is bump the effective weight way up. I don't sell large items on ebay any longer for that reason. The USPS site says they won't even take a box that big, while UPS wants $250 to go from one corner of the country to the other according to my calculations. That does seem ridiculously high.

The best thing to do would be to figure out a way to disassemble the item as much as possible to make the box smaller. You would be surprised at how drastically some things can be broken down when it means saving $100. That is one big box.

Yep, the smallest & lightest box you can get it in is the best way to go & yes, Fed Ex is a little more expensive.

I found this out the hard way when I went to mail a box for something I can't talk about here. lol Anyway, I took it to one of those mail stores first. Big mistake. The cheapest I could get was over $60 to ship. I brought it back home to try to get it all in a smaller box. I didn't want to do this because I had decorated the box. My husband told me to go to the USPS. I was able to ship it ground, with delivery confirmation for $13.

I just shipped 8 boxes 2,000 miles with the post office and some of them were very big. They didn't refuse any and I shipped them as slowly as possible for the cheapest rate. Oversized boxes do get an extra fee tacked on, but I honestly don't think they will not ship a box based on it's size. It was the cheapest way for me to go and some of them were heavy as well.

Thanks everyone. I think I'll get a quote from the post office. Unfortunately, I won't be able to get the prop in a box that is much smaller than my original measurements listed above.

If you know anyone who works at a company where they ship stuff all the time, and they're on good terms with their bosses, you may be able to have them ship it out under their UPS account which will be cheaper than what you can get on your own. Just be aware that it will have to go out under the company name (add a c/o to the second name field).

I always UPS. It takes longer because it's all by ground but it's saved me money. The smaller the box the less expensive it is. Last year for the secret reaper I spent more on shipping then the actuall iteam. Any good shipping company should give you a qoute.

Now here is an area I am experienced in. I have shipped everything from 42 inch blow molds to mannequins. USPS at parcel post can usually beat out UPS and FED EX however if you know the person you are shipping it to and they are willing to work with you for an odd shipping method then I suggest Greyhound. Most people dont know that Greyhound buses also ship packages and you mail it from the Greyhound Station. Its Called Greyhound Express and you can look it up on the Greyhound website. The package hops bus and train and heads to its destination. The only thing is they ship it for you to whatever the nearest station is to your buyer and your buyer picks it up there. You will need buyers name, nearest station and a phone number that Greyhound can call the buyer at to come get it when its in. I have shipped a full size 36lb mannequin from Washington to Chicago for 33.00 I believe. I have had 6 blow molds in one massive box shipped to me for 30.00 to 40.00 a box.

I hope this info helps and PM me if you need any more thoughts.