Shipping options for a Tire Cover???

[Teejeaux]

I went to try and ship out a Tire Cover for a guy that bought mine that's been sitting in my garage. They wanted $46.00 for the shipping, and $20 for the box if I had them pack it! Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to ship something like this cheaply? It's really light, so I thought it would be cheap, but I was obviously wrong!

Thanks!
Teejeaux

[coastiebilly]

You must have gone to UPS store. I sold some step rails and ran into the same problem. I didn't get a shipping quote and figured it can't be more than 50 bucks or so. I just made a box out of 3 boxes and had ups store add packing peanuts. You might not need the peanuts, but go to Wal-mart or Target and see if they have any left over boxes for end tables or what not. Then just cover it in some brown paper and take it to a fed-ex or Ups store like that. The UPS store is sometimes out of their mind for shipping costs. I think they wanted like 90 bucks to ship my bars and when I was done building my box project it was like 45 bucks. Just go to Wal-mart or Target or any other retail store for that matter and grab a box or some boxes.

[Teejeaux]

coastiebilly previously said:

You must have gone to UPS store. I sold some step rails and ran into the same problem. I didn't get a shipping quote and figured it can't be more than 50 bucks or so. I just made a box out of 3 boxes and had ups store add packing peanuts. You might not need the peanuts, but go to Wal-mart or Target and see if they have any left over boxes for end tables or what not. Then just cover it in some brown paper and take it to a fed-ex or Ups store like that. The UPS store is sometimes out of their mind for shipping costs. I think they wanted like 90 bucks to ship my bars and when I was done building my box project it was like 45 bucks. Just go to Wal-mart or Target or any other retail store for that matter and grab a box or some boxes.

Yeah, I told him I could just buy the boxes and make one myself, and he said that if I did that, it was $46 to ship it. It weighs like two pounds! How could that cost $50 just to ship? But you're right, it was a UPS store. I'll try FedEx or something once I get it packed up.

[GTKrockeTT]

it costs that much because it is an over-sized item. you can't fold the cover in any way without mutilating it, hence the price. as far as the packaging, get a decent sized box, so that when you fold it (the box) completely flat, it's length/width will house the diameter of the tire cover. stick the cover in, compress it as much as possible, and tape off all the open edges.

[Teejeaux]

GTKrockeTT previously said:

it costs that much because it is an over-sized item. you can't fold the cover in any way without mutilating it, hence the price. as far as the packaging, get a decent sized box, so that when you fold it (the box) completely flat, it's length/width will house the diameter of the tire cover. stick the cover in, compress it as much as possible, and tape off all the open edges.

Yeah, I'm not too worried about the actual packing, it's the cost of the shipping I'm worried about. I don't think the guy that bought it wants to pay that much for shipping..

[GTKrockeTT]

yeah, unfortunately that's how much it's going to run. i should have just given mine away for free locally, instead of dealing with the hassle of selling it and shipping it. ended up essentially breaking even at the expensive of added karma and goodwill.

[Axe]

I recently sold mine on Ebay and shipped it for less than $25 Fed Ex. The USPO wanted $51!
All I did was get a large box, break apart the flaps, slide the cover in and flatten the box to the contours of the cover. Then I cut 2 cardboard strips, and sealed the top and bottom with tape. The whole thing was protected that way, and as thin as possible.

That was one of those U-Ship It type of outfits too, so even with their cut, less than $25.