Looking for suggestions to ship a complete one piece floor pan from California to Chicago. Anyone have any suggestions other than U Ship. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks CO.

 

Richard aka Gearheads78 here on CO does shipping.

 

Shippers are the WORST...
Just be prepared for several delays, picking up, in transit and dropping off. Will test your patience for sure.

 

I used a UShipper to move two lots of parts (bulky sheetmetal) two years ago. He saved two sales that otherwise wouldn't have happened. There is no alternative left, for something your size, other than a hotshot (if you can find one) or ponying up for Truck freight.

 

Fastenal?

 

Fastenal is not everywhere. An individual location can "opt" out. It is in the fine print, on their website. The one here has never participated in third party shipping. I cannot say I entirely blame them, with the inevitable problems that will arise. This might be a good option for the OP, though, if he can use them.

 

I worked in trucking for many years. Smaller independent trucking companies used to be a good option for things like this. Trucking isn't what it used to be though. That is a very common lane. Might be worth looking up trucking companies in your area. One thing to keep in mind is that is a very large bulky piece for a trucking company.

 

Do you know anyone who works in a warehouse? I shipped an axle and driveshaft from middle of nowhere OH to Chicago at cost of a minimum charge ($110 I believe).

 

Fastenal will only ship w/in the same Zone e.g. West Zone or East Zone. They will NOT ship from one Zone to another Zone.

 

I don't know about now but 5 years ago Fastenal didn't service CA with 3PL at all

 

I used an expediter, IMOK , small group of people that worked with and found independent truckers that needed loads back to where they came from, (took a load 1 way), can't remember the trucking lingo for it !

 

*backhaul. I almost backhauled a car from Cleveland with one of our trucks here at work, but I wasn't sure how I was going to get it unloaded..ha! Even then, that wouldn't have fixed my "don't have a car trailer" problem.

Plenty of freight I would assume move from California to Chicago, its the physical location that'd be an issue. The LTL carriers I deal with on the day-to-day basis have upcharges for both residential deliveries, liftgate required deliveries, and some even charge a small if if they need to call to be unloaded. I've got a set of control arms sitting here that I could probably put on a pallet and it cost the same as it would going parcel service (UPS/FedEx/USPS), however the cost would jump exponentially due to those extra requirements that the parcel services don't need.