FedEx or UPS

Howzit everyone! What’s everybodys favorite or preferred way shipping surfboards? I’ll be shipping a board for the first time to California from Hawaii. It seems to be about $100 for UPS or FedEx. Ground. (Six foot board w/ glass on fins) Are there any other alternative methods to ship to a residence? Mahalo! Jimmy

I’ve shipped via FedEx several times and been very happy with it. Try to use someones corp acct because they get big discounts. UPS may be good, but they have more restrictive dimensions on what they willl ship.

http://www.swaylocks.com/forum/gforum.cgi?post=195196;search_string=Shipping%20a%20board%20to%20the%20east;#195196

Jimmy if you go FedX box it up good I get boards from Hawaii and I fix rail shatters from the fork lifts all the time.And these are packed with bubble rap and foam pipe insulation on the rails in clark foam boxes and they still smackum up.

Make sure that you have reciepts for the boards that you are going to ship if you use fedex. If the boards are old, have the shaper rewrite you a reciept or something if you can…reason being, over the holidays I shipped two boards via fed ex, i went way overboard and bubble wrapped them with 75 sq ft of bubble wrap, and both were broken. Not chipped or dinged, we are talking cracked completely in half. I had insured them, but because I was the shaper I didn’t have purchase reciepts. I tried to show material costs, etc., but to make a long story shory I was refunded $40 for each board, and I didn’t even get the shipping cost back. I ended up down about $120 and 2 new surfboards. 2 months later, I am still fighting with them…Good luck, and just make sure and cover yourself no matter what shipper you use.

Also a really good idea to take pictures of the before, during and after of the packing process. I have a friend in the cargo insurance business and he highly recommended this.

Check into DHL or Pilot Air Freight.

Hey thank you everybody for your help! I really appreciate it since it is the first time that I’m shipping a surfboard to the mainland. The board is being professionally packed as I write this. It is vintage so I don’t have any recipts for the board. I’m not positive on who I am going with yet for a shipping service. So hopefully I’ll see someone I know when I go down there because when I type in the box dimensions online, the cost to ship comes out to $100+. Again Mahalo for all your help! Jimmy

ive worked for ups for 14 years, i love my job, but i sure as hell would never, never ship a surfboard through our system, something as big and fragile as a surfboard is called a “e-reg” or short for eregular- i once saw one of those kite boards made with " bic" type construction TOTALY destroyed and it was packed well, and kite boards are tougher than hell, atleast 10 times stronger than one of my sticks- and you can forget about a longboard, way too big, the combined circumfrence= the lenth must be less then 132 inches, we uped it to 156 inches for special customers like pottery barn. buy plenty of insurance, its cheap, and will cover you ass, trust me you will be needing it! our trucks dont leave the center untill they are crammed full by some iner city type idiot whos placed your package under 500 heavy ass boxes on top of it.dont be cheap and use a specialized air cargo company, iv’e heard good things about delta air lines “delta-dash?”

I just shipped a longboard UPS freight and it is really cheap.

You have to go to a " UPS STORE"’ cause if you go to a UPS “Center” the UPS guys will look at you cross eyed and say " UPS HAS A FREIGHT SERVICE?"

I shipped a 9’1 longboard in a 9’6 Santa Monica Surfcase, Put 1/8" closed cell foam on the rails, nose and tail. 55lbs, 9’6 long and it was just $130, P.A., Washington to Colorado Springs. Guy got it without a ding. I tell any customer that wants a board shipped to make the extra investment in one of those hard cases… bombproof… spendy , but worth it.

I will Ship UPS Freight again… search online for UPS Freight solutions, LTL ( less than truckload) enter dimensions and it wil give you a rough price idea… I don’t know if you can UPS freight Hawaii to Cali though… Think like an asshole who throws boxes for a living when you pack a board… bubble wrap and cardboard just doesn’t do it… ever see an airline baggage handler load a board into an airplane???

Thanks again for all your replies and help! I went with FedEx Ground which came to a little over $100 with insurance. I really hope the surfboard arrives safely. I’ll update later when the board arrives in California. Mahalo, Jimmy

I just thought that I would add my voice for the UPS option. Whenever they deliver packages they always seem to be more professional.

i have had good luck with DHL… they are the “new guys” and really seem to put in the extra effort…