3 Mar
2001
3 Mar
'01
6:40 p.m.
I know a couple weeks back there was a thread where everybody took a turn
describing what horrors a particular shipper had committed to something
they sent. I didn't pay much attention to it then, but perhaps I should
have. At any rate, my question is somewhat different.
I've been collecting computers for only two years, but at the top of my
wish list has been to get a Wang 2200, one of the older models. It is the
machine I learned to program on, and it left a strong impression. My
coding style still suffers because of it. :-)
Well, I finally found somebody who will ship me one for the cost of
shipping. It is in Portland, OR, and I'm in San Jose, CA. The estimated
weight is 200-300 pounds including accessories and docs. [ The early
2200's had a power supply box, a suitcase-sized box that contained the TTL
CPU, then a separate keyboard/monitor. The setup I'm hoping to get also
has three external tape drives and a modified selectric as a printing device. ]
Because the guy who has it is essentially giving it away, I want to make it
as easy for him as possible, and at the same time I want to get it packed
really well because I don't want anything to happen to it. I guess I'm
afraid that he'd just put it in a cardboard box stuffed with newspapers.
A scan through the yellow pages under "Packaging Materials" and "Packaging
Services" showed quite a few people who package things for a price, but
I've never used one. Does anybody have any tips on how to choose
one? Should I insist on a wood crate, or foam-fill, or something else?
As another data point, I tried the rate estimator on FedEx and it wouldn't
accept a box that weighed 300 lbs. I tried 100 lbs and it said $50, which
seems quite reasonable to me. So as another data point, I'd have to split
the lot into two or three crates in order to send it.
Thanks for any experience you can share.
-----
Jim Battle == frustum(a)pacbell.net
4 Mar
4 Mar
1:46 a.m.
Ummm... lessee... You're in San Jose; the Box is in Portland.
Having some small experience shipping Big (and Medium) Iron all over the
world, and having gone thru exactly what you're facing , I have a small
suggestion.
Not knowing anything about your situation/schedules/resources.. would
you consider renting a nice Budget Cargo Van or Ryder lift-gate truck, and
making a weekend drive of it? I personally have driven from Seattle to
Los Angeles with a vanload of PDP Stuff (Thanks again, Bruce!) in about 16
hours... because it was Sunday and I had to work the next day.
San Jose to Portland is about 400? 500? miles right up the 5.. make
a pleasant roadtrip of it, and only pay for the rental and gas.
The big expense I have found in shipping via LTL and package services is
that; if it isn't packed right, you get parts and junk at the other end...
a legacy system is not generally insurable, and if it's heavy, you will
have to deal with offloading it on your end.. if it shows up on the back
of a bobtail, on a pallet, and you've got no forklift or loading dock...
d'oh! Most of the time the driver won't want to do much lifting, and if
your stop is scheduled in the beginning or middle of the run, he or she
isn't going to be much inclined to wait while you try and figure out the
logistics.
Just my 2 bits -> 11
Cheers
John
1:10 p.m.
On Sat, 3 Mar 2001, Jim Battle wrote:
I know a couple weeks back there was a thread where
everybody took a turn
describing what horrors a particular shipper had committed to something
they sent. I didn't pay much attention to it then, but perhaps I should
have. At any rate, my question is somewhat different.
I've been collecting computers for only two years, but at the top of my
wish list has been to get a Wang 2200, one of the older models. It is the
machine I learned to program on, and it left a strong impression. My
coding style still suffers because of it. :-)
Well, I finally found somebody who will ship me one for the cost of
shipping. It is in Portland, OR, and I'm in San Jose, CA. The estimated
weight is 200-300 pounds including accessories and docs. [ The early
2200's had a power supply box, a suitcase-sized box that contained the TTL
CPU, then a separate keyboard/monitor. The setup I'm hoping to get also
has three external tape drives and a modified selectric as a printing device. ]
Because the guy who has it is essentially giving it away, I want to make it
as easy for him as possible, and at the same time I want to get it packed
really well because I don't want anything to happen to it. I guess I'm
afraid that he'd just put it in a cardboard box stuffed with newspapers.
A scan through the yellow pages under "Packaging Materials" and "Packaging
Services" showed quite a few people who package things for a price, but
I've never used one. Does anybody have any tips on how to choose
one? Should I insist on a wood crate, or foam-fill, or something else?
As another data point, I tried the rate estimator on FedEx and it wouldn't
accept a box that weighed 300 lbs. I tried 100 lbs and it said $50, which
seems quite reasonable to me. So as another data point, I'd have to split
the lot into two or three crates in order to send it.
Thanks for any experience you can share.
-----
Jim Battle == frustum(a)pacbell.net
Were I you, and in consideration of the costs of packing over and above
the costs of shipping, I would entertain the idea of begging, borrowing,
or renting a station wagon and driving up there to pick it up in person.
Portland is not that distant a drive, the roads are good and the scenery
delightful.
- don
5:12 p.m.
At 04:10 PM 3/4/01 -0800, Don Maslin wrote:
[ re: my need to ship a 300 lb computer from portland
OR to san jose, CA ]
Were I you, and in consideration of the costs of packing over and above
the costs of shipping, I would entertain the idea of begging, borrowing,
or renting a station wagon and driving up there to pick it up in person.
Portland is not that distant a drive, the roads are good and the scenery
delightful.
- don
Two years ago, no problem. Even my wife would have been game for it.
But now with two 18 month old toddlers, abandoning my wife for a weekend
or strapping the two kiddies in a car seat for 16 hours isn't an option.
Perhaps I should just wait a bit for a couple more quakes to bring the
two cities closer together.
-----
Jim Battle == frustum(a)pacbell.net
6:36 p.m.
Why not call a Moving Van. Mayflower, Allied, Bekins etc. The *know*
how to move computers and you could probably have it moved 'space
available' for less than it would cost to have it 'shipped.'
Jim
5 Mar
5 Mar
7:27 a.m.
New subject: Atten: Bruce Lane
Sorry for the bandwidth here. Bruce, I emailed you about Codex equipment but
the email just bounced back to me after 5 days.
4:05 p.m.
New subject: Atten: Bruce Lane
At 10:27 05-03-2001 -0800, Marvin (a-t) rain.org wrote:
Sorry for the bandwidth here. Bruce, I emailed you
about Codex equipment but
the email just bounced back to me after 5 days.
Hmm? Interesting...
Ok... my backup address is wd6eos (a-t) hamsnet.net. Could you send me the
bounce message there, and your reply, so I can figure out what went astray?
Thanks.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Bruce Lane, Owner and head honcho, Blue Feather Technologies
http://www.bluefeathertech.com // E-mail: kyrrin(a)bluefeathertech.com
Amateur Radio: WD6EOS since Dec. '77 (Extra class as of June-2K)
"I'll get a life when someone demonstrates to me that it would be
superior to what I have now..." (Gym Z. Quirk, aka Taki Kogoma).
7:24 p.m.
Jim et al,
I've used a "Blanket" or "wrapping" service offered by Allied to
move 2
PDP-11s from Canada to the Bay Area. The Allied agent on the Vancouver end
did a great job of packing the system and it arrived in excellent condition,
unfortunately the agent on this end was endlessly confused by that pesky
"customs thing". Using a wrapping service cost me about 4 times what I paid
for the systems. I thought about flying to Vancouver, loading the systems
into a U-Haul, and driving them to the Bay Area. However, we were expecting
a new baby, were moving into a new house, and we were in the middle of a
major SW release at work. So I just off-loaded the problem, and in
retrospect was the right, but expensive, thing to do.
If you have the time, I'd pick them up myself. Portland is not that far from
the Bay Area.
Lee Courtney
President
Monterey Software Group Inc.
1350 Pear Avenue, Suite J
Mountain View, California 94043-1302 U.S.A.
650-964-7052 voice
650-964-6735 fax
Advanced Authentication, Audit, and Access Control Tools and Consulting for
HP3000 Business Servers
http://www.editcorp.com/Businesses/MontereySoftware
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org
[mailto:owner-classiccmp@classiccmp.org]On Behalf Of Jim Battle
Sent: Saturday, March 03, 2001 9:40 PM
To: classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org
Subject: Packaging service recommendations?
I know a couple weeks back there was a thread where everybody took a turn
describing what horrors a particular shipper had committed to something
they sent. I didn't pay much attention to it then, but perhaps I should
have. At any rate, my question is somewhat different.
I've been collecting computers for only two years, but at the top of my
wish list has been to get a Wang 2200, one of the older models.
It is the
machine I learned to program on, and it left a strong impression. My
coding style still suffers because of it. :-)
Well, I finally found somebody who will ship me one for the cost of
shipping. It is in Portland, OR, and I'm in San Jose, CA. The estimated
weight is 200-300 pounds including accessories and docs. [ The early
2200's had a power supply box, a suitcase-sized box that
contained the TTL
CPU, then a separate keyboard/monitor. The setup I'm hoping to get also
has three external tape drives and a modified selectric as a
printing device. ]
Because the guy who has it is essentially giving it away, I want
to make it
as easy for him as possible, and at the same time I want to get it packed
really well because I don't want anything to happen to it. I guess I'm
afraid that he'd just put it in a cardboard box stuffed with newspapers.
A scan through the yellow pages under "Packaging Materials" and
"Packaging
Services" showed quite a few people who package things for a price, but
I've never used one. Does anybody have any tips on how to choose
one? Should I insist on a wood crate, or foam-fill, or something else?
As another data point, I tried the rate estimator on FedEx and it
wouldn't
accept a box that weighed 300 lbs. I tried 100 lbs and it said
$50, which
seems quite reasonable to me. So as another data point, I'd have
to split
the lot into two or three crates in order to send it.
Thanks for any experience you can share.
-----
Jim Battle == frustum(a)pacbell.net
8489
days inactive
8492
days old
7 comments
7 participants
participants (7)
-
donm＠cts.com -
frustum＠pacbell.net -
jpl15＠panix.com -
jrasite＠eoni.com -
kyrrin＠bluefeathertech.com -
leec＠slip.net -
marvin＠rain.org