Shipping antique computers

[Jules Richardson]

On 01/17/2015 11:18 AM, Mark J. Blair wrote:
> For palletized freight, I've used FreightQuote (a broker) a few times to
> ship larger computer purchases. Since I live on a rough, unpaved rural
> road, I specified that I'd pick up from the local terminal of whatever
> shipper I selected (based on price). I live fairly close to Ontario, CA,
> which is a major shipping hub, so I get lots of competitive quotes
> instead of being stuck with one trucking company with a local terminal.
> Very roughly, I've generally spent around $300 to move a pallet across
> the country.
>
> I haven't tried any "white glove" or "padded van" shippers yet. I
> learned of their existence back when I was contemplating getting a
> VAX-11/780. I ended up getting a nice, fits-on-two-pallets 11/730 system
> instead. :)

That's a big problem I've found with trying to work out how to ship the 
part of my collection that's still in the UK to the US - UK shippers seem 
to go extremely quiet when they find out that I live miles inland in the 
middle of nowhere; they can take on getting stuff to a sea port, but that 
doesn't really help when it's still more than a thousand miles from the 
desired destination.

I have a nasty feeling that I'll have to go with one of the "white glove" 
companies at many times the cost, just because they'll be the only ones who 
will handle the full journey. The other option would be to split it, 
dealing with one company for the overseas freight, another to get my stuff 
somewhere vaguely-close, then to hire a van and do the last few hundred 
miles myself - but even thinking about the logistics of that (such that 
stuff isn't sitting around for any length of time, which probably involves 
huge fines) gives me a headache!

cheers

Jules