Anybody ever ship furniture that they've built?

John Pollman

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1,332
Location
Rochester Hills, MI
Hi folks,
I hope things are going well with you and yours. Things aren't so great for me lately. The health issues are continuing to cause me problems and it's becoming abundantly clear that I may end up having to give up working in the trades sooner than later. I'm seeing my neurologist in the morning because I have some questions for him that I need answered.

Anyway, I'm in the middle of having to figure out what I'm going to do for an income. A few months ago I decided to try top get a shop set up and working. I've created a few pieces, but only sold three or four so far. I've got some more pieces done, but they're just sitting here waiting for a new home. The problems is that they're larger pieces like blanket chests and a hall bench that I built. I've been considering Etsy which could be a good thing, but shipping is an issue. It would probably cost quite a bit to ship them. Even if I could get the cost reasonable, I'm wondering how I'd be able to package them for shipping.

Last night I had an idea. It would be hard to find corrugated boxes big enough for the chest. They're roughly 42"L x 18"D x 21"H. I'm wondering if I could possibly build my own crates. Maybe using old pallet wood (which are abundantly available around here for free), and maybe luan or thin OSB or something like that. I could probably put something together pretty reasonably and make a container that would do the job just fine.

I haven't checked yet, but I know that UPS, FedEx, etc. have size and weight restrictions. So I may have to find some kind of motor freight carrier. But that may get really expensive. So, have any of you here shipped packages in the range of size I described? If so, how did it go?

Thanks so much in advance for any input. Right now I'm stressing out pretty badly wondering what I'm going to do for an income if I have to quit the trades in the near future.

Take care!
 
John back when I had my shop I shipped all over the country I used a trucking co and palatalized my product (Benches and Que Racks) I could ship up to 200lbs for about $65.00 back then (before the big fuel rise) I found a carrier I liked and just agreed to use only them and the rates dropped big time over just going in and shipping on anyone. Might check a few of them out and get quotes make sure you tell them you will contract with them.
 
Thanks Jay!

I just checked UPS, and based on 60 lb package the rate from my home which is just north of Deroit to LA was like $135. The chest itself weighs about 48 lbs so I figured 10-12 lbs for container. I may try to build a container that would hold the chest and see what happens. I may contact some trucking or freight companies near me and see what they have to say. If I could get the shipping reasonably priced, I would probably start creating these and selling them on Etsy. I'm sure it would be MUCH better than CL. ;)

=
 
john check out freightcenter .com for some pricing.. they like to have a dock to work from though usually for better pricing.. R&R carries seem to be the best price normally.. and skids add up in weight to.. i shipped a cedar chest in a plywood box to Washington state and it weighed twice what the original piece did.. dont remember the cost anymore but get insurance to cover your costs
 
1.Would shipping be less expensive and a lot less troublesome if you could ship products broken down?
2. would you consider building things like chests that could be knocked down and assembled by customer, nothing too confusing?
 
John, I don't know how competitive your pricing is, but with so many online & distance retail purchases requiring S&H, would it be possible for you to simply charge extra (actual cost to you) for S&H to reflect the "Handling' effort on your part to prepare for shipping? To me the "apparent" S&H cost is generally perceived by many as the "postage" cost that appears on the shipping label on the container. Many don't realize the true cost of shipping which includes the prep for ship time, labor & materials incurred by the seller. Large factories with automated shipping that utilize the cost efficiencies of scale & can prep for ship cheaper than small, single owner shops. Your shipping costs may be higher than others, but that should be factored into your pricing.
 
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Thanks for all the input guys.

I talked to my brother for a while today. He ships a lot of larger items like bikes and such that he buys and sells on ebay. He too mentioned making them in a knock down form that the customer could easily assemble. But I've pretty much got Jay's view on that. If I went that route, the quality and overall craftsmanship goes right out the window. They could go to IKEA and get stuff a lot cheaper.

I don't know what I'm going to do. Right now I'm just under a lot of stress because of my health situation. I've known since diagnosis, that a wheel chair was a possibility down the road at some time. But in the last week I've gotten some information that makes it look like a chair is more of a probability than a possibility. Right now I'm terrified and I'm trying to keep it together as best I can. Sometimes just bouncing ideas off of people helps me keep my mind occupied and off what may be coming down the road. I have an appointment with my neurologist in the morning that I'm not really looking forward to. But it's a necessary evil.

Thanks again for the input and listening guys!
 
John,
If you have access to a source of 4 ply corrugated board (cardboard), at one of the companies I worked for we created corrugated boxes for some of the products we were shipping.... you could create or if you have access to a pallet company, buy pallets the size you need, then cut the cardboard to size and use 2x2's or even 1x1's at the corners and around the edges of the board to create you own crates.... just be careful that you don't have the cardboard rubbing against you nice piece of furniture... it acts just like sand paper and will rub the finish off (past experience speaking - I also spent some time working for a furniture moving company and we always padded the furniture inside the cardboard.

We used a slap stapler to pin the cardboard sheets to the staves we used around the outside edges and then used plastic strapping to secure the boxes to the pallets and secure the cartons.

You can check on line for a source of the corrugated board... I would definitely suggest at least 3 or 4 ply for the strength... you might also check with your local freight forwarding companies... likely would be your best bet for door to door delivery...
 
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