2nd Day Air vs. Ground shipping?

[mele_aloha]

Hi Friends,
 
Does anybody know the cutoff weight limit that is allowed in air freight before it becomes manditory ground shipping? Or in my case by boat?
 
I'm just wondering if with my larger bass and the case and the plywood outer shell case if I  be cracking tilting the scales.
 
Do any of you have any knowledge in this area? Please?
 
Thank you, Pablo

[s_wood]

It's all a question of how much one is willing to pay.  Mica's theory, to which I wholeheartedly subscribe, is that it's always best to choose the shipping method that has the bass in the shipper's hands for the shortest possible time, as that means they have less of an opportunity to do something wrong!

[mele_aloha]

Thanks s wood but I need to word it another way,
 
I am out in the ocean first of all so if I can't get it by air then it has to be by boat. But my original point is that UPS and FedEx has a weight handling limit, or I should say do these carriers have a weight or size limit in which an item can go by air?  
 
I am not concerned about price I just want to avoid ground or boat in my case as the boat will take up to 6 weeks if they have a size or weight limit by air.
 
Thanks again, Paul

[keith_h]

Paul,
I think your best bet is to call Fedex and UPS to see what they say. They both offer a wide range of shipping options but they all have a cost. You could also try their websites. You should be able to get the shipping weight and dimensions from Alembic.  
 
Keith

[cozmik_cowboy]

Check DHL as well - my wife used to work for them, and one day brought home a promotional thing showing how they moved a live Bengal tiger air freight.  I'm thinking if they could do that, they would handle something the size of a bass.
 
Peter

[tbrannon]

Paul,
 
When I bought my bass from club member Charles (Crgaston)we used FedEx to get it to NZ.  
 
The bass + cardboard box was over the size limit for USPS.  FedEx and UPS didn't seem to have any problems with it size wise for international shipping- I doubt it would be any different for a trip to the Islands.  That may all go out the window if you are getting the big wooden crate however.  I'd be surprised if they didn't post their shipping weight/size restrictions on their websites somewhere.
 
EDIT: come to think of it- you could probably email Charles (email is in his profile) and ask him who brought his and if it was air or ground- he's pretty quick replying to email.  
 
(Message edited by tbrannon on October 09, 2007)

[crgaston]

Hi guys,
 
The Dragonfly came by UPS next-day air. It took around 17 hours to get from Santa Rosa to Roberta, GA.   It was in the Big Wooden Crate...there's a picture of it in the It's Here thread from a few months ago.  I figured after the expense of a custom Series II, it was a little silly to try to save bucks on shipping.  
 
My guess is that they won't have a problem shipping it to you by air.
 
Happy Waiting,
 
Charles

[jacko]

My most recent MK deluxe came to scotland by UPS. Took 2 days from the mothership to my door, mostly by air.
The only hold up came when the delivery guy wouldn't take it off the van until I'd confirmed I was expecting to pay over ?600 customs duty.
 
Graeme.

[longhorncat]

Size will be your biggest concern, not weight.  Go to the shipper's web site and look at their size restrictions for each class of service.  USPS just revised these for international shipping.

[flaxattack]

one thing i can tell you about ups,. once they see insurance of say 10,000, they dont want it sitting around in their system. its marked internally,
when i shipped direwolf back to the factory, it was there is 12 hrs from ct.
i think i had bought 2 day service.