Shipping woes

[model 10]

I shopped hard for a good deal on chain. Made the deal and arranged for shipping to Guatemala. Ocean freight is by the pound or size whichever is more. I planned for them to ship the chain in a small cardboard barrel so the cost would be by weight, about .50 per pound, about $125. Instead they shipped 250' of 5/16 G-4 in a big plastic 55gal drum, about $550 in freight charges.
It's like everybody is in cahoots. Now the chain has cost more than it would have in Guatemala in the first place.

[JPA Cate]

Hey, Guy,

The cardboard would not be strong enough to contain the chain.

Nobody's in cahoots, i don't think. I am sorry that this is not what you want to hear, but it's time for a reality check: it is that what you planned, the cardboard, was impractical. If it got wet, they'd have the 250 ft. of 5/16 G-4 all over the place. It would be irresponsible of the shipper to ship it in cardboard. Did you tell them in writing what you wanted? ....and what was their response?

Ann

[model 10]

Ann, It was shipped in a container, doubt it would get very wet. I heard the part about a barrel but not how big it was going to be. I'm the fool for not asking how big a barrel.

[Reefmagnet]

They may have "cubed" the weight anyway. Many freight co's will only allow so much mass per cubic volume which effectively means that once an item becomes heavy enough in relation to the physical packaging volume, its actual shipping volume becomes irrelevant and you are charged effectively on the basis of weight (converted to a volume based on the freight co's cube weights).

This perhaps explains why the shipper didn't really care that they stuck it in a big container.

[senormechanico]

I once shipped a car from Hawaii. Being a small sports car, I thought it would be cheap because it was very light, but I found out Matson Shipping charged by the square foot of deck space necessary.

[captain58sailin]

The cubed weight factor usually involves high volume, low density items like Styrofoam, it is not usually used for high density items like chain.

[Reefmagnet]

Originally Posted by captain58sailin

The cubed weight factor usually involves high volume, low density items like Styrofoam, it is not usually used for high density items like chain.

No. It's the exact opposite. For example, a 1m3 box of ping pong balls will be charged 1m3 rates by volume. a 1m3 container of water will be charged as 2m3 volume if the cube rate is 500 kg/m3.

[captain58sailin]

Funny things have changed, we always used the cube weight for low density items when calculating freight charges.

[Reefmagnet]

I suppose there may still be some that charge by mass and penalise lightweight parcels but afaik nowadays most all charge by dimensions and penalise heavy items. Either way they ensure they get two bites of the cherry, that's for sure.

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