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What is the cheapest way to send a PC coast to coast??
- Thread starter Kaieye
- Start date
In the orginal boxes if at all possible. Of course, if it's self-built you won't have one of those nice heavy boxes with the molded styrafoam for the CPU, but you may have one for the monitor.
The suggestion to ship the drives seperately is probably a good one, as is taking off a heavy, clip-type heatsink.
When you pack the CPU, you want to arrange packing material to transfer any loads around the computer case, instead of through it as much as possible. What I mean here is that if something heavy gets stacked on your box, the packing supports it instead of the computer.
And, IMHO, do anything possible to avoid shipping it via UPS. Every package I get through them is damaged to some degree (the packaging, not neccesarily the contents), and I've had one that was literally driven over (you could see the tire marks).
The suggestion to ship the drives seperately is probably a good one, as is taking off a heavy, clip-type heatsink.
When you pack the CPU, you want to arrange packing material to transfer any loads around the computer case, instead of through it as much as possible. What I mean here is that if something heavy gets stacked on your box, the packing supports it instead of the computer.
And, IMHO, do anything possible to avoid shipping it via UPS. Every package I get through them is damaged to some degree (the packaging, not neccesarily the contents), and I've had one that was literally driven over (you could see the tire marks).
If you can guestimate the weight, all 3 have online shipping calculators. My guess would be USPS being cheapest. Edit: But I was wrong!
I calculated the cost to ship a 20 pound package from my house to my moms (1500 miles away) as an example and:
Fedex Ground (Home delivery) $8.82 (business delivery is $1 cheaper)
USPS parcel post $13.61 (ouch!)
UPS ground $11.91
Course insurance and all that costs more.
I calculated the cost to ship a 20 pound package from my house to my moms (1500 miles away) as an example and:
Fedex Ground (Home delivery) $8.82 (business delivery is $1 cheaper)
USPS parcel post $13.61 (ouch!)
UPS ground $11.91
Course insurance and all that costs more.
As I am the shipper for the company I work for, I can give you this bit of advice directly from our FedEx rep:
Make sure the package can withstand a 3 foot drop onto concrete. Usually damage wont occur from drivers, but from the time the package spends in the sorting facility. These facilities will be using a conveyor system to sort the packages and packages can fall off of the belts somewhat easily.
As you will be sending it by Ground more than likely, it should fair a bit better than if you were sending it by Air though.
Personally, I cringe when I have to send a PC across the country. The thought of it does not bode well on my mind. Basically though, get a heavy duty box a fair bit bigger than the computer, I would say about 2-3 inches on all sides and go nuts. Lots of bubble wrap and if you can get a hold of it, use dense packing foam. Make sure that the computer cannot move around at all inside the box. Even go so far as to over pack the box a tiny bit to make sure it is defintely secure. If you think that you are going a bit overboard on the packing, good. In this situation, it's better to have too much than not enough. 🙂
Make sure the package can withstand a 3 foot drop onto concrete. Usually damage wont occur from drivers, but from the time the package spends in the sorting facility. These facilities will be using a conveyor system to sort the packages and packages can fall off of the belts somewhat easily.
As you will be sending it by Ground more than likely, it should fair a bit better than if you were sending it by Air though.
Personally, I cringe when I have to send a PC across the country. The thought of it does not bode well on my mind. Basically though, get a heavy duty box a fair bit bigger than the computer, I would say about 2-3 inches on all sides and go nuts. Lots of bubble wrap and if you can get a hold of it, use dense packing foam. Make sure that the computer cannot move around at all inside the box. Even go so far as to over pack the box a tiny bit to make sure it is defintely secure. If you think that you are going a bit overboard on the packing, good. In this situation, it's better to have too much than not enough. 🙂
I think FedEx Ground is your best bet. To be honest though, you can not ship a computer safely across country without spending a good sum on packing materials (tape, box, peantues/foam/bubble wrap).
Good luck, also take picture of the packaging and box before you ship and buy insurance. They are picky unless you have very solid evidence in the case it is damaged.
Good luck, also take picture of the packaging and box before you ship and buy insurance. They are picky unless you have very solid evidence in the case it is damaged.
FEDEX ground shold be the way to go, they're cheaper and they seem to take good care of your packages. If you don't have the original boxes with the styrofoam, just get a box that ahs at least 6 inches on all sides of the PC. Remove heatsink/fans, they come off easy (unless you have the type that you bolt on like an Alpha 8045). If this is not possible, open the case and put some foam on top of the HSF so when you close the case, it pushes down on the foam and supports the HSF from wiggiling around.
I'm a purchasing agent at a manufacturer. Yesterday we got a mailer from a vendor asking if we would accept our shipments from them (usually UPS) by FEDEX Ground as there was an impending strike at UPS. I haven't heard about it elsewhere but there may be a contract coming up for negotiation that could present problems with UPS shipments. Anyone else heard of this?
SteelCityFan
Senior member
Maybe contact a PC store and ask about a box / packing materials for that type of case? Then you would get a box etc that is made for that case... then you could double box that for extra security.