Busing to Calgary, AB for an enlarger

[Daniel Stone]

Hey all,

I'm seriously considering busing(Greyhound) up to Calgary, AB to pickup the Durst 1200 that Hans is selling here in the forum.

http://www.largeformatphotography.in...ighlight=durst

After talking with him last night, and seeing some photos of it, I'm very, very tempted.

Does anyone have any experience with doing int'l(since USA-->CA) travel via bus? I was planning on building a crate at home, to hold the disassembled colum, head, femobox(es), etc. I would travel up with it, clothes,etc packed inside(its about a 2.5 day trip each way), and have the enlarger inside, padded with the extra clothing,blanket(s),etc.. coming home. And the base would be packaged separately. I'd be coming home with it in the bus's hold.

any other ideas? Its looking like around $400 round trip via bus, not including a possible overnight stay at a motel if I couldn't get on a bus the day of packing up...

thanks

Dan

p.s. flying would probably be out of the question, as the "oversized"/too heavy rules would push me over $$$-wise, not to mention losing sight of it(vs seeing it get loaded/helping load) on a bus.

[Daniel Stone]

also, what chance is there of any fees/taxes on it, since it would be purchased in Canada? Would I need to have some sort of written invoice/receipt for customs coming back into the usa?

-Dan

[Scott Walker]

Building a box in CA to fit might be problematic without exact dimensions. If you do decide to come up here you are welcome to use my shop to build a box. I have all the necessary power tools, saws, air nailers etc needed and more than enough spare lumber and plywood laying around that you would not have to buy anything or pay to ship the empty box up here with you. Pretty sure it wouldn't take more than a couple of hours to build.

[Tony Evans]

Commercial ground shipping might be cheaper than round trip + hotel.

[Daniel Stone]

Tony,

the seller has stated he's not interested in boxing/crating it up for shipping. So I'd have to do it, or pay someone up there in CA to do it for me, not to mention their time. I think a workman is worthy of his hire(time) at least!

-Dan

EDIT: but after just looking at the UPS website, ground shipping would probably be around $250 USD or so, fully insured...

[jeaninfo]

Dan

Perhaps you contact a moving corporation in Calgary that could provide the boxing and crating required for the equipment. The moving corp could provide you with an etimate and then send the kit to you.

Jean

[sanchi heuser]

Driving with a bus can be very exhausting, it's around 1550 miles one way.

I'd better let it ship.
Once it is packed safely in a crate or on a pallet, every
good forwarding company can transport it without a problem.
A single crate or pallet will not cost too much,
especially when the weight isn't too much.

But beware:
Check out which forwarding companies treat their freight carefully.
It does not count what the people on the phone will tell you,
the workers in the magazine and on the road bring it safely to your door or ruin it.
I've seen here in Europe companies, don't know how they do it in North America,
where workers handle the load very rough,
some rookies stow it on the truck without knowing what they do,
drunken forklift drivers driving the fork into the boxes, truck drivers that drive like an orang-utan etc.
And other companies have good staff !

Edit:
UPS is very good, maybe they also do the packaging or have a reliable contractor for it.

[Steve Smith]

Driving with a bus can be very exhausting, it's around 1550 miles one way.

It's even more exhausting without the bus!

Is it possible to get someone local to the seller to pack and ship it?

I know the distances involved are shorter over here in the UK but sometimes here, it's possible to find a transport company doing a return trip empty or relatively empty. These transport companies hate running empty and would rather take on something to offset the cost of the return trip. I expect the same is true in the US and Canada.


Steve.

[Daniel Stone]

I'm talking with someone about possibly picking it up, disassembling and crating/packing it for me, of course for a fee . $400+ or so for Greyhound roundtrip, and around $250 or so via UPS Ground(not sure if that includes any taxes, if applicable)

UPS costs are for shipping only, crating and packing would be extra

-Dan

[r.e.]

If you go the UPS route, find out whether they intend to charge you brokerage fees and, if so, how much. I assume that UPS made its quote knowing the volume they'll be shipping, not just the weight, and that this is the bench model, not a stand-alone, the latter being huge.