Posts Tagged ‘shipping’
How Much Does Overnight Cost? A Large Amount!
If you have recently tried to overnight something that’s anywhere from 5 to 10lbs you would have realized the prices have really skyrocketed over the years. I have customers that want to overnight something ‘whatever the cost’ but I always make sure they know what that cost is, because typically when they hear it they decide to go another route.
For example, shipping a box of 10 barricade lights (a heavier version than a standard light, but still not a huge difference) overnight from Illinois to California was just quoted to me at $450. Yes, that’s almost $500 for 10 lights.
Some other examples – 5 solar barricade lights overnight-ed from California to Texas was $115. 16 lights from Texas to Montana was $244 and 5 small airport lights from California to Oklahoma was $99.
Now once we get into products that are a little less ‘box friendly’ with bigger dimensions and awkward shapes things start to really spike up in price. How about 8 stack-able ultra panels (without bases) going from California to North Carolina for $378 at 3rd Day Select? Keep in mind that’s not overnight, or 2 day, that’s a 3 day shipment for $378. And I had one customer request a quote on a type 3 plastic barricade 72″ wide, just 1 was $250 to overnight from CA to Louisiana.
So please keep this in mind when you want to get something overnight-ed. Always get the quote first before you tell them to ship as it gets very expensive very fast! We would be happy to get a quote for you.
More Shipping Estimating – Jersey and Airport Barriers
This post is dedicated to estimating shipping costs on barriers which include jersey barriers, water fill able barricades and airport barricades as they all ship in the same class (class 250 – different classes have different costs). In other posts I focused on cost per unit when determining average cost to ship to a particular region.
Because unit weights vary across barrier products (19lb airport barricade versus 130lb jersey barrier) I think it will make more sense to calculate cost based on price per pound. I will also separate it out based on where they are shipping from. This first post will be about barriers I have that ship out of Utah.
So first off here are the products I have that ship out of Utah: LCD Jersey Barrier, 10 x 96 Airport Barricade and the 24 x 96 Airport Barricade. Below are the averages I have found going back to the beginning of 2012. As you can see the prices can vary a lot and this seems to be due to volume. You are going to get a much better rate per pound shipping 13,000 lbs versus 200 lbs.
West Coast
$645 for 1,381 lbs to WA = 46 cents per lb
$167 for 267lbs going to AZ = 62 cents per lb
$253 for 384lbs going to MT = 65 cents per lb
$2180 for 4710lbs going to MT = 46 cents per lb
Average: 54 cents per lb
East Coast
$8244 for 13,200 lbs to NY = 62 cents per lb
$418 for 420 lbs going to NY = 99 cents per lb
$1016 for 1300lbs going to MD = 78 cents per lb
$245 for 203lbs going to ME = $1.20 per lb
Average: 90 cents per lb
South
$1020 for 1500lbs going to LA = 60 cents per lb
$1000 for 1500lbs gong to LA = 66 cents per lb
$310 for 500lbs going to AR = 62 cents per lb
$725 for 1100 lbs going to GA = 65 cents per lb
Average: 63 cents per lb
Midwest
$437 for 1048lbs going to NE = 42 cents per lb
$945 for 1376lbs going to MI = 68 cents per lb
$1600 for 1954lbs going to MI = 81 cents per lb
Average: 63 cents per lb
If you need any help finding out how many pounds your shipment is or understanding this mini guide give Brandon a call at (413) 281-6393.
Guesstimating Shipping Part 1 – Barricade Lights
It’s impossible to predict how much something will cost to ship as the weights and locations vary so much, however we should be able to get close based on history. First I am going to start with the products we ship via UPS (typically barricade lights).
The following products will fall in line with the shipping estimates I come up with below: Solar Barricade Lights and Airport Lights with Base.
We ship a lot of solar barricade lights that come from California, so let’s see where some of the numbers end up, and try to come up with an average. I threw in some numbers for larger orders (not included in the normal shipment calculations). As you can see the amount you save per light when you ship large quantities is pretty incredible. Note: larger shipments typically require a pallet and a freight truck, which requires the receiver to have a forklift and/or loading dock and a business address to dodge extra fees.
——————All quotes from 2013 or late 2012—————–
East Coast
10 lights going to MA cost $31, $36
10 lights going to NY cost $36
20 lights going to NC cost $90
25 lights going to MA cost $90
With this data we can assume shipping these lights to the East Coast is going to average $4.35 per light (total cost of $283 shipping 65 lights). We can assume about the same price for any light with a base shipping from CA to the East Coast, as most barricade/airport lights with bases weigh about the same.
Larger order: 205 lights at once going to FL cost $290 averaging $1.41 per light
Midwest
20 lights going to IL cost $84
12 lights going to IL cost $48
25 lights going to IL cost $108
12 lights going to WI cost $48
With this data we can assume shipping lights to the Midwest is going to average $4.17 per light ($288/69 lights)
Larger order: 100 lights shipped at once cost $235 averaging $2.53 per light
West Coast
13 lights going to CA cost $38
15 lights going to CA cost $38
40 lights going to CO cost $97
So we can assume a West Coast shipment will cost $2.54 a light ($173/68 lights)
Larger order: 175 lights shipped at once cost $185 averaging $1.05 per light!
South
10 lights going to LA cost $40
12 lights going to MS cost $39
12 lights going to TX cost $59
So we have $138 in shipments, 44 lights averaging $3.13 per light.
Larger order: 150 lights cost $230 ($1.53 per light)
And the final word….
With this data we can conclude you are going to spend around $4 per light going to the East Coast or Midwest, $3 going to the South and $2.50 going to the West Coast. We can also see that shipping large quantities of 100 units or more can save you as much as 70% on shipping costs!