Posting a telescope - HELP!!!!!!

[rocketandroll]

Ok, I'm reaching the end of my tether...

Having just sold a 6" reflector on UK Astro I am trying to post the thing to the buyer...

Royal mail (inc Parcelfarce) catagorically will not insure anything containing glass... so that's out.

I took it to our local DHL 'service point'... they measured it and said it was 4cm longer than their largest standard box... so although they could insure it (£12 extra) they could only post it if it was taken to their main depot.

So, with their largest standard box being £20 to post, plus the £12 insurance, I assumed a box a little bigger would be a little more expensive and told the buyer it'd probably be about £35 or so total.

Great

Not.

So I do the 20 mile round trip to their main depot this morning, to be told they can take it, but because it falls outside their 'standard sizes' it goes on their volumetric weight calculated charges.... and that comes to... £70!!!!!

WHAT?!! Yes, three times as expensive because it's 4 lousy centimeters too big.

So, I can't make the OTA smaller.... and having been advised to try 'Parcel Monkey' and similar services, have found thay all also utterly refuse to insure glass items (even though the carriers they use can do).

I am now at a total loss.

Does anyone have any experience with posting OTA's and can anyone advise who I should try?

I can't really believe it should cost at least 1/3rd of the value of the item just to post it?!

Ben

[Shibby]

Hmm, I have posted a scope before and it was not an enjoyable experience, searching high and low for bubble wrap and polystyrene. It was a 5" scope but I packaged it in a 6" telescope box - I seem to remember the post office charged me around £20. £70 is daylight robbery! (you could probably get a courier for less than that).

[rfdesigner]

Anyone know who FLO use?

Derek

[steelfixer]

Ben have you thought about putting an enquiry on here.

There must be many forum members who travel the length and bredth of this country every day.

Maybe one of them would be kind enough to drop it off for you.

[rocketandroll]

Cheers all for the thoughts...

It is well packaged, thankfully still in it's original custom polystyrene packaging which fully encloses it... and that's inside a box.

The issue is insurance... Post Office etc will take it, they just won't insure it. They quoted me £20 too... but again, it's not insured.

Hmmm... dunno, maybe someone would be able to take it... for £70 it's almost cheaper for me to!

It needs to go from Ipswich to Derby... not an easy journey unfortunately :-(

Ben

[Kai]

Anyone know who FLO use?

Derek

I think you will find Commercial rates are somewhat cheaper than Residential but you need to have a Commercial account first

[James]

.... and the commercial accounts don't include insurance for glass either

James

[NGC404]

No matter what courier you use, read the small print very carefully

There,s a pretty good chance the extra insurance wont cover the glass components for damage

[rocketandroll]

.... and the commercial accounts don't include insurance for glass either

James

Gulp!!!

Ok, if you guys can't even get insurance for shipping telescopes.... I think I should give up and just take the risk then?!!

That's scary.

What are the statistical odds on it getting totalled? How many do you guys loose? 1/100? 1/10? 1/2?!!! :-)

Ben

[johninderby]

Interparcel is very good, Shipped several scopes with them and no problems. Book on-line and they collect the next day. They're a lot cheaper for insurance compared to Parcels'2'Go.

http://www.interparcel.com/?gclid=CPLEuI-5lawCFUNO4QodjVtWLA

John

[Kai]

Pack it well and i doubt that you will have too many issues (fingers crossed )

[James]

Pack it well and i doubt that you will have too many issues (fingers crossed )

That's the gist of it . Pack it much better than you think is necessary, don't skimp on the packaging and make absolutely sure there's no way the scope can move around a lot in the box. We've only once had a scope arrive with broken glass - we don't use that courier anymore - a properly packed telescope needs some serious effort on the part of the couriers to break glass as the glass itself is usually effectively protected by the scope itself...

James

[mchiv80159]

Booked through interpacel, no problems with a c90 Mak ota. Went via UPS.

[TheThing]

I've sent 3 or 4 thru the post with no problems. Either Royal Mail or Parcel2Go.

TheThing

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[garethmob]

iv used TNT for same day pick up on 102st (ordered at 10am picked up at 3pm delivered by 10am next day) i did OTT pack it with bubblewrap boxs foam ect, if u can get to ur local asda u can get bubblewrap from the fruit an veg for free as it usally gets chucked

i send my unbranded skywatcher with citylink but again stupid bubblewrap packing with ductape

[NGC404]

Note that a lot of couriers charge the same if its 5kg, 10kg or 20kg

This means you can go crazy with the amount of packing used

[haitch]

I've shipped a 6" f8 refractor with Royal Mail - loads of bubble wrap and was fine.

I've recently sent a parcel to France (non-astro) using Parcelsplease.co.uk and it was very cheap (courier was UPS). I reckon you'll easily ship that for under a tenner. Just double check the volumetric weight before booking the shipment or you can end up with a nasty surprise.

I would discuss with the purchaser first to ensure they are happy with the solution - no nasty surprises should the worst happen.

[SeedyF]

I recently shipped a skywatcher 150 from Herts to Glasgow for £24 including insurance (although it sounds like that may have been a waste of money had there been a tragedy). I was sending two boxes of 9kg and 16kg. Dimensions of the biggest was 37x44x87 cm. I used City Link and sceduled it online. Collected from me next day and delivered to Astro buy and sell customer one day later. It all went smoothly.

I should say the scope was in all its original packaging plus extra bubble wrap

[nightfisher]

ben, you have my sympathy, i have just yesterday sent an 90mm ota to belgium through parcel farce, cost 35.40 and no insurance as i had to "fib" about contents, as they dont do glass, god knows what i will do if it arrives damaged, it was a right head ache, so much so that i very nearly pulled out of sale and sending

[Mike Hawtin]

Ben,

I once bought a customer return C11 ota from OPT in the states and subsequently sold it some time later to a chap in portugal, he in turn sent me a C9.25 ota as part payment which he had bought from a retailer in Germany. Both scopes were in their original packaging and both sustained no damage whatsoever. So if you consider the mileage clocked up by both scopes I have either been incredibly lucky or the original packaging is more than adequate. I personally am inclined to think the manufacturers packaging is more than up to the job. I wouldn,t worry about insurance either as I doubt very much that any insurance company prepared to offer cover would actually cough up if the worst came to the worst, and yes I am a cynic as far as insurance companies are concerned from bitter past experience.

Mike H

[johninderby]

Insurance is worthwhile for one main reason. What happens if they loose your package? My experience with couriers is that they are far more likely to loose something rather than damage it.

John

[CGolder]

I agree with John, package it well and normally its fine, i have a giant roll of bubble wrap and use server packing boxes (these are strangly the exact max size p2go take) then overwrap the whole thing, I have in the past posted many scopes and mounts and never yet had a problem

[DrNeb]

At work my colleague uses pony express for large items. always come in cheaper then the others generally.

Same Day Courier, International Parcel Delivery Company, European Package Delivery Service, Birmingham Wolverhampton Leicester London UK Couriers - Ponex

good luck.

[sbooder]

I am afraid I will have to be quite cynical here. I think the reason they will not insure glass is because most of the young lads they engage as delivery men are incompetent (apologies to anyone here who dose this job well).

When my 10" arrived back in March (I think it was), I watched the guy from my living room window carry the OTA box across his two shoulders until he got to the front gate, at which point I ran to the front door to get out and assist...too late, he let go with one hand and tried to open the gate himself and I watched as the box went crashing to the ground.

I shouted to him that it was a telescope and dropping it is not always the preferred method of handling. He ignored me and picked the scope back up, not waiting for me to help. He got to my front door and let the box fall to the ground again, this time it was intentional, not with malice but as if this was his Modus operandi.

When I asked if he could stop dropping the scientific equipment to the ground, he did not even look up and replied, "I didn't drop it".

When he returned to his van to get the mount and tripod boxes I worked fast to open the OTA box and examine the scope, luckily all was well; these scopes are packed with good protection.

As it was not damaged I thought I would let the matter slide, although, maybe I should have let FLO know so they could just ask the courier company to stress the delicate nature of their deliveries.

[rfdesigner]

sbooder.

I would have made a formal complaint.. his attitude should have resulted in some sort of disciplinary action, there is no need to be an utter **** as he was.