Over a year ago I managed to procure a hyper-rare Jeep Grand Cherokee spare tire carrier, and then — through some divine miracle — I stumbled upon another one at a junkyard shortly thereafter. As I was unable to allow that hyper-rare piece to be junked, and because I knew someone who might want it, I spent an hour unbolting the second tire carrier from the Jeep. Now I’m finally getting around to shipping the heavy part, and it has been difficult. And weird.
I have to be completely honest with you: I’m not even entirely sure this is worthy of a blog, but like I mentioned earlier today in my piece about the non-sale of my 1954 Willys Jeep, we need blogs and we need them now! So allow me to tell you about my struggle shipping the hyper-rare Jeep Grand Cherokee ZJ spare tire carrier, and how it got seriously weird.
Before I moved away from Detroit, I sold my borderline mint-condition Jeep Grand Cherokee ZJ five-speed to a gentleman in Texas who then spent the following month making it literally the most perfect ZJ on earth. It’s got the rare center console-delete that was only available on base-model ZJs, it’s got the Euro-only amber turn signals, and I could go on and on. The thing looks amazing. For a ZJ enthusiast like him, the spare tire carrier is considered the Holy Grail of accessories, so naturally when I found the one in the junkyard I reached out to this guy, who told me he’d pay for shipping.
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I split the hitch-receiver part from the actual tire-carrying part to yield two, roughly 50-pound, reasonably (ish) sized pieces that I could pack into boxes. I started by wrapping the hitch receiver in a moving blanket:
Then I made possibly the worst box in human history out of a bunch of little boxes:
I then drove this C-shaped box to a UPS store, where it was immediately and firmly rejected:
I wasn’t out of luck, though, because the UPS clerk offered to “telescope” two large boxes to create an even larger box that could fit my hitch. “Great!” I replied before setting the hitch on the scale, which read 56 pounds. “Nice, that’s actually not so heavy,” I thought to myself. I figured it’d cost $100, maybe $200 to ship the hitch receiver.
I figured wrong.
The quote came out to $458 plus packaging, which would bring the total to over $500! And that’s only half of the spare tire carrier! I messaged the gentleman in Texas to tell him the bad news that it’d cost over $1000 to get him the rare Jeep part; he told me to try FedEx, though I don’t think that’s going to be much cheaper.
So I took to Twitter to see if anyone had any better ideas on how to mail this freight. Quite a few people suggested Greyhound, though that company’s freight shipping option is no longer available.
Someone named Tom S suggested Pigeon. I figured he was referring to some kind of freight company, so I googled it and — though I later realized he meant Pigeon Freight Services — what I initially found in my search is that link above: Pigeons.biz.
This took me to something I could not possibly have fathomed exists — a 56,000 member-strong pigeon message board/forum “dedicated to pigeon owners and enthusiasts”:
Right away, I want to make clear: Nobody in my position can make fun of anyone for being enthusiastic about anything. I do not shame hobbies; I mean, just look at me a few years ago:
But now that I’ve self-deprecated a bit, can we at least look at a few of the posts on this forum? I’m just curious.
The “Dark green sticky poop” post is about someone concerned about the color of a pigeon they just found. Actually giving a damn about the wellbeing of a pigeon is something I can get behind; respect! The “Pigeon bully” post you see above is about someone having trouble keeping one of their pigeons from pecking at the others. I also found a thread titled “Pigeon Bath” in which the poster asks for ways to remove mites with a fluid that is safe for the birds to drink should they decide to do so.
Honestly, a lot of this forum — which, again, I’m a little baffled even exists — is pretty wholesome. Pigeons are, in many folks’ eyes, at the very bottom of the foodchain. They are cigarette butt-eating, shoulder-pooping, french fry-stealing pests. But to these folks, they are worthy of love, as all living thing should be (aside from, perhaps, mosquitos). Here’s a reply talking about using tobacco to keep bugs away:
You can also buy some tobacco stems for their nest boxes and this helps to repel bugs and they carry the stem around the loft so proud looking for the females to add to the nest. Pigeon supply places usually have them and they can be shipped to you a nice size box…I use them from Foys Pigeon Supply out of PA..
What the hell, there’s a Pigeon Supply store? Here’s another reply in the “Pigeon Bath” thread:
I would use a good pigeon cleanser and one I suggest would be Racing Pigeon Cleanser. It gently removes all feather mites and lice.
What the heck? There’s a thing called a Pigeon Cleanser? And what’s this “racing” word here?
I looked at my Twitter again and saw Tom S’s reply:
I then followed the link to “Strombergschickens.com,” and what I found blew me away:
There’s an Amazon Marketplace equivalent for racing pigeons! You can buy these things just like you’d buy a pair of socks or reading glasses! If you’re curious about the “Product Details” of “Blue Bar Saddle Janssen Racing Homer Pigeons,” here it is:
Fast, quick maturing, & reliable racing homer of a light bluish gray color w/2 black bars across the back part of the top surface of the wing. (blue bar) Well conditioned birds. Can fly 400-500 miles. Jansen’s originated in Europe, Germany/Belgium.
- Availability: Pair, Male, or Female
400 to 500 miles of range! These things are the Lucid Airs of the bird world!
Unfortunately, though pigeons are technical vehicles often used to transport messages (which is how I can sorta justify writing about them on a car website), their payload capacity is simply too low to transport my Jeep Grand Cherokee spare tire carrier. It seems a carrier pigeon can cary 2.5 ounces, so I’d need roughly six to carry a single pound. With the hitch alone weighing 56 pounds, and the tire carrier side probably bringing the total weight to 100 pounds, I’d need at least 600 birds. And at $135 a pair (for the cheap pigeons), that’s over $40,000 in pigeons to transport a trailer hitch. That’s not even accounting for the fact that the 1,400 mile journey from LA to Austin would require multiple stops for rest/food/water.
Anyway, pigeons ain’t the answer. But neither is UPS. So if you have any other ideas, please do let me know. Maybe the business named Pigeon could work? Surely it’ll be cheaper and involve a lot less poop.
“their payload capacity is simply too low”
More for Jason, but using pigeons as usb stick carriers has a pretty high transmission rate. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_over_Avian_Carriers
And isn’t there an option in the USA to ship things with a local transport company, just slap it on a pallet and be done with it?
I read through too quickly first time and missed the actual Pigeon Freight Service link, and got to the end still thinking that racing pigeon carriers were offering dead leg freight services in their otherwise empty pigeon trucks once they had released the birds. I mean, there must be a business opportunity there, right?
Have you tried going through Galpin? I work for a very large company, and one of our benefits is that we get corporate shipping rates. The discounts are absurd: I recently shipped a 12lb carton, coast to coast, OVERNIGHT FedEx for $16. That was like 85% off. It goes to show you the real costs of shipping and how much we overpay as over-the-counter consumers.
Another options is the forums (fora?). One of my favorites, IH8MUD (Land Cruisers) has an informal network called Mudship. Never used it myself, but basically if a member is doing a long distance trip, they match with someone with something to ship. Surely the Jeep community has something similar.
Exactly this. Use Galpin’s discounted UPS account and pay them back.
In the rally community we have a similar system for shipping stuff, called Rally Ship. If there’s an event coming up you can check who’s racing at the event with a car trailer and get your items sent on their way. Really helpful and fun to help out other members of the community.
Yep, and in the Land Rover community, you can do a relay. One person will get it part way there and hand it off to another person, who will either take it further or hold it for the next person going the right direction.
I used to sell & ship used Miata parts and got creative with packaging/shipping over time. Greyhound was a lifesaver for shipping bumpers.
1: Go make nice (bring some swag t-shirts, or beer) and be friends with an autobody shop. Preferring a manager if possible. These shops get ALL the oversized, reinforced boxes and crates that they just toss into a dumpster. Maybe they can be sweet-talked into shipping oversized/oddly shaped parts for you at cost.
2: maybe it was mentioned but there was a website where shippers bid on hauling whatever needs hauling. Big, small, whatever won’t fit in a normal shipping box. I don’t recall the name at the moment but maybe something like BidShippers or some such.
3: Organise a jalopy hand off rally from point A (where the parts are) to point B (where they need to go). Get the Cummins Ram Club to start and drive to where the VW Thing club is waiting to run the next leg of the journey to the Subaru Drifto Club who hands it off to the Screaming Eagle Trans-Am club . . .etc.
Have you tried to get an LTL (Less Than Load) quote? you might need a pallet to put the 2 parts on, but I’d be shocked if it wasn’t a lot less than what you’d get from UPS or FedEx to do that. It’s slower, but definitely cheaper. There are online calculators for many of the bigger freight companies if Galpin doesn’t have an account you can access.
Try Forward Air. Despite the name, they ship a ton of stuff via ground. You have to be willing to drop off / pick up at their locations. And it helps a lot if you can put your junk on a pallet.
I’ve used them many time for heavy things like tube bumpers, sliders, tire carriers, etc.
My son is road tripping from Phoenix to North Georgia tomorrow, can you get it to Phoenix tomorrow? He’s probably taking I-10 all the way, so that means 2 days in Texas 🙂
I’ve had weirdly good luck with DHL and with UShip.
Uship might be really cost effective, especially if the buyer is not in a hurry.
A couple years ago I bought a telescope from Aussieland. It weighted almost 200LBS but DHL delivered it next day, from Perth to NYC, for only a little over US$1000.
I just shipped it from NYC to New Mexico and it cost almost the same through Fedex Ground.
All hail DHL if they are available.
I got some family documents from NZ via DHL for like $15 and it showed up in less than a week.
Domestically, the two times I used DHL, it took a month to go 100 miles and ended up in multiple wrong cities. That was a while back, but literally “0 for 2” is not a good look when the other 3 were all batting .950 or higher.
DHL doesn’t do domestic USA shipping any more. Has to be a non-US origin or destination.
Yes, try a corporate rate via Galpin. If you can strap it securely to a pallet, LTL freight (UPS/FedEx, etc.) might be your best bet for getting it there in one piece for hopefully not too much $$.
I read FedEx closed their ltl shipping, but they have to be doing it somehow.
FWIW I shipped my telescope to NM yesterday. LTL was still an option on Fedex.
To be more clear they laid off the driver’s or ended contracts.
Probably hiring like Amazon now.
They can’t exist without ltl, which is what is so iffy about their move
Hmm. I had a new bumper shipped to my house direct from the welder for $280 all in. I believe it came via UPS, and when it appeared on my doorstep, I was surprised to see the shipping label stickered directly on to the bare steel. I’m shocked they won’t accept your…uh…wrapping job.
Yeah that wrapping job may have actually disqualified it. Pieces of cardboard caught in the conveyor, etc. I would have just film-wrapped the whole thing, maybe turned the “C” shape into a “D” shape with a heavy paper tube to avoid an open end getting snagged on something.
I ordered a receiver from uhaul and I had forgotten about it.
Sort of conditional, wholesale part of uhaul.
Came from Kamloops Canada of all places.
You know no one paid retail to ship from there.
Are these pigeons African or European? Perhaps if two worked together…
But seriously, does Galpin not have a shipping contract with a carrier you could leverage? I work in supply chain and we get 80% – 90% off published shipping rates with UPS.
That person needs some form of injunction to stop that from happening.
Call it a pecking order.
Load it into your BMW. Drive to Texas. Write a story about how well charging and range-extending worked.
And definitely hit up a Buc Ee’s for a brisket sandwich.
I do have a brother in ATX…
Amarillo?
I dunno, are you?
*snortchuckle*
I think it’s a typo of armadillo
I almost ran over one this morning on my way to work. It wasn’t carrying any packages.
lol
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amarillo%2C_Texas
Eh, Bucee’s brisket is overrated. Go for the jalapeno sausage kolache instead.
It is, but where I live you can’t get brisket so conveniently.
Sorry to hear that. I’m surrounded by good BBQ. And tacos. But the price I pay is being at the mercy of Texas politicians. Some of the worst outside of the White House.
It’s ok, your pizza sucks and you couldn’t get a decent Italian Beef if you tried. Every part of America has it’s specialties.
Hey, not so fast there…
https://pizzatoday.com/topics/people-pizzerias/2020-pizzeria-of-the-year-via-313-austin-texas/
But yeah, you won’t find a decent Italian Beef sammy. Of course around here, we put that smoked brisket in a bun with a few onions, pickles and jalapenos, so we’ll call that one a draw.
Detroit-style. OK then.
Could be worse. Oklahoma likes to look at what Texas does and say “I bet we could do a dumber more pointless version of that”
Be careful the rabbit hole of show pigeons my brother-in-law has been a show pigeon breeder and judge since the 1970s. show pigeons are some crazy crazy interbreeding stuff. This is also the brother in law that did not put his car in reverse until he was in his 40s. He pulled into work and out of work and anyplace else my sister drove.
Gather a group Autopians that live between you and the destination and setup a relay. Sort of like the Pony Express without horses. Also blogfodder.
I bet this community could make it work! I’m in Western PA though.
I’m on the central Gulf Coast, but I’d be willing if I was nearer.
No, for the same reason there were huge gaps during “Hands Across America”.
David Tracy’s Totally Not Selfish Series of Autopian Meets Along I-10
haha
Grassroots Motorsports site has people doing this kind of transport.
It took me QUITE a while to realize the pigeon forum wasn’t just random people willing to tote odd cargo around the country for a small fee. I kept reading and the metaphors kept getting deeper until I realized you meant actual pigeons.
For me, it was far more logical to think you had stumbled across a forum of roadtrippers willing to move your stuff at a decent price.
LTL freight might be the cheapest of all, especially going across the wide expanses of the Sunbelt southwest.
Or you could hire a pigeon, if you know what I mean.
Yes, pigeon racing is a thing, and some people probably bet big money on it.
-Decades ago, friend-of-a-friend lived on an old farm that had a big barn on the property.
-Friend-of-a-friend finds that there is a “plump” of pigeons living in the barn (that’s supposedly what a flock of pigeons is called).
-Friend-of-a-friend is sick of pigeons $#!tting all over the classic car and tools he stores in the barn, but can’t find a way to get rid of the squatters.
-Friend-of-a-friend, allegedly, invites friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend over with his paint balling team to have target practice in the barn.
-Friend-of-a-friend, allegedly, no longer has issues with pigeons in his barn.
-Friend-of-a-friend, years later, learns that neighbor in community used to have a plump of racing pigeons that mysteriously disappeared one day.
Have you considered a series of strategically placed catapults?
Road trip! Take a ride and document it (you say you need content). Get a press loaner and take your new spouse to Vegas and beyond. Meet your Jeep pal and write about his story/collection.
USPS is usually the cheapest for big stuff. FedEx used to be the most expensive, but they recently lowered the prices and UPS is consistently higher.
You can also freight ship via Fastenal between Fastenal locations. Lots of people in the arcade game hobby use them to ship the heavy/bulky arcade and pinball cabinets, though I haven’t personally used them.
Fastenall is everywhere.
Never heard of Fastenal offering freight, but looking at the site they split the country in East and West zones and don’t cross that line and unfortunately California is West and Texas is East.
Ha, Fastenal is who I recommended (here in this blog post comments) too!
I took a guess at dimensions, and the good old US postal service quoted about $150. on the website
…and they’ll take almost anything. Several years ago I read how someone tried to mail a hammer. No packaging, just a hammer with sufficient stamps on it. The experiment was successful.
It was similar for me when I bought an axe from a company out-of-state. USPS put on just enough cardboard and tape to cover the head and sent it for something like $10.
In the 70s, Dad mailed a coconut to his younger brother in Nebraska. From Hawaii. Address & stamps right on the husk.
I seem to recall there was a website some years back documenting such experiments.
A fish, maybe??
United States Postal Service used to accept a sock with a stamp and address on it.
I know this because band members of Henry Cow would get mail in that format.
I knew a guy in college who had a friend somewhere across the country. They had a long-standing thing where they sent unusual things to each other via USPS without packaging. A jar of peanut butter, which was then sent back with a piece of chocolate in it, half of one of those folding “wet floor” signs…
Just wait till the current administration shuts it down or privatize it.
Did you check with the Postal Service? I deliver some pretty big and heavy stuff, I think 130 inches and 70 lbs is our limit.
Ironically enough, I deliver this stuff in a 94 Cherokee that has the exact same spare tire rack 😉
Oh really? Hmm… 130 inches is a lot.
130″ maximum is for length + girth (height x 2 + width x 2)
i.e. a 30″ x 25″ x 25″ package is 130″ in length + girth.
Ahh, my mistake. Still, if his like mine, it looks small enough to break down into 2 shippable boxes. Ones at least around the size that I deliver daily, anyway.
that’s what she said! I’ll see myself out 🙂
The first rule of shipping, is never walk into a store and pay retail prices! You’ll get a decent discount if you just open an online account with each of the vendors (UPS, FedEx, USPS), and you’ll probably get further discounts if you go with a site like pirateship.com (note that pirateship has an annoying quirk in that they’ll show you the rates for how they think you might want to ship, rather than all the options, so you have to make an additional click to see all the other, potentially cheaper, options).
You might even try making an eBay listing (for $1 or something), so you can leverage their shipping discounts (also note that you need to enable discounted rates for the buyer as the default may be to show retail rates to the buyer).
You will need to know the weight and dimensions to get accurate quotes, however (don’t want to get hit with an additional bill later if you estimate it and they re-rate it afterwards).
I have a “RocketShip” account. Weigh your own package and shop for best rates.
Using the dimensions (55x10x30) and weight (60lbs) on the UPS receipt, it would cost $168 to ship from Los Angeles to Austin via pirateship.com using UPS Ground.
Also, the length+girth = 135″, so too big for USPS.
pirate ship – that’s it.
Yes, this. Pirate Ship pricing usually runs about 50% of retail UPS and USPS. FedEx Ground has gotten to be too unreliable (when it absolutely has to be there manana, and in pieces!).
Second “Never pay retail”
At one point I worked at a company and their corporate shipping account had access to lower rates, and allowed employees to ship (a limited amount) of personal items at those rates. The rate was 1/10th of retail in one specific case where I priced out both.
Galpin must have an economical arrangement to ship big car parts around, might be worth checking to see if you can get in on that.
You’ve really pigeonholed yourself here David.
have you tried USPS? Slow & steady can win the race in both shipping and Pigeons.
Just yesterday I was telling a friend who raises chickens that they need to get some pigeons. With all electronic conversations ending up on a hard drive in a black site deep in a mountain somewhere, they are the perfect way to send comms surreptitiously… If you ignore the fact that all birds are government drones, of course.
Birds Aren’t Real!
What is the maximum airspeed velocity of an unladen pigeon?
African or European?
Well I don’t knowwwwwwwwwwwwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
An African or European one?
I ain’t falling for that one! You think I don’t know wha—aaaaaaash…..
I KNEW this would be on here. Was just checking before making the exact same comment. Take your smiley face!