best cheap way(s) for shipping rackmount gear...?

[madrex]

hey tapeop community,

I am going to send my MOTU 828 mkii in for some under warranty service and am not in a time crunch right now, so I am looking for the cheapest safe service to do this and was wondering if anyone has any good experience/suggestions.

I don't have the original box but i have one for a similar piece of gear that fits it so packaging is already taken care of... just curious anyones experiences with UPS/USPS/FEDEX or any others I may be overlooking?

[Snarl 12/8]

It seems like UPS only damages the fragile stuff. Have you seen the cold open for "Ace Ventura, Pet Detective?" Never Again!

[bradfromtampa]

I'm a Fedex home delivery driver so I'm partial to Fedex.

I sold a handful of rack stuff awhile back and would use a 24 x 24 x 12 box and stuff it full of peanuts with the item wrapped in bubble wrap. It may have been overkill but everything got there safe.

Make sure you tape it very well! And pack it tight. You'd be amazed at how some companies ship some of their packages.

[DJ_LBP]

I ship stuff a lot of gear at work and we use UPS. My rule is just make sure nothing moves when you shake it. 2-3 inches around of bubbles if possible, and fill in the rest with peanuts, old newspapers, etc. To me, the extra weight of some packing materials may cost a little more to ship, but it seems a heavier box is less likely to get thrown around than a slim-fitting box with barely more than the unit in it. FWIW, I have not had anything damaged in shipping except with returns from customers who can't box things up.

[aitikin]

Every time I've gotten things shipped UPS it arrives either with damage to the packaging or a day later than it was supposed to arrive, whereas with FedEx, everything's arrived on time or early (with the sole exception of my Saxophone which was shipped during a regional blackout and their computers were down for a day, which they then delivered on a Saturday, which UPS does not do), and never has anything been damaged.

USPS just delivered something too me that was pretty well package and had the plastic faceplate broken.

DHL I haven't worked with, but back when Airborne Express was a separate company, they were the go to in my eyes when money wasn't an object. We had to ship back a Mac at one point, called to schedule a pickup and went to put the mac in the box and there was a ring at the doorbell. And that was in like '02 when internet and communications such as that were never so reliable.

That being said, I usually end up shipping things under warranty via UPS because both UPS and FedEx usually deliver in the same time, but there's no FedEx store near me.

My $.02