[TowerTalk] Freight charges when shipping towers

[john at kk9a.com]

Business to business (or terminal) is significantly less costly than
residential.  Rent a trailer or truck and bring it to a terminal or
business. It has been a while since I shipped tower stuff, I thought that
it was class 50.  LTL freight is not always expensive.

John KK9A


To:	TowerTalk at contesting.com
Subject:	[TowerTalk] Freight charges when shipping towers
From:	Robert Chudek - K0RC <k0rc at citlink.net>
Reply-to:	k0rc at citlink.net
Date:	Sun, 05 Jul 2015 11:46:12 -0500

I am looking for an economical way to ship a complete tower package about
900 miles (one-way). I have created four "bundles" of nestled sections,
base stubs, rotator plate, TB-3, and mast. The entire weight is slightly
over 400 pounds of aluminum and steel.

What seems out of whack is the freight classification (250 or 300) and the
resulting freight charges in the $1,200 to $1,500 price range. I have
called numerous freight companies and agents and this is pretty
consistent. There are also "up-charges" for no loading dock, etc. that are
added on as well.

Short of loading the tower into a pickup and driving it there myself, how
have you dealt with the freight industry so as not to break the bank?

FWIW, these are 10 foot sections and the outside sections are 30" on a
side, open lattice, welded aluminum.

73 de Bob - KØRC in MN