Shipping larger quantity of shirts... 11/18

[DCSP John]

Hello All...

We ship a fair amount of shirts, and have a  courier that runs larger amounts of shirts
to all places here in DC.. but.. I have to land 1500 printed shirts in Denver, and am not sure of
shipping options for  palletized boxes.... How do any of you go about getting quotes, and who
is your top choice for freight for an order of this size? Yellow? Dominion Freight?


Thanks,

John

[balloonguy]

I have an account with these guys. http://wwex.com/
They run it through several carries and then give me pricing. I have found that they are usually cheaper than going directly to the same carriers in most cases.
matt

[tancehughes]

I wouldn't use Freight Quote, they screwed me over saying a truck would be here a certain day and it was not so I had to drive 8 hours myself instead. They even admitted that it was their fault, yet wouldn't reimburse me on the shipment, wanted to split it. I said "see ya"

Hello All...

We ship a fair amount of shirts, and have a  courier that runs larger amounts of shirts
to all places here in DC.. but.. I have to land 1500 printed shirts in Denver, and am not sure of
shipping options for  palletized boxes.... How do any of you go about getting quotes, and who
is your top choice for freight for an order of this size? Yellow? Dominion Freight?


Thanks,

John

[royster13]

Find a broker.....They will usually come up with a lower price than directly from a freight company....Do you care about final cost?.....Because it may cost you more to ship them there than to get shirts & printing in Denver......

[Doug B]

  We use Old Dominion several times a week. Great to work with and
best prices. Once you're set up with an account, their website is
extremely user friendly. You can do a shipment in less than 5 minitues.

[whitewater]

We just used ABF and shipped form upstate ny to somewhere in kansas...3500 shirts.. 50 cases on 2 pallets.

It was my first shipment like that and they were great to use....

[ZooCity]

Any LTL shipper will handle this for you.  Palletize 'em, wrap 'em, use the correct class and get the insurance. 

We use either a broker like freightquote or sometimes look at direct via Yellow/UPS/FedEx.  FedEx has their LTL in house my shipping/receiveing man tells me and I guess that can make a big difference in reliability v. using a broker group that is counting on the the shipper they contract with to show up on time and deliver on time. 

I agree that I've see issues with freightquotes carriers, various ones, not picking up for days but freightquote always fixes it up and they have given us better rates than anyone direct has offered.  Remember a group like this is brokering the shipment and leveraging volume rates with the shippers, not doing the actual shipping.

Another and probably way too expensive option is UPS 100wt but it's a sure thing for when it's time sensitive.  We had one client in our region this year instruct us to ship 100wt ground so they could receive overnight 1200+ hoodies.  It was worth the extra couple hundred over LTL to them.  So it depends on your clients needs, just show them the options...unless you are covering shipping then absolutely go with LTL.

[DCSP John]

quik question - any guesstimate as to how many boxes on single 48" x 4" pallet? (gildan, regular boxes)
Never really counted when blanks arrive. Can 1500 shirts/boxes be staged on one pallet, or do I need to quote for two?

Thanks.

John

[ZooCity]

I'm saying yes on a 48x48 pallet.  Probably even more, I've seen 'em stacked really high.

[royster13]

http://www.theadairgroup.com/blog/2012/01/30/bulk-wholesale-t-shirts/

[DCSP John]

best answer ever, Zoo...

[gtmfg]

I ship a lot LTL. Call LPS  Logistics Planning Services. Ask for Tom Underdahl, he is a broker but after 10 years of doing this he's been the best source for cheapest rates.

[gtmfg]

LTL you can usually stack 80" high that includes the pallet with a 1" of overhang.   

[DCSP John]

I forgot that I did some work for a freight broker a while back..
Here is my quote. Looks attractive. To good to be true?

PRICE =  $275  (transit time 5-6 days)
 
Two assumptions effecting price:
 
1.  only 1 pallet (i.e., all shirts will fit on one pallet without crushing boxes)
2.  DC/Denver locations have own loading docks & forklifts.
Note: if truck with liftgate is required, then add approx $75-$100 (call for exact quote)
 
Pick Up  Zip  - 20912, Washington, DC
Destination zip - 80202, Denver, CO 
One pallet = 725 lbs.
 

John

[gtmfg]

Looks about right.