Sending of heavy items

The Germans and French still use the pound only it is 500g instead of our 454g, about a 10% difference or just over 1 1/2oz. Having driven many thousands of miles abroad I still convert the distances to miles to relate to how far I have to go. Being reasonably competent at mental arithmetic this is not a problem. Litres per 100km is not a concept I relate to and used to do the clumsy calculation to get mpg. Now most cars give fuel consumption and range calculations there is no need to bother.

Mike

Gentlemen, my inbox has never been fuller, my thanks to those who offered constructive advice, on the other hand if I'd realized that the forum had been hijacked by Metric Extremists I would probably have cancelled my subscription! However being older than dirt I am able to work in both systems, singly or simultaneously, in fact it is still necessary when making components to interface between the 2 systems, for those unaware of this fact there is a big country the other side of the Atlantic Ocean that shows little desire to metricate. I spent more years than I care to remember (14) setting & operating 2 CNC bar machines doing just that. On the run up to retirement only a few years ago I campaigned a Colchester Tornado CNC lathe for a firm that couldn't make its mind up which system to work in on any given day, not my expletive problem. Finally, as I benefit from a first class pass in O Level English Language I should point out that only a Metric Onanist would not realise that I really meant to type 15.876 kg.

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and that would highlight your price-of-delivery problem

Many services use 15 kg as a price break, or even as their upper limit.

ferinstance: https://www.myhermes.co.uk/help/parcel-size.html

MichaelG.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 09/04/2019 09:44:24

If I might just tag onto this thread as some replies indicate success with shippers. I'm trying to find a company who will ship a parcel roughly 100mm sq but just over 3 metres long. It only weighs 12kg! Any recommendations from anyone who done this would be welcome, thanks.

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... although [unlike Miles per Gallon] it is at least consistent with the concept of fuel consumption.

MichaelG.

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I've never used them, but these guys actually recognise the need; so might be worth a try

**LINK**

https://www.parcelsplease.com/delivery-information/heavy-bulky-long-parcels-freight-cargo/

MichaelG.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 09/04/2019 09:50:52

Robjon 44, about ten years ago when I was in Australia for my youngest daughters wedding I purchased a kit of castings for a model horizontal stationary engine, the majority of the castings were aluminium and therefore were stowed in suitcases for the journey home, unfortunately my wife drew the line at stowing the 2 flywheel castings in our suitcases, which were cast iron and at 8 inch diameter consequently very heavy. The solution was to package them up and use Australia Post to forward them to my UK address, the cost was eye wateringly expensive, I never did reveal to the wife exactly how much it cost and the final insult was I had to pay customs duty to release my own possessions from Gatwick Handling Centre. The moral of this is that carriage costs can be very expensive, you are at the mercy of the system.

In respect of our ex colony on the other side of the Atlantic resisting the use of metric measurements I believe that they were the first country in the world to recognise and adopt the Metre Standard, from what I can remember it was sometime in the 1890’s.

Dave W

Throw in a few atmospheres, pascals and bars then confuse yourself further with troy ounces, grains, drachms or a few old lengths of perches or fathoms or land v nautical leagues let alone hands and cubits. Spoilt for choice really.. they still use bushels and pecks too...

It would not be the first time that sending two separate (smaller) parcels works out cheaper than one. Not helpful for a single large item, mind!

Thanks for the link Michael. I've tried them and several other's and they all say 3050mm is too long to carry. It would only be cost effective if I could use a national carrier, so I won't be buying that item!

robjon, you are a naughty boy. You started the thread with, my bold:

Gentlemen, do forum members have any advice on costs of dispatching compact but heavy items, for example electric motors or machine vices both come in around two & a half stone & delivery pricing is more than the items are worth. Discuss.

So you introduced a peculiar unit of weight that's not used anywhere in the world to calculate post and carriage. Not even in the UK, and certainly not in the USA. And then 'Discuss' suggests you invite comment on the whole post.

Your choice of units required everyone to convert stones to kilograms for you. For this crime, or daring to mention it, you denounce posters as 'Metric Onanists.' Strong stuff. No doubt you meant what you said because that O Level proves you're a clever chap.

Now I'm wondering what the purpose of the question was? I hope it wasn't trolling.

Dave

I have had some of this delivered by Tuffnells ( pretty sure it was them ) a couple of years ago.

https://www.aluminiumwarehouse.co.uk/1-2-in-x-10-swg-aluminium-round-tube

5 metre lengths. Came in a cardboard tube.

D.

Edited By Dave Daniels on 09/04/2019 12:02:50

Tuffnells will only deliver if you have an account with them which presumably Aluminium Warehouse does. This is just a one off and no carrier will do it. It's 50mm over the max length of 3 metres, so that apparently is a major problem. Maybe if we leave the EU, common sense might come back to this country..........no, I won't start that one off again.

Thanks guys.

Do you think the driver is going to have a tape measure with him to check? You could even find an old one and surreptitiously extend it by a nail (I'm sure you are familiar with that unit of measurement) to prove the length to him is necessary.

I would add a cautionary tale about choice of carrier. I sold a quantity of 0 gauge rail to a gentleman in the Republic of Ireland, and since I wanted to keep the shipping costs in line with the value of the goods I used P2G who subcontracted the move to Hermes. Suffice it to say, the last I saw of it was at the pick up shop where I left it, the purchaser has yet to see it. It then took me 5 months of wrangling with P2G to get my £36 recompense for their and Hermes total failure. I would never use either of these ever again.

By contrast when I sold the SX2P to Ron Laden, the crate was uplifted at the agreed time and delivered to him the next day in proper order for under £40. I used TNT who did exactly what they said they would do. It appears it's not necessarily even about the cost.

Regards

Martin

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The Driver will probably guess it was overlength, after slamming the door

MichaelG.

Just had a delivery from Hermes. Pretty sure a 3m item wouldn't have fitted in the ladies small van, trick tape measure or not! Unless she folded it in half - is that OK?

Although Delivery firms want your business, they're in cut-throat competition for small profits. They don't want your parcel if it costs them money, like having to organise special handling of awkward, heavy, delicate or dangerous items. Or delivery to an address miles off their normal route!

For efficiency reasons, many carriers concentrate on moving easy items and make a profit only by moving large numbers of them. This part of the trade isn't interested in customers wanting to ship novelty items! However, provided you're prepared to pay there's no problem moving specialist loads. A 3m item could be moved point to point by hiring a helicopter...

Quite pleased to get the delivery from Hermes; presents for mums birthday tomorrow, ordered last night from Debenham's who went into administration this morning...

Dave

The measurement is of the actual article, and I'm not sure what packaging the seller will put on. All might go OK, who knows, but it's not just one driver. They go from depot to depot and some jobsworth might pick it up. I've spent too much time already trying to get quotes, they are all adamant about the 3 metre rule! I was prepared to pay a fair price, but other than having it personally couriered at great cost, it can stay where it is.

Worth remembering folks.

Dave, most small parcels are delivered by self employed drivers using their own vehicles. All the companies I contacted have vans ranging from Sprinters to HGV's and the limit of 3 metres makes no sense. One actually offered to to put it on a pallet!!!! It's only 100mm square and weighs less than 7kg, the mind boggles.....I'm off to a darkened room.

Bring back the canal narrowboat !!

MichaelG.