• The move to the new server is done. There are some software and database maintenance updates in process. This has us passing the hat around to help out. We appreciate any donations. Seriously, even a dollar helps. The payment page may be found here - https://www.audiokarma.org/support.html

How much to pack speakers?

Is this a low, normal or high price for packing?

  • Low

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Normal

    Votes: 10 83.3%

  • High

    Votes: 2 16.7%
  • Total voters
    12
oldboats

oldboats

Iron Pyrite Ear
So - I am dealing on four large speakers. The guy had them listed as local pickup only, but when I talked to him about it he said that he just preferred local deals so that people could look things over and test them before buying, plus no packing is required. Don't we all prefer that?
He said he is running a business, and perfectly willing to pack them.
To pack them he said that he would build plywood crates around them after wrapping them with 2" house foam. I thought that sounded excellent, it is more than was done for the last two sets of speakers I had shipped and they survived great. If anything it was overkill, but I was not going to complain about his being careful.
Problem is, when I got home and checked my email he sent me a message that he was going to need $500 to cover his materials and time to pack them up.
I already told him that I would arrange and fully cover shipping costs, so that is not a factor.
Now like I said, these are large (although perhaps not monstrous by this forum's standards) - each speaker is about 3' x 3' x 20" and weigh 92 lbs. He said that he was only comfortable packing them individually, so I would be looking at two pallets with two speaker crates each, weighing in upwards of 800 lbs or so when all the packing material was added.
Am I crazy, is he crazy, is this reasonable for packing them up?
It seems way higher than I expected. I was thinking $100 for materials and likewise for his time.
So for guys that have done this - what would you think is fair to charge just for the packing?
 
Register to hide this ad
So, he's building four custom wooden shipping crates, each bigger than 3'x3'x20", sturdy enough to ship a fragile 100 pound item, buy 200sq feet of 2" padding and two pallets, design and assemble it. If he put two speakers in each box, it would weigh close to 250 pounds.

Have you considered a UHAUL and a long weekend roadtrip?
 
Cost me roughly $120 in materials when I built crates for 1 pair of speakers half that size.

I considered the labor and materials a gift as that was the only way I would ship them and nobody would pay my labor anyhow. Explination below...

Vintage audio collectors will spend thousands on a pair of speakers but will pinch every penny possible on shipping. This is the only market that I'm aware of which displays this phenomenon.

Fine art? People gladly pay crating fees. Antique furniture? People gladly pay crating fees. Collectible vintage audio equipment? Fat chance...

Shipping is not cheap! <- Not necessarily directed toward you...

Though you are in a conundrum of sorts, he has what you want. You pay or you don't play.
 
It's a lot of money but considering the size, time and amount of material sounds not unreasonable.
 
You have asked him to do something he doesn't want to do,
you need to pay a premium for his service,
it sounds like he is doing a excellent job of packing.
 
To me this is why the question of "what speaker should I buy" is so difficult. You may find what I recommend but it costs a fortune to ship. I don't think the seller is crazy. Better than paying $100 and getting wrecked speakers. Maybe you are lucky, maybe not. Sorry you need to pay or go get them.

I would consider how much it costs to fly there and rent a truck.
 
Properly packing speakers takes a lot of time. Building crates to support the shipment, plus packing materials etc. takes even more time. I don't think he's being unreasonable. It's more than I would charge but that's because like HyKlas said I consider my time and labour a gift - that doesn't mean it has to be that way, though.
 
The price is high but there is a lot of work involved, and I don't think it's unreasonable and similar to what I've seen other people pay for this sort of thing. If you brought them to Fedex and asked them to pack them, it would probably cost you more and they probably wouldn't do as good a job (this guy sounds like he knows what he's doing).

Now whether it's worth the price, that's up to you. Personally I'd only consider buying speakers that are local unless the seller has the original crates, but in my area there are so many speakers for sale, you just need to wait and something good will come along. When I'm in the market for equipment I try not to get hung up on one particular item; there's such a huge assortment of stuff available.
 
His prices actually aren't too far out. If you REALLY like these speakers, then getting the wooden crate built around them is a MUST. Our business deals with B2C furniture sales, we ship LTL all the time. They make their money by putting your stuff at risk by determining what they can stack on top of what to maximize the space being used in the truck.

If your speakers are just plastic wrapped and on pallets, they will look like an excellent candidate for holding up a sofa or two.

I would recommend calling UPS Freight and see if they are able to pick up - pack - and deliver the freight for you. Their packing standards for Freight is very good, they might be able to give you a better deal, and will deliver within a week and a half.

Standard LTL is usually 3-4 weeks from pick up to delivery for us. The best option is obviously to go pick it up yourself if you can.
 
And this is the exact reason I always respond to the "What speakers should I buy" questions with "The best speakers you can find locally to your area."

I spend an inordinate amount packing anything and the larger/heavier, the more time/materials it takes to do it well. I agree with the consensus of the other posters here. Packing/shipping, especially large items (x4 in this case) is not at all cheap and you definitely want them well packaged for the trip.
 
I would assume these speakers were originally worth $5,000. Why wouldn't you want to pay $500 to have them packed? With four three foot by three foot by two foot speakers that weigh 100 pounds each, you are GUARANTEED at least one will be damaged if they are not in custom built shipping crates. There is a small risk, even with great packing.
 
$500 sound high at first glance.
But the time and materials and work involved adds up fast.
He is basically building 4 more speaker cabs.
Pay it, tell him to do a good job and once unpacked, cut holes in them, paint them black. fill them with drivers and crossovers and sell them as "homebrew" party speakers.
 
Last edited:
Okay - guys. I appreciate all the responses.
I have bought some of these before, and everything has to be shipped to me because the closest marketplace with any selection is 250 miles away. I can do that, but the stuff I want does not stay available long enough for me to get down there.
The last two times I had large speakers shipped to me they made it without incident, but I don't know if that was luck or not. One person just wrapped them with several layers of plastic, soft foam and cardboard. The other packed them in 1" thick cardboard, then put 1/4" wood around that.
From what I have seen with the LTL stuff that my work gets in (wholesale outfit) either things make it fine or not crate would have saved it. The usual problem is an errant high fork - and the crate will not slow down a forklift.
He called me today and adjusted his price without my prompting, so I think he realized it was a fair bit of cash to outlay for crating. He also admitted that he had not understood that I would want them on pallets when done, and that having them on the pallet would save him a lot on time and materials.
Now I am just awaiting his pricing on some of the other pieces before I get him paid and arrange for them to be picked up.
I do appreciate the responses, guys - I just had a hard time imagining it taking more than $100 in materials and an hour each to pack them, so $100/hour to pack them seemed pretty steep.
He actually came down to the price I had thought was reasonable to pay for packing in the first place.
Now I just have to hope that it all works out and the LTL company doesn't "ship" the bed.
Lastly - for anyone who is going to send something like this LTL - mark the pallet with full page printed sheets on all sides that state the following:
FRAGILE:
TOP LOAD ONLY.
DO NOT DOUBLE STACK.
HIGH CLAIM ITEM.
LTL companies, unlike parcel common carriers take it somewhat seriously.
 
It took me THREE FRIGGIN hours to double pack a pair of Realistic Mach ones. Not to mention the purchase of four foot high bag of peanuts, boxes, tape, 24" painter edge tool and a lot of sore knees. Custom crimping, lifting speakers in & out a dozen times to make sure it was perfect.
I'll NEVER do it again. But it was a good learning experience and the speakers got there in perfect shape.
 
Glad you have it all set... Now what are they?!

As per the time involved... See below. Measurements were taken, a sketch was drawn, then 68 pieces of wood were measured, cut, pre-drilled, and screwed together. Probably close to 10 hours... And now they sit in my garage, unused, since I never ended up shipping them. :rflmao: :crazy:
 

Attachments

  • 20160717_192537~2.jpg
    20160717_192537~2.jpg
    95.8 KB · Views: 38
Honestly if you want my opinion I can shed some light on what I've done.

Like most I've packed and shipped very large items and small ones. I've also had things shipped to me and it's always a gamble since we never know what they consider "good packing".

I personally purchased a pair of Heathkit Legato's and had them uship'd to me at the grand total of 300 bucks. No damage, no issues and I even had them brought into my home and setup. I have also shipped some very rare speakers that were well over 150lbs each from here to New York. That ran 500 bones to his door and in his living room with no damage.

So there are some really good options and honestly I don't trust UPS/FedEX anymore. Especially when it comes to large, rate, fragile anything. This is much like hiring a specialized company that is licensed and insured to ensure you are covered.

Just my two cents but the cost of packing, supplies and so on can be very costly and laborious. I've done it o the cheap and ended up cutting the supplies at a loss to make sure it's done right.
 
I think your 100$ materials estimate is way too low but maybe building supplies are much cheaper in your neck of the woods.

A single sheet of plywood is $30-35 around here.

A 2' x 8' sheet of 2" foam is $32.

Plus, when time buying materials, transporting materials, building the crates, and arranging for pickup by the carrier are all factored in, you've probably got at least 3-4 hours into the project.
 
Last edited:
$500 for 4 large speakers is (to me) no big deal. I have paid as much as $300 to have a single pair shipped to me (properly packed and insured). Sounds like he knows what challenge he is up for in terms of properly packing and shipping, and they should arrive intact. This is why it is often hard to sell large/heavy items--because the proper packing and shipping actually does take a lot of time and money, hence the "local pick-up only" listings that are so prevalent.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom