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Thread: Best way to ship 250 pounds of shot???

  1. #21
    Boolit Master
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    I have shipped a lot of boxes that have extra fibered tape when mailing lead or reloadable brass. Never a negative comment because I usually stop at 50-55 pounds. I use the same post office so there is less chance for misunderstanding. The only comments I get are ones commenting that the box is prepared to arrive intact no matter what. And when a 75 year old man puts the 50 pound box on the scale, there is not a lot of whining by the clerk. I feel sorry for those that have less than cooperative mail clerks. Maybe I am just lucky.

  2. #22
    Boolit Grand Master

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    I've never been turned down for having too much tape.

  3. #23
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dusty Bannister View Post
    I have shipped a lot of boxes that have extra fibered tape when mailing lead or reloadable brass. Never a negative comment because I usually stop at 50-55 pounds. I use the same post office so there is less chance for misunderstanding. The only comments I get are ones commenting that the box is prepared to arrive intact no matter what. And when a 75 year old man puts the 50 pound box on the scale, there is not a lot of whining by the clerk. I feel sorry for those that have less than cooperative mail clerks. Maybe I am just lucky.
    The only thing I am going to say is "you obviously don't live in a city".

  4. #24
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    If they can pack the empty space with newspaper or better yet plastic shopping bags so the shot bags can't just flop around and bust through the box. Or with a soft bag they might be more likely to have the bag burst than the contents punching through the box they way ingots will. Just stuff a few wadded bags or wadded news sheets under the 2 shot bags, more packed on top. Dampens the bags ability to jump around.

    Drop ship to a residential can sometimes be crazy expensive. Price might well be better to do a customer pick up at the local shipping warehouse if you go the commercial carrier route. With those you would probably need a pallet or crate I would think.

    There is a sticky in swapping and selling on taping but seams with fiberglass tape. Sides and top with clear tape. Might arrive closer to round box than square but it will still be intact.
    Scrap.... because all the really pithy and emphatic four letter words were taken and we had to describe this source of casting material somehow so we added an "S" to what non casters and wives call what we collect.

    Kind of hard to claim to love America while one is hating half the Americans that disagree with you. One nation indivisible requires work.

    Feedback page http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...light=RogerDat

  5. #25
    Boolit Master
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    Ah but I do, I just try to get to know the folks on a personal basis and things generally go very smoothly. They know what is going and they are well warned if the box is heavy. A little consideration seems to go a long way. And when I got back from errands this afternoon a small box was placed between the storm door and the front door, out of the weather. May not work for every one, but seems to work very well for me.

  6. #26
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dusty Bannister View Post
    Ah but I do, I just try to get to know the folks on a personal basis and things generally go very smoothly. They know what is going and they are well warned if the box is heavy. A little consideration seems to go a long way. And when I got back from errands this afternoon a small box was placed between the storm door and the front door, out of the weather. May not work for every one, but seems to work very well for me.
    Hear Hear...You should teach the young folks...I do the same thing but have moved a bit in the past 20 years and don't often have the opportunity to get to know folks in big places.

  7. #27
    Boolit Grand Master In Remembrance
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    Glad you're covered. I've shipped some heavy stuff (3 55 gallon drums full of horribly heavy ore, on a pallet, Gordon Trucking happily hauled that for us.) And some less heavy (Greyhound was, then at least, hauling freight in their luggage areas under their buses.)

  8. #28
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    Quote Originally Posted by Traffer View Post
    The only thing I am going to say is "you obviously don't live in a city".
    Then make a formal complaint to the post master general. All post offices have the same rules even the not us liberal city ones.

    Take that from them is on you.

    Post masters and employees do not like remedial training for delaying commerce and the post. They will get retrained then it becomes a post inspectors domain when they continue. That means firing and loss of benefits and PENSION.

  9. #29
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    Quote Originally Posted by Geezer in NH View Post
    Then make a formal complaint to the post master general. All post offices have the same rules even the not us liberal city ones.

    Take that from them is on you.

    Post masters and employees do not like remedial training for delaying commerce and the post. They will get retrained then it becomes a post inspectors domain when they continue. That means firing and loss of benefits and PENSION.
    This is good to know and taken into consideration...wish I had known this many years ago.

  10. #30
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    A couple of years ago or so, I sold some solder rolls that I was never going to use. Used a Medium Flat Rate box. Used 1/8'' plyboard top and bottom and extra cardboard on each side. Taped it with the filament tape in all directions. I weighed it before I took it to the post office. Came in at just over 69 lbs. I informed the clerk what I had and she directed me to the back dock and had a hand truck waiting. I loaded it on the truck, paid the lady and was off.

    Of course, I live in a small town. I've had a few problems, but very few.
    John
    W.TN

  11. #31
    Boolit Master 44magLeo's Avatar
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    If I'm within a few hundred miles of such a deal I go fetch it myself.
    My car gets good mileage and for trips of that length can be done cheaper than shipping.
    In my car at the gas prices around me that trip would cost me about $35.
    Go fetch it yourself.
    Leo

  12. #32
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    Quote Originally Posted by downzero View Post
    No they can't. If it fits, it ships. 70 pounds. All postal employees, even custodians, have to be able to lift 70 pounds for that reason.
    The employee was very polite. This was a small flat rate box with ten pounds of pewter in it. Not very heavy. I had wrapped clear packing tape around it twice. She informed me that it could only be taped on the seams and flaps. What I had done is “encased” the box with tape, by their definition.

    Here is a link to an explanation on the USPS website. I disagree with their “tape” policy. However, the clerk did not lie as some have implied.

    https://about.usps.com/postal-bullet...l/updt_002.htm

    JM

  13. #33
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    Quote Originally Posted by JM7.7x58 View Post
    The employee was very polite. This was a small flat rate box with ten pounds of pewter in it. Not very heavy. I had wrapped clear packing tape around it twice. She informed me that it could only be taped on the seams and flaps. What I had done is “encased” the box with tape, by their definition.

    Here is a link to an explanation on the USPS website. I disagree with their “tape” policy. However, the clerk did not lie as some have implied.

    https://about.usps.com/postal-bullet...l/updt_002.htm

    JM
    Thanks for posting that link...Now we know!

  14. #34
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    I'm getting 60# of ww ingots delivered in a flat rate box. The guy uses expanding foam in the box to cushion the ingots which are wrapped in plastic.

  15. #35
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    Quote Originally Posted by djohns28 View Post
    As a matter of dumb luck, the shipper is close to a facility that I have trucks through fairly frequently. The shipper has agreed to meet a driver and have the driver bring it back. Gonna take a little longer to coordinate that way but at the end of the day will be more secure, better cared for, easier on the shipper, and cheaper. I'm patient lol..
    /\That's a BIG WIN ! /\

    On another note, I don't know the rules and weight limits but someone mentioned Greyhound as a shipping method. There was a time when Greyhound was a great secret in the shipping world. They were not point to point, someone had to go to the bus station on both ends of the journey, but they were often the least expensive method.

  16. #36
    Boolit Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by JM7.7x58 View Post
    The employee was very polite. This was a small flat rate box with ten pounds of pewter in it. Not very heavy. I had wrapped clear packing tape around it twice. She informed me that it could only be taped on the seams and flaps. What I had done is “encased” the box with tape, by their definition.

    Here is a link to an explanation on the USPS website. I disagree with their “tape” policy. However, the clerk did not lie as some have implied.

    https://about.usps.com/postal-bullet...l/updt_002.htm

    JM
    Be that as it may, I've shipped 60+# of lead in MFRB's many times that were always encased in clear tape (with an internal plywood box providing the main support and protection) with the only complaint from the postal worker being "I'm not lifting that with my bad back!" (She had another worker take them).

    I note that the language of that USPS document says "should not", not "must not" or "can not", so maybe it depends on how picky the local PO staff is feeling that day.

    And I second the idea of double bagging, having received boxes of bullets and brass that got holed in transit with loss of contents the end result. I've seen bags of shot with the fabric so old and rotted that they'd split open just on being picked up, let alone taking the beating they'd get in transit.

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check