This Is How We Do It: Ship Really Big Stuff

The Problem

If I were to ask you how you would ship a book across the country, you would most likely say the US Postal Service, FedEx, or UPS right? Of course because those three companies handle the vast majority of everyday shipping needs in the United States. Easy enough, but what if I needed you to move something bigger, like a piano, a large conference table, or even…a half dozen full grown trees? 

The Story

My wife and I got a weekend house in upstate New York and wanted to get some trees for our property. We found some very beautiful Colorado Spruce trees that were a mix or blues and greens. They were each 12 feet tall, about 6 feet around and weighed in at a hefty 2300 pounds each. We were planning on getting 6 of them. The only issue, they were at a nursery 200 miles away. I’m not in the shipping business and was admittedly at a bit of a loss as to how we would arrange to get the trees from point A to point B.

The Solution

This is where uShip comes in. Just as with Elance, you post a shipment you need to make. The common categories include, cars, boats, agriculture, and heavy equipment but you can post pretty much anything. They definitely didn’t have a tree category but that didn’t stop me. Once you post your request, independent truckers will bid on your job. You also have the option of setting a price and speeding up the whole process. It’s a win/win situation for everyone because usually the trucker is using a truck on an empty leg so they pick up an extra job and you get a great price on your shipment. Providers have feedback and the site provides tools for payment and tracking. You can request a truck with a built in forklift if you can’t arrange to have one at both ends of the job. In the end I was able to get my job done for $650 and the process could not have been smoother.

If You Only Walk Away With One Thing

If you’ve got a shipment way to big for any standard shipper, post it on uShip, choose a shipper, and you’re done.