UK -> CANADA shipping

February 25, 2010 9:24 PM

Best/Cheapest/Safest way to ship a musical instrument from the UK to Canada?

Specifically, I need to have a friend ship an acoustic bass guitar from Canterbury to Vancouver. Not too concerned about speed (but, say, within a month I'm sure). What are my options here?

There's a couple of older questions that are relevant but times change, and I'm sure shipping companies come and go. Wondering if anyone has any good or bad recent experiences to report. Thanks all!

posted by mannequito to Travel & Transportation (5 answers total)

All major carriers assume you've packed it well enough to ship and will have someone who doesn't make a lot of money tossing things around at some point in the mix.

Do you have a hardshell case for it?

What you'll probably need is a giant cardboard box & lots of foam inserts to keep it away from the edges of the box. I used to work in a factory & the shipping department there had giant cardboard sheets & could make a cardboard box in any shape.

Visit your local guitar store to see if they sell anything that could work.

I don't think they make Flight Cases for acoustic bass guitars. The only thing I've seen that comes close is Case Xtreme, or any of a handful of other custom cases that will only be more expensive. It's probably too pricey to consider for a single shipment, though.

But think of the design there - stiff outer box, foam inserts to keep the thing from moving around. Look at that design & work backwards with materials you can easily acquire.

Then ship Fed Ex or UPS or DHL or via the postal service, it won't matter as long as it's packed well.
posted by MesoFilter at 10:42 PM on February 25, 2010

Fed Ex or UPS or DHL or via the postal service

The Post Office will be two to three times more expensive than the courier companies. Well into three figures. Even DHL will be well over a hundred pounds. Is this more than the value of the instrument?

When I moved from Oregon to the UK, I had my stuff sea freighted home. It took several months but wasn't terribly expensive. Look to someone like GBS for this although I've not used them. I do know some Aussies and Kiwis who've used Excess Baggage when moving home - you might also trawl Gumtree for an answer to this question.
posted by dmt at 2:13 AM on February 26, 2010

dmt: "Fed Ex or UPS or DHL or via the postal service

The Post Office will be two to three times more expensive than the courier companies. Well into three figures. Even DHL will be well over a hundred pounds. Is this more than the value of the instrument?"

I'm not sure where you get that idea. Using a discount courier reseller, you should be able to get it easily under £100. Calculate the dimensional weight of the packaged instrument (maybe just over 10kg?) and use Money Saving Expert to find the cheapest service for your package.

In general, if the post office offers an international service, it's not at all uncommon for it to be cheaper than couriers' list prices (when it is, it's much cheaper) and I've never seen a price 3 times that offered by DHL et al. However, using the brokers, you can usually cut the list prices in half.
posted by turkeyphant at 4:23 AM on February 26, 2010

I'm not sure where you get that idea.

I bought a pair of wing mirrors for my Civic off eBay from the States. Turns out (d'oh) that US and Euro Civics are different shapes.

Tried to return via the Post Office - £60. DHL was about £30 odd. Tried the brokers - same price as going direct to the couriers. Prices seemed to get very expensive very quickly as packages got bigger/heavier hence my three figures estimate but I'm by no means an expert. YMMV.
posted by dmt at 7:59 AM on February 26, 2010

I have used Worlwide Parcel Services to the Far East many times and have always been happy with both price and service.
posted by Dr.Pill at 12:53 PM on February 26, 2010