Ship a 400 lb package to be held for pickup in Laredo

June 17, 2021 9:04 PM

I need to ship a 400 lb package to Laredo, Texas to be held for up to a week so someone can pick it up for me. Are there companies that specialize in this kind of thing? I could ship it to some friends in Texas and have them drive it down on the day but I would prefer to skip the complication.
posted by Tell Me No Lies to Travel & Transportation (9 answers total)

When I did work for FedEx at their sports marketing agency and needed to guarantee something would be in town for me when I flew in, I would send it to a FedEx location/distribution center and ask them to hold for in person pickup. Not sure if that’s offered on ground services, but it seems like it should be.
posted by icaicaer at 9:18 PM on June 17, 2021

Best answer: I think the term for which you seek is 'receiver'. You ship it to them and they will store it until you request it. They generally handle things like high end furniture deliveries for designers and for art work. I have no idea if Loredo is large enough or active enough to have a receiver business, but I would look into it. Sometimes moving companies also act as receivers.

FedEx and UPS would also likely hold something for pickup for a limited time.
posted by AugustWest at 9:36 PM on June 17, 2021

Best answer: A 400 lb parcel is solidly in the freight shipping category and the companies are more specialized and offer different options than consumer delivery services. Ups/FedEx max out at 150lbs.

Ups freight farms this out to a third party company, I wouldn't be surprised if FedEx does as well, which means the normal FedEx and ups depot's probably aren't an option.

And at that weight I expect it needs to be on a pallet/something, no one is carrying it off the truck. You might even be required to have loading docks at both delivery ends.

You need to call/email some freight "less than truckload"/ltl companies for your options. Ups says who they use on their page. Unclear if FedEx is in-house or not.
posted by TheAdamist at 2:54 AM on June 18, 2021 [2 favorites]

I believe DHL will hold a shipment for pickup.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:09 AM on June 18, 2021

I use YRC for my (infrequent) LTL shipping needs, and I see they have a terminal in Laredo. I would contact their customer service, my guess is they'd be able to hold it for you if you shipped through them. I have found them to be responsive and easy to work with.
posted by zibra at 6:07 AM on June 18, 2021 [2 favorites]

A few years ago, I found a carrier for a similarly large item (a motorcycle, in my case) through Uship. It’s kind of like an ebay for freight. You post a shipping job and carriers can bid on it. Very caveat emptor, but it worked out for me and a couple of other people I know.
posted by rodlymight at 7:44 AM on June 18, 2021

GoShare is like Uber for moving stuff instead of people, but I don't think they would be able to hold something for you.
posted by Dansaman at 5:09 PM on June 18, 2021

Greyhound Package Express or Busfreighter might work for you - they will hold stuff at the terminal so you can pick it up. Haven’t priced their services in a long time, but they used to be substantially cheaper than other services.
posted by ortoLANparty at 5:58 PM on June 19, 2021

Response by poster: Thanks, all. All the answers were great. I marked the two that gave me the magic words I needed to do some extra research myself.

Indirectly they led me to someone who has an address in Laredo and shepherds freight across the border and down to my city. So, problem solved.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 9:04 AM on June 21, 2021