Author Topic: Shipping a TKL? (Read 3659 times)

lightsout714 · « **on:** Mon, 20 February 2012, 09:03:04 »

I see people saying they fit in a flat rate box (shipping a filco)

Is a large flat rate box what most people use? Looks like it will need some packing material as its a decent amount bigger.

lightsout714 · « **Reply #1 on:** Mon, 20 February 2012, 11:04:42 »

Large flat rate it is?

FKSSR · « **Reply #2 on:** Mon, 20 February 2012, 15:33:35 »

Personally, I recommend building your own box, if you have anything laying around that you can tape together. It doesn't have to be pretty. That option will be cheaper than a flat rate box, based on my experience.

IvanIvanovich · « **Reply #3 on:** Mon, 20 February 2012, 15:39:55 »

There is the boardgame box, but they never have them at the post office, you have to request one on the website. I just use whatever box I happen to have around personally, and ship parcel post since it is usually cheaper.

lightsout714 · « **Reply #4 on:** Mon, 20 February 2012, 15:44:43 »

I prefer to ship priority and so does the person I am trading with. I just recently got rid of all my boxes as I didn't think I was going to be shipping any keyboards. Oh well.

IvanIvanovich · « **Reply #5 on:** Mon, 20 February 2012, 16:20:28 »

I used to work for USPS as a mail clerk at one of the large midwest hubs. There is absolutely no difference to the way a package is handled and 'priority' does not get any special treatment at all. It all goes through the same sort facilities at the same time and 90% of it is automated. Priority is a total scam. The only thing that gets special handling is next day, and even then there is no guarantee it will actually be next day. If you are needing tracking, you can always buy it on top of parcel post/first class for domestic mail and it is still far cheaper than priority price.

RiGS · « **Reply #6 on:** Mon, 20 February 2012, 16:26:33 »

Quote from: lysol;519867

I used to work for USPS as a mail clerk at one of the large midwest hubs. There is absolutely no difference to the way a package is handled and 'priority' does not get any special treatment at all. It all goes through the same sort facilities at the same time and 90% of it is automated. Priority is a total scam. The only thing that gets special handling is next day, and even then there is no guarantee it will actually be next day. If you are needing tracking, you can always buy it on top of parcel post/first class for domestic mail and it is still far cheaper than priority price.

Thanks, very useful post!

Edit: Does the same apply to international shipping? First class mail packages usually take 3 weeks to deliver to Hungary, while priority mail packages usually take 6-10 days.

lightsout714 · « **Reply #7 on:** Mon, 20 February 2012, 16:34:19 »

Quote from: lysol;519867

I used to work for USPS as a mail clerk at one of the large midwest hubs. There is absolutely no difference to the way a package is handled and 'priority' does not get any special treatment at all. It all goes through the same sort facilities at the same time and 90% of it is automated. Priority is a total scam. The only thing that gets special handling is next day, and even then there is no guarantee it will actually be next day. If you are needing tracking, you can always buy it on top of parcel post/first class for domestic mail and it is still far cheaper than priority price.

Idk man. Parcel Post lags. And priority always is pretty fast. Not saying your wrong. But I've had some bad experiences with pp. Priority is pretty much 3 days anywhere in the US.

IvanIvanovich · « **Reply #8 on:** Mon, 20 February 2012, 19:40:53 »

International varies... it all depends on the destination country. Some countries honor what priority / first class is supposed to mean, others may not. I've noticed some places seem to put anything international on the slow over local mail or have more stringent customs checks which cause delay. I have never sent anything to Hungary, but Germany, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and France seem to make no difference if it's first class or priority with a 5-8 days average for either. Russia and Italy may delay mail for weeks or even months regardless.
In the USA it is a 3-4 day average for all mail. If there is a delay it is usually caused by your local carrier station.

Kokin · « **Reply #9 on:** Tue, 21 February 2012, 03:14:03 »

First-class is pretty fast. I shipped out some RAM last Tuesday from California to Atlanta, Georgia and the person got it by Thursday. Same for a pair of Sennheiser headphones I bought from someone in So-Cal (I live in Nor-Cal), it came within two days. I do get Priority, if First-class isn't an option though, since Parcel tends to take a little longer.

WhiteFireDragon · « **Reply #10 on:** Tue, 21 February 2012, 03:37:45 »

lightsout714, a TKL keyboard with retail box fits perfectly into a medium flat rate box (the flatter, wider one, not the square one). For keyboards of this weight, it's almost always cheaper to ship by the $10 medium flat rate than to package it yourself and ship it priority. The only exception is if you're shipping within California (or same state), then it'll be a few bucks cheaper to package it in your own box if you're not lazy. This is from person experience. And I'm shipping out 5 TKL keyboards internationally this week, but they're custom packaged because priority flat rate international costs too much. If you need exact weights on a Filco/CM quickfire TKL, here are the exact weights, weighed with a micro scale:

TKL keyboard only: 34.88 oz
retail box + accessories: 11.88 oz
packaging box and padding: ~10 oz (this will vary, depending how box size and density, and what kind of padding is used)

TOTAL weight is 3.55 pounds (56.76 oz). I will post pics later of how nicely TKL retail box fits inside a USPS medium flat rate box.

RiGS · « **Reply #11 on:** Tue, 21 February 2012, 04:35:55 »

Quote from: lysol;520020

International varies... it all depends on the destination country. Some countries honor what priority / first class is supposed to mean, others may not. I've noticed some places seem to put anything international on the slow over local mail or have more stringent customs checks which cause delay. I have never sent anything to Hungary, but Germany, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and France seem to make no difference if it's first class or priority with a 5-8 days average for either. Russia and Italy may delay mail for weeks or even months regardless.
In the USA it is a 3-4 day average for all mail. If there is a delay it is usually caused by your local carrier station.

Thanks, that explains.

lightsout714 · « **Reply #12 on:** Tue, 21 February 2012, 08:47:59 »

Quote from: WhiteFireDragon;520506

lightsout714, a TKL keyboard with retail box fits perfectly into a medium flat rate box (the flatter, wider one, not the square one). For keyboards of this weight, it's almost always cheaper to ship by the $10 medium flat rate than to package it yourself and ship it priority. The only exception is if you're shipping within California (or same state), then it'll be a few bucks cheaper to package it in your own box if you're not lazy. This is from person experience. And I'm shipping out 5 TKL keyboards internationally this week, but they're custom packaged because priority flat rate international costs too much. If you need exact weights on a Filco/CM quickfire TKL, here are the exact weights, weighed with a micro scale:

TKL keyboard only: 34.88 oz
retail box + accessories: 11.88 oz
packaging box and padding: ~10 oz (this will vary, depending how box size and density, and what kind of padding is used)

TOTAL weight is 3.55 pounds (56.76 oz). I will post pics later of how nicely TKL retail box fits inside a USPS medium flat rate box.

I have been reading this. I thought I tried it before but that was with a noppoo. My MJ2 filco box is just under 15". The USPS site shows the medium flat rate at 13 5/8". I have crammed stuff in them before so I guess thats what you need to do. Thanks a lot saved me some money.

FKSSR · « **Reply #13 on:** Tue, 21 February 2012, 09:22:10 »

Yeah, I feel like the Medium flat-rate boxes would be too small, but I guess it depends on the packaging of the keyboard. Some good info in this thread, however, I definitely have seen faster ship times from Priority than First Class. Perhaps that is just my area or something.

lightsout714 · « **Reply #14 on:** Tue, 21 February 2012, 10:08:00 »

So a filco definitely does not fit in any medium flat rate box. At usps right now. Only flat rate was the game box which is way too big but oh well.

lightsout714 · « **Reply #15 on:** Tue, 21 February 2012, 11:16:02 »

It was huge but it was that or buy a padded envelope. I just stuffed a bunch of stuff in there. Should be fine.

WhiteFireDragon · « **Reply #16 on:** Tue, 21 February 2012, 13:11:05 »

Quote from: lightsout714;520593

I have been reading this. I thought I tried it before but that was with a noppoo. My MJ2 filco box is just under 15". The USPS site shows the medium flat rate at 13 5/8". I have crammed stuff in them before so I guess thats what you need to do. Thanks a lot saved me some money.

Quote from: FKSSR;520611

Yeah, I feel like the Medium flat-rate boxes would be too small, but I guess it depends on the packaging of the keyboard. Some good info in this thread, however, I definitely have seen faster ship times from Priority than First Class. Perhaps that is just my area or something.

Quote from: lightsout714;520643

So a filco definitely does not fit in any medium flat rate box. At usps right now. Only flat rate was the game box which is way too big but oh well.

You probably picked up the wrong flat rate box. Here are pictures as promised. Filco dimensions and retail box is the exact same as the CM QuickFire. This is a USPS medium flat rate priority box I just picked up last week from the post office for free:

Showing the width of the box. There's about half an inch extra space on each side, just enough for padding.

CM QuickFire and Filco stacked on top of each other. They're the same size.

lightsout714 · « **Reply #17 on:** Tue, 21 February 2012, 13:18:57 »

Got a link to that box on the website? They list two medium flat rates and neither are that long.

funnyj · « **Reply #18 on:** Tue, 21 February 2012, 22:52:05 »

I'm wondering if that's my TKL you're shipping out

asdf · « **Reply #19 on:** Tue, 21 February 2012, 23:07:34 »

Quote from: lightsout714;520878

Got a link to that box on the website? They list two medium flat rates and neither are that long.

probably this guy https://store.usps.com/store/browse/uspsProductDetailMultiSkuDropDown.jsp?&productId=P_O_FRB2&categoryId=subcatMSS_PriorityMail

alaricljs · « **Reply #20 on:** Tue, 21 February 2012, 23:12:58 »

I'd put money on this one: https://store.usps.com/store/browse/uspsProductDetailMultiSkuDropDown.jsp?categoryNav=false&navAction=jump&navCount=5&productId=P_O_1095&categoryId=subcatMSS_PriorityMail

lightsout714 · « **Reply #21 on:** Wed, 22 February 2012, 00:17:08 »

Yup that looks good i should order some. They had 3 medium flat rates and none worked. That must be an uncommon one.

alaricljs · « **Reply #22 on:** Wed, 22 February 2012, 09:29:05 »

The irritating part is... what rate do you get charged on the box I linked? Is it Large? Certainly doesn't say on the box and also that boxes dimensions aren't listed in the flat rate schedule.

lightsout714 · « **Reply #23 on:** Wed, 22 February 2012, 10:58:53 »

Looks like a medium but idk.

FKSSR · « **Reply #24 on:** Wed, 22 February 2012, 11:24:13 »

Yeah, is that really considered Medium?? It doesn't say that on the site, right? Unless I missed it...

fstop · « **Reply #25 on:** Wed, 22 February 2012, 12:07:44 »

I can post up pics of my medium in a bit... The only one that's offered at my post office. It's about 2-3 inches too short to fit TKL box in.

lightsout714 · « **Reply #26 on:** Wed, 22 February 2012, 12:51:20 »

Yup all the standard mediums don't work.

News:

Author Topic: Shipping a TKL? (Read 3659 times)