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Shipping Costs

rv8pilotpaul

Active Member
Anybody have any issues with Con-Way shipping? They charged me $455 for the empenage kit (one box) while ABF only charged me $312 for the wing kit which had two heavy boxes.
 
Emp Delivery

The emp cost me 200 shipped to El Paso, TX?west west texas.

I had trouble with the local delivery people scheduling, that and someone was kind enough to include a hole in my crate from a forklift blade.

Aside from that no issues.
 
I'd check with Vans to see what they expected shipping to be. When my 10 empennage recently arrived, the shipping company wanted over $600. That seemed high, so I called and spoke with Vans shipping folks, who contacted their rep.

It took a few days to sort it out, but my shipping bill went from $600+ to $227..... definitely worth the phone call!
 
Both my Empennage and the wings were shipped FEDEX freight. Not sure about the exact costs at the moment, but your costs do seem high.
 
con-way shipping

Con-way poked a hole in my wing box too. Didn't know that damage must be noted on bill of lating(?) to collect on a claim. 3 wing skins ruined! Vans helped in replacing them, but it still cost me about $125. Still not sure how I was supposed to inspect the bottom of the box when it was delivered.:(
 
Damage

I didn't have any damage with Con-Way, but other people in our area have. One fellow, building a Zenith CH-750 had 2 shipments by them with significant damage.
 
i use YRC, They are completely unreliable in the time department but I have a fantastic rate program with them. It cost me $184 for the 10 empenage kit to be shipped to CT
 
Tony Partain. They know what they are doing, know the value of aircraft parts, are very careful with securing and moving the cargo. Cost competitive also!
 
Partain

Yep - Partain - they only ship aircraft, kits, etc. as far as I know.

No holes in the sides of the shipping boxes - no forklifts I guess. I am a very satisfied Partain customer.
 
Tell them not to use Conway and they won't!

So on my RV-12 Empennage kit they shipped via Conway. Let me tell you guys, NEVER again will I allow them to ship via Conway. They called the day before to confirm a delivery time between 8-11am so I stayed home from work and anxiously awaited my first kit, then by noon I called Conway and they said, oh the driver decided to put your stuff on for the last delivery and he should be there around 5pm. I explained that I needed to run to an appointment and that I could not accept delivery until 5:30pm.

What happens next? Well Conway shows up at 4:30 and thankfully my neighbor helped the guy carry the kit up the 400ft driveway. Oh, but it gets better, since shipping has to be paid on delivery, he started banging on the door to get my wife to answer (which woke up her and our newborn) to get paid...

Needless to say when I got home at 5:15 thinking I had 15 minutes to be ready for the guy, my wife was none to happy.

Lesson learned? When you order specify you don't want Conway and they will use one of the others. My -12 wing kit is coming via Fedex freight on Monday morning so I am hoping to avoid the same fiasco.
 
Conway

Amen to that. Van's told me if I had called them about the high Conway charge they would have done something about it. Is this anyway to run deliveries to your customers?
 
So on my RV-12 Empennage kit they shipped via Conway. Let me tell you guys, NEVER again will I allow them to ship via Conway. They called the day before to confirm a delivery time between 8-11am so I stayed home from work and anxiously awaited my first kit, then by noon I called Conway and they said, oh the driver decided to put your stuff on for the last delivery and he should be there around 5pm. I explained that I needed to run to an appointment and that I could not accept delivery until 5:30pm.

What happens next? Well Conway shows up at 4:30 and thankfully my neighbor helped the guy carry the kit up the 400ft driveway. Oh, but it gets better, since shipping has to be paid on delivery, he started banging on the door to get my wife to answer (which woke up her and our newborn) to get paid...

Needless to say when I got home at 5:15 thinking I had 15 minutes to be ready for the guy, my wife was none to happy.

Lesson learned? When you order specify you don't want Conway and they will use one of the others. My -12 wing kit is coming via Fedex freight on Monday morning so I am hoping to avoid the same fiasco.

I agree that it sounds like you got jacked around a bit with them changing from morning to afternoon with no notification, but none of the shippers will quote you a delivery time and hit it within 15 minutes (unless they happen to be lucky that day).
 
I agree that it sounds like you got jacked around a bit with them changing from morning to afternoon with no notification, but none of the shippers will quote you a delivery time and hit it within 15 minutes (unless they happen to be lucky that day).

FedEx Freight will or maybe they just got lucky on my kit. Driver called 15 minutes ahead of scheduled delivery to make sure I was home. Stopped by right at 10am. Slugged it through the rain into my garage. Very happy with their service.
 
Happy with Con-way

Just received the RV-14 empennage kit from Con-way today in Tucson and cost $171.38. Completely happy with their communications and delivery. Took 3 days to get it here. My 2 cents.
 
I am amazed by the amount of kits that arrived damaged. Many boxes do arrive broken or damaged but fortunately without damage to the contents.

It doesn't seem like it should be that difficult to move these things around with the forklift.
 
They shipped my 14 Empennage ABF company. Excellent delivery, no damage, They emailed me 3-4 days ahead of time. I called them, they gave me expected delivery, and costs. very reasonable. about 262.034 to central Indiana.
I would recommend them, but Van's chose the company.
 
I?ll second the service received from ABF. I built a RV-10 several years back and now working on a -14. Every kit received has been un-damaged and they communicate very well on the transit. I do elect to go to the freight terminal for pick-up but the folks there are super to work with.
 
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