Oversize Shipping 47" to 78" and Beyond
First of all, if this gets too fuzzy to understand, I totally understand, just call us at 805-528-3322 and we'll bring you up to speed.
What's this surcharge business all about?
UPS and other carriers are only interested in the dimensions (and weight) of a box. And, when it comes to shipping long boxes, they demand a surcharge, which we have to pass along to you, our client. You may already know about surcharges for oversized dimensions, but it's not quite as simple as thinking of length of a stretcher bar as the dimension that matters when shipping, it's the box it's nestled in.
Note: UPS and other carriers have set 48" boxes as the oversize limit. When the box that contains your stretcher bars reaches 48 inches, the carrier charges us a $15.00 surcharge for oversize length. Once the length of a box reaches 72" they charge $25.00. Once it exceeds 77" (78") it jumps to $40 per box. As stated on SBW's website, we pass this charge along. Wish we didn't have to, but if we didn't, we would need to raise our prices, and we don't think that makes sense. By the way, this is a one time charge unless you have multiple boxes of the same oversize length, but we try to maximize the efficiency of a package for you.
Why are the boxes sometimes longer than the bars? To protect the mitered corners of the bars, we pad the ends of the box and that, along with the flaps at the end of the box cause the box's dimension to fall into the 48" up to 72" surcharge level. The same is true with the other levels. But, here's how picky the carriers can be, if the parcel clearly is short of 77" it's fine, but, if it's 1 /64 of an inch over that the surcharge pops to $40. Crazy, but that's what the carriers charge, and sometimes MUCH more!
If you're still confused, please, give us a call.