Excess freight charges

[yodameister]

I was wondering if teams who have incurred excess freight charges would state what those charges were and conditions (e.g. starting and ending points, overage weight, etc.) Thanks in advance for the help.

[AdamHeard]

We've gone over by several hundred dollars on a few occasions due to being overweight.

[Doug G]

I'm not sure about private freight fees but from last years rules, if my memory is correct it was....

Shipping: Not to exceed 600 lbs, FedEx pays for shipment to one regional and back home. Not from regional to regional etc., no exceptions. I think there was a deal to go to Nationals but I can't remember the details for that.

Drayage: Up to 400 lbs, free for all competitions. $44 for every 100 lbs over that. Thus a 450 lbs crate would cost $44, a 550 lb crate would cost $88. 2 450 lbs crates cost $264, and FedEx would only pay for shipping of one crate.

Of course this is probably updated in the 2007 docs, I just haven't got there yet. I remember last year the FedEx contract was up, so who knows what the deal is... best read the documentation!!

[roborat]

Our charges have been because we over build the shipping crate and with the 120 lb robot, we were over the 400 lb limit. We only could ship the robot and no spare parts or anything in the crate. This is taken care of this year with a new crate. Also had to pay over 700 dollars to ship to second region from pittsburgh to palmetta.

[Protronie]

Have any thought of just hauling it yourself?
Is that even done?

[JamesByrne]

You can not cary, to the event yourself, fist makes the containers go to draygage, for storage. Otherwise the 6 week limit would not work.

[Donut]

If your drayage facility for your first event is local, I believe you can drive it to the drayage facility (not directly to the regional venue). There's a number of regulations involved though.

We incurred a $50 charge for being overweight last year, and will incurr the same one again this year.

[yodameister]

Originally Posted by Donut

If your drayage facility for your first event is local, I believe you can drive it to the drayage facility (not directly to the regional venue). There's a number of regulations involved though.

We incurred a $50 charge for being overweight last year, and will incurr the same one again this year.

Yes, I'll be driving the crate to the drayage facility in Phoenix. How much were you overweight, and was the charge just for the Phoenix regional?

[Donut]

I think we were somewhere in the range of 415-430 lbs. If your crate is anywhere between 401 lbs. and 500 lbs. you will have to pay the same fee due to them rounding up to the next hundred weight.

The only competition we went to last year was Phoenix, so yes, that was just for that regional. Since we plan on going to both the Championship and the Arizona Regional this year, we expect to have to pay this fee twice, once for each competition.

[Eric O]

Although shipping charges can be annoying and a high additional cost added to every teams already stretched budget, I think the rules are spelled out clearly in the manual. Like all the other rules this year, read the shipping rules!. There are things that must be in the crate and things that don't have to be. I believe the charges are also discussed right in the manual. Don't forget that rules change from year to year, so when you get the manual tomorrow, make it someone’s job to learn the shipping rules. Also, for non-robot items (since I am assuming the rules for robot shipping will be similar this year), a U-Haul trailer is relatively inexpensive to rent if your mentor has a vehicle that can tow. A 6'x12' trailer is only $30/day, unlimited mileage. We are all lucky to have fed-ex pay for some shipping, and I think by building lighter crates and only putting in the necessities, teams can avoid the hundreds in overweight charges.

-Eric

Edit: As I downloaded my manual today, I noticed that Part 4: "Robot Transportation" was one of the non locked sections. FIRST has provided 22 pages worth of information on just shipping the robot and some of the details are definately new.