Shipping without exemption question

[KMeister]

Hello Everyone,

Brief background: This is my first full year doing administration for team 1793 (Norfolk, VA). I've had a few years of mentoring under my belt. Our current model has changed to district and one of our events is about ~3.5 hours away in MD.

We also have a large team currently have about ~40 core students and 25 auxiliary members.

We usually transport the robot ourselves, we wish to take as many members as possible and so I wanted to explore other possibilities to save space. I have looked at the shipping information and it is quite detailed for the Shipping Exemptions (Drayage service, boxing, FedEx requirements, etc). However, if a team decides to ship the bot themselves, there are a few questions I have to any other teams who have experience using this method.

1) I'm assuming following crating methods approved for Exceptions is a good example to follow. Just wanted to verify.

2a) A drayage location is provided for exemptions, but not for individuals. Will FedEx hold the package to be picked up on Competition day? We would have no trouble transporting the robot from a local location to the competition site.

2b) If FedEx does hold the crate, has any team had experience with leaving the crate there as is so it can be shipped back after a few days?

3) We have a competition the week before. Is shipping on that Monday and expecting it by Thursday in the realm of possibility? (can be verified, just wanted to see if the idea was even worth entertaining).

I apologize for the length and appreciate any insight!

Thank you,
Karl