Your Shipping Crate

[dez250]

Originally Posted by Elgin Clock

Ah ha.. Someone discovered the reason behind the creation of these two threads.

We were almost charged 1,200 dollars to ship our crate back to CT from GA at a buck and a quarter a pound.

Good thing another team let us use an extra airbill they had laying around.

Elgin does this include the base cost for your 2nd crate also, because otherwise the quick 10 second calulations shows the amount you were over weight would be almost half a ton...

[Corey Balint]

1. Does your crate have a function besides being a crate? Containment zone for frosh.
2. Hidden codes all over it.
3. Something either very plain-or very fugly outside. But just durable, weight is not a problem.
4. No
5. 3 yearish.
6. 5 minutes before we ship.
7. Broke it up or reused it.
8. Everything imaginable-Pit-Scouting-Cheering stuff-anything.
9. Im pretty sure we went over-to what extent-not quite sure.

[Jeff Waegelin]

Does your crate have a function besides being a crate? Nope, just a basic crate. We've always discussed building a workstation crate, but we're too lazy.

What do you like or dislike about your crate? It's really heavy, and not very functional.

What do you look for or want in a crate material? Wood is easy to build with, and it's fairly durable.

Do you use the crate in the pits? We always keep our crate at Nationals, and use it for storage. We put a padlock on the latch, and we can lock tools, computers, and other stuff up overnight or when we go out for a match.

How old is the crate you are currently using? 5 seasons. We built it for the 2000 season, and it's still in good shape. We patched a few gouges and repainted it black in 2003, though.

When in the six weeks do you start thinking about the crate? We always think about building a new crate around the second week or so of build, then we just decide it's easier to forget about it and reuse the old crate.

What did you do with the old one? The last "old" crate we had was from 1999, and we used to store that year's robot inside it. When we disassembled the 99 robot, we also scrapped the crate (it was a flimsy piece of junk anyways)

How much other stuff do you pack with the robot? Just the robot, cart, and batteries. It weighs too much to throw in anything else.

How overweight was the crate this year? With the above items (robot, cart, batteries) it weighs almost exactly 400 lbs. Our joke is that we can't even pack a screwdriver in the crate without it going over. We actually packed a screwdriver in 2000, and got charged an extra $400 for weighing in at 401 lbs. Oops.

[Joshua May]

1) No
2) Too big, door held in with bent double-head nails
3) Functionality, weight
4) No
5) Two years (since 2003)
6) The night before ship
7) This is our first one
8) Nothing
9) Wasn't Overweight, I think it weighed about 250-300 lbs

[Elgin Clock]

Originally Posted by dez250

Elgin does this include the base cost for your 2nd crate also, because otherwise the quick 10 second calulations shows the amount you were over weight would be almost half a ton...

No, we "lost" the paperwork for one of our crates I believe. At $1.25 or $1.50 a lb. for ~900 lbs. to ship it it turned out to be in the vicinity of $1200.00 to ship the thing back home. Like I said, we were lucky we found someone in the pits at the last hour who had an extra free shipping papers we used. (thanks to great neighbors.. lol)

[RogerR]

Originally Posted by Franchesca

<<content>>

alright, a few additions to what nadia said...

Does your crate have a function besides being a crate? well, the crate is very, um, robust...it could probably double as a safe.
What do you like or dislike about your crate? well, like most of the stuff my team built, it came out a little heavier than planned, but, like i stated above, its very robust.
What do you look for or want in a crate material? something that'll withstand the rigors of shipping
Do you use the crate in the pits? what nadia said...
How old is the crate you are currently using? same as above
When in the six weeks do you start thinking about the crate? same as above
What did you do with the old one? same as above
How much other stuff do you pack with the robot? same as above
How overweight was the crate this year? actually, it was overweight. i can't remember how much, but i believe we got charged around $80 for our extra weight

[tribotec_ca88]

Does your crate have a function besides being a crate? Nope not really. Unless you count it as being a place where people stay during "time out" after being naughty.... and as storage space for a whole lot of bubble wrap.

What do you like or dislike about your crate? Well I would have to say I like it because it's quite light (in terms of weight)...however it's not unique in any way and doesn't really bear any significance. Someone could easily mistake it for a cardboard box I daresay...

What do you look for or want in a crate material? Gotta be light, durable, functional...

Do you use the crate in the pits? Sure, it's a nice place to hide from mentors when they're not in their best mood

How old is the crate you are currently using? 6 months (2004 was our rookie year)

When in the six weeks do you start thinking about the crate? probably during the last two...

What did you do with the old one? N/A (Rookie year 2004)

How much other stuff do you pack with the robot? A lot, I'd say...we try to fit in as many tools as possible without overweighing and without causing any potential damage to the robot

How overweight was the crate this year? Hmm not sure, I don't recall our crate being overweight