FEDEX Shipping and Dryage Questions

[Chris_Elston]

So this is the first time I am trying to help the team ship the robot...

I am trying to understand this shipping, dryage procedure.

Fedex will ship our robot from home to a dryage location (MCS)?

If I understand this, we can use the Fedex complimintary shipping from home to dryage. Is this correct?

Do we have to pay MCS to move the robot from dryage to regional? Why do they need our credit card on pre-pay? <---(MCS) It looks like FIRST will pay for the drayage for ONE CRATE 6.7.10 (rules).

After we are done, what happens next? Say if we want the robot to come home...Do we have to pay MSC for drayage from regional to fedex? Or does fedex come and get it from regional and ship it home? Do we have to worry about paying MCS after the regional to get our crate home?

Sorry..confused will all the handling and who is doing what...

[Beth Sweet]

I'm also very concerned about this issue and have some of the same questions. Frankly our team doesn't have a credit card and I'm not too comfortable giving someone my credit card number when my email sorts their email into my spam box because it thinks the address is questionable. I would also appreciate it if someone would answer this.

[Ricky Q.]

No payment should be required to move the robot from the drayage warehouse where it is shipped to, then to the competition site and vice versa when the competition is done.

Unless you are shipping to back to back regionals, then you have to pay for warehouse movement and to use the MCS shipper because FedEx does NOT pick up on Saturdays.

Originally Posted by FIRST Manual Section 6

6.7.10 Drayage Costs - Teams

The following will cost teams money:

1.

Crate exceeding measurement or weight specification

2. Any additional crate. Teams pay entire drayage cost of additional crates

Note: Each team must pay for any additional material-handling charges by the end of each competition

FedEx pays for shipping to one regional event, to the championship, and then back home. If you are not going to the Championship it will ship your robot home after your last regional, and if you are going to 2 plus regionals you need to figure out which one(s) you will be paying for and coordinate with MCS at the event.

[Chris_Elston]

So then:

If our ONE crate is under 400LBS

Then

HOME ---> FEDEX = FREE$$
FEDEX --> Drayage (MCS) = FREE$$
Drayage (MCS) -> First Regional = FREE$$

If we go home after first regional:

First Regional -> Drayage (MCS) = FREE$$
Drayage (MCS) -----> FEDEX = FREE$$
FEDEX -------> HOME = FREE$$

Do this sound correct?

Originally Posted by Ricky Q.

No payment should be required to move the robot from the drayage warehouse where it is shipped to, then to the competition site and vice versa when the competition is done.

Unless you are shipping to back to back regionals, then you have to pay for warehouse movement and to use the MCS shipper because FedEx does NOT pick up on Saturdays.

[Han Tzu]

Absolutely correct, However, remember all the rules about the robot and how it must be shipped. The batteries and secure position of the bot such forth and such forth....

[Ricky Q.]

Originally Posted by chakorules

So then:

If our ONE crate is under 400LBS

Then

HOME ---> FEDEX = FREE$$
FEDEX --> Drayage (MCS) = FREE$$
Drayage (MCS) -> First Regional = FREE$$

If we go home after first regional:

First Regional -> Drayage (MCS) = FREE$$
Drayage (MCS) -----> FEDEX = FREE$$
FEDEX -------> HOME = FREE$$

Do this sound correct?

Thats correct

[Doug G]

Originally Posted by Beth Sweet

I'm also very concerned about this issue and have some of the same questions. Frankly our team doesn't have a credit card and I'm not too comfortable giving someone my credit card number when my email sorts their email into my spam box because it thinks the address is questionable. I would also appreciate it if someone would answer this.

Just be very careful of two main things...

1) Keep the robot crate (with the robot and essentials) under the 400 lb limit to avoid extra drayage charges (this is hard to do, since a sturdy plywood crate can weight 200 lbs by itself. Drayage will charge somewhere from $44 - $60 per hundred pounds (check your "Site Info" pdf document for the regional you're going to) over the 400 lb. And yes, 401 lbs is charged the same as 500 lb. Keep the crate uder 600 lb if you want to use FedEx donated shipping.

2) You cannot use the FedEx donated shipping between events that are back to back. If you use the MCS designated shipper - it may cost you $500 or more depending on the crates weight. I've been caught off guard twice by this and it's not fun if you haven't budgeted for it. I'd rely on FedEx to get your crate to your first event and back home from your last event. In previous year's I thought I could use it in between events if I personally dropped it off to the drayage site for the first event - I was wrong and had to pay for the MCS shipping. MCS may also charge you extra to have the crate taken back to the warehouse to await a FedEx pickup - just read the "Site Info" pdf closely!

[Mr.G]

You may know this, but once you ship your robot it will be shipped from event to event, it will never go back to your base (ie. classroom) until you are done with all of your competitions. I just wanted to make that clear from reading the prior posts.

Is MSC the guy at each event that coordinates the movement of the crates to and from your pit and taking it off the delivery truck and putting it back on the shipping truck, or is MSC a shipping company?

[john stofflett]

May find the 3rd bulleted item of interest MSC has found another way to make an extra dollar

From Site Info

12.6.2 Crate Rates
Use the Midwest Conference Service drayage calculator. Go to http://www.mcsexpo.com/ and click
on the FIRST logo for direction to the calculator page.
If crates fall outside parameters, the team is responsible for the overage rates. Midwest Conference
Service rounds up to the nearest hundred pounds.
• The overweight crate rate is $56.00 per hundredweight over 400 pounds.
• The rate for an extra crate is $56.00 per hundredweight.
• There is a $27 per hundredweight charge to haul FedEx shipments back to the warehouse to
ship out on Monday. The MCS carriers do not go back to the warehouse.

[dhitchco]

Crate questions:

1) Does a typical crate really need to be made out of 1/2" full plywood sheets?

2) Can a crate be made of 1/4" luan plywood that is bounded by 1x3 strips on all edges?

3) Is there anything special you do to your crate to make it serve "double duty" at the event(s) such as a table, display, etc?

4) The bottom is a forklift skid. Instead of using 4"x4" runners, has anyone simply taken a standard wood/plastic pallet and used that as their "base" of the shipping crate?

[Alaina]

I want to know where to find the address forms you tape to the crate when you ship it...

And don't you have to send in the shipping invoice to FIRST by the next day (or something)?
Sorry, I'm completely clueless, but I'm in charge of it!

[JudyVandy]

[quote=Alaina]I want to know where to find the address forms you tape to the crate when you ship it...

Go to the 'Site Info' for the regional and the shipping labels are on the last page.

If you read through the shipping information in the manual and under 'Site Info' you should have most of the stuff you need to kinow.

[Bentow]

WE built our crate out of 3/4" ply sheets and 2x4 with a slotted cut in it for the ply. It is a 4panel crate, nice and solid. We use it to transport our robot back and forth between school and our worksite. Do we need to put skids on the bottom for a forklift? Is anyone else's crate exactly 38x28x60 inside.

[Ricky Q.]

Originally Posted by Bentow

WE built our crate out of 3/4" ply sheets and 2x4 with a slotted cut in it for the ply. It is a 4panel crate, nice and solid. We use it to transport our robot back and forth between school and our worksite. Do we need to put skids on the bottom for a forklift? Is anyone else's crate exactly 38x28x60 inside.

From Section 6 - Robot Transportation:

6.3.1 Crate Specifications

All Crates must:

•

Weigh 400 pounds or less in order to avoid drayage overage charges

•

Be sturdily built to prevent damage to your equipment

•

"Sit" on 2 pieces of 4" by 4" lumber, spaced at least 28" apart so it can be moved by a forklift.

•

Have a footprint no greater than 4’ by 4’ and be no taller than 5’10" (70") high. This maximum includes the 4" by 4" lumber mentioned above.

•

Be capable of being moved by a forklift