Freight Class for Robot???

FIRST General Forum
1

Does anybody know the correct freight class for shipping a robot? Can you tell me the class number and description, so I can make a case that it DOESN’T have to be class 200?

Class 85 is machine parts, but they wouldn’t go for that.

Also, anybody find a good, inexpensive shipper for regional to regional? How about one that picks up in Houston on Saturday?

Thanks,

Eric.

ps…while looking for this I ran across this propsed change to freight classes:

It is proposed to establish the following new item in the Classification:
VEHICLES, MOTOR: subject to item 190100
NEW Human Transporters, self-balancing, two-non-tandem-wheeled, electric powered, in boxes… 100

2

where are you heading from houston?

3

Mr. Reed would be shipping to the Silicon Valley Regional.

4

I’m confused…Isn’t silicon valley 2 weeks after the Houston event? Fed Ex can handle it. It’s just the back to back regionals they have difficulty with…
:confused:

5

Yes but Fed Ex is about twice as expensive at any given freight class as Yellow. We don’t get free shipping from regional to regional. Also, if we can find a Saturday pickup, it will save money on drayage (although they might charge more for Saturday pickup).

Eric.

PS…Does ANYBODY know the answer to my question about freight class? Somebody must! This stuff just isn’t on the web…I think the NMFC keeps a tight fist around the info.

6

I had a similar question when was asking about shipping stuff for a side business a while back. Yellow was very helpful. The person on the line eventually worked through the various weights & volumes to come up with a class that was acceptable to him and a rate that was acceptable to me.

Bottom line: I don’t think freight classes are handed down from on high, the person entering the data in the computer has a lot of freedom to code things one way or another.

Call Yellow and see what you can work out.

Joe J.

7

Okay. Thanks, Joe. Actually it was Yellow that gave me the 200 class, but you’ve given me hope…I’ll call back and try again.

Eric.

8

We used Yellow Freight last year (they had a deal with FIRST and gave a reduced rate). When shipping we used Class 125 Exhibition Materials. This was the classification FIRST stated to use in the 2001 competition documentation. We paid $175.90 to ship from Detroit to the West Michigan Competition. This was with the discount Yellow Freight was giving teams last year. I think it was 40% off normal shipping cost.