What's your advice on mailing quilts?
 

Other than telling me not to mail them! I have a finished twin sized quilt to mail across country. The post office is charging me close to $20 to mail it. :shock: That's not counting delivery confirmation or insurance. It doesn't weigh much as it's only a front and a fleece back...no batting. So, how do you send quilts? Do you have any advice? I'd rather go buy two nice yards of fabric! But this is for a friend who really needs a "warm fuzzy." Thanks for reading this! I'm sure open to ideas.

FedEx is cheaper and has insurance and you get delivery confirmation.

Prices of shipping have gone crazy. I just sent one cross country via UPS and paid $28. The package weighed 10 1/2 pounds but UPS charges by the whole pound only. this also included $100 worth of insurance. But in my mind all quilts are priceless. What are the chances you could replace the fabrics used in the quilt?

I do like having on line access to track its progress. But I believe the USPS offers that as well. What about the one rate box? Seems to me you could easily cram this quilt into one of those and save a few dollars that way, but I'm not sure if they are trackable. So your choices are not a lot. Either way, I suspect you are going to pay close to $20 no matter what you do.

Did you look at flat rate boxes? Medium boxes are about $12 and large are about $14 Also I think postage is usually a little cheaper if you purchase it online. https://www.prioritymail.com/flatrates.asp

Also maybe try UPS or FedEx- I don't know if they are any cheaper, but it may be worth looking.

EDIT: Here's the link showing what you can save by purchasing the postage online, jsut a few cents but it adds up if you ship a lot: https://www.prioritymail.com/online_discounts.asp

Oh, and maybe try one of those vacuum space saver bags, you might be able to get it into a smaller box or envelope? Then instruct the recipient to fluff it?

Try a flat rate box. Put a garbage bag in it, fold your quilt to its dimensions and set it inside. Use a vaccum cleaner hose to suck the air out of it. It will squish soooo much. Twist the garbage bag, and then tape the box shut super quick!! I ship cloth diapers regularly and it's almost always cheaper to use this method with flat rate shipping. Paying on USPS.com or PayPal is cheaper than in the po as well. You can order regional rate boxes from USPS.com and that is sometimes cheaper.

Extra savings online is also free delivery confirmation with priority shipping.

How much you pay to ship a quilt depends on how much the quilt is worth to you.

If you can easily replace the quilt, then send it in one of the flat rate priority boxes. I wouldn't buy the insurance or the delivery confirmation - they'll only pay out on the insurance if you have the quilt appraised, and my experience with the delivery confirmation is that they'll post the confirmation long after the box has been received, although they may have improved the service.

If it's a quilt that can't be replaced, then investigate FedEx or UPS. Both provide online tracking so you can watch it go across the country. Have the quilt appraised and insure it. Registered mail is also a good option - it's slower, but they inspect the package at every stop.

Janet

I won't mail them - too many problems with USPS, plus getting actual tracking is just about impossible. UPS has been much easier to deal with, will insure easily without much extra cost, as well as providing tracking. Pick up service at your home, should you need it, is also available. I think the cost is $5 extra, but not sure about that.

I always use UPS. For all the reasons others have mentioned. I have had two claims with UPS insurance, no problem collecting. USPS insurance is a nightmare to collect.