I think the biggest part of shipping a quilt especially when we feel they are "priceless" is the insurance. Somewhere on that lady's web site I saw $10 and a $1 for each $100 of insurance. I'm thinking I'll want around $1,000 worth of insurance per quilt. Because it's made from baby clothes and if it's gone I can't ever get it back.
I was seriously wondering since my two quilt tops are the same, if maybe I should send them in two different packages to spread out the risk. I know for certain they tell you when shipping a quilt to first put it in a plastic bag like a "hefty XL" that way it wont be hurt if it gets wet through the box (ie dyes pigments from the box ect.) So the biggest risk is being lost in the mail.
My local quilt shop offers to contract them out for you, but that entire deal seemed strange, as she wouldn't tell me who to call or names, etc. just that SHE the shop owner would set up an appointment at her store, to meet someone who would do it. Note this isn't the friend of friend.
I've noticed that when the quilt was just blocks or bits of fabric it didn't matter nearly as much as the whole. The blocks it wouldn't have been awful to somehow lose one or something, but I feel like a mother hen over the quilt top!