Sometimes we have occasion to mail skis here or there. With me, it’s usually XC skis.
You might also have occasion to buy a pair online or on eBay.
When you do, remember that you don’t need to pay ANY MORE THAN $16 to mail them!
If you screw up, you can easily find yourself looking at a $65 shipping cost. Doh!
What you do is to get several of the FREE, large 6″-a-side TRIANGULAR Priority Mail boxes. Tape them end to end. This makes a strong, long box that you can slide skis and bindings into.
Such a box costs only about $16 to mail most anywhere in the USA! Check it out!
(Note, again, that this is Priority, not Parcel Post!)
I wish I knew the exact box type. I tried ordering some to have a stash and was sent smaller, shorter ones. Nope!
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As regards shipping bikes, there’s only ONE WAY TO GO. Don’t mess up! You need to use FedEx Ground 3-Day (or 4-Day). This will only cost you about $45 to mail your bike anywhere in the USA. (If you try USPS or UPS you’ll easily pay $120 and up!)
What you do is go to a bike shop and get a fresh empty free Trek bike box of a specific dimension: get the 8″ x 29″ x 52″ box. OK, I may be slightly off on the dimensions, but it’s about like that. You don’t want it much larger. 10x32x54 will be too long, I’m pretty sure!
Also, you probably don’t want to stuff it with more than 40 lbs of stuff, but check out the details (maybe best rate is lighter than that, but I recall getting a dandy rate not long ago and I stuffed all of my bike touring stuff/clothes into the box as well for quite a heavy box, maybe almost 50 lbs).
Anyway, a bike will safely fit into such a box if you: *remove the saddle/post; *remove stem/bars and roll them into the frame-triangle area; *remove wheels and skewers and tape plastic disk axle protectors on the ends (the bike shop usually has these for free, too); *remove pedals. Possibly you’ll also have to remove your rear derailler and your chainring-side crank. Put all removed parts into a bag and tape/strap into frame triangle. Maybe toss in some assembly tools, too. Strap everything together and put foam pipe insulator on the frame-tubes. Wrap the rest in bubble-wrap. The Trek box will have several handy hand-holds cut into it and “this way up” markings to make handling easy.
Anyway, FedEx Ground is far cheaper than USPS or UPS. It’s also cheaper than checking a bike box into an airline. If you’re going on a trip, just mail your bike ahead.
I’ve done it a dozen times now. You want to dot all your i’s, though, as I’ve had occasional complications with pick-up status (“We knocked and no one was home!” “But I selected No Sig Required!”) and with bulging boxes that exceeded dimensions.
