Drum shipping question

TripleStroke

Senior Member
This may be a subjective topic but just want to get a general idea for it so anyone with experience with shipping their drums could chime in thatd be great

Im looking to get a general idea of what shipping charge is going to incur before going into the store to find out...

From: toronto ontario canada
To: north battleford saskatchewan canada
Distance: 3000km approximately
Will be shipping likely 4 boxes to contain
10x8
12x10
14x11
22x18 drums

A few tom holders and a clamp as well
I am trying to use either UPS or DHL. Trying to avoid canada post at all costs

If anyone has a general shipping cost idea or recommendations appreciate it in advance
 
This may be a subjective topic but just want to get a general idea for it so anyone with experience with shipping their drums could chime in thatd be great

Im looking to get a general idea of what shipping charge is going to incur before going into the store to find out...

From: toronto ontario canada
To: north battleford saskatchewan canada
Distance: 3000km approximately
Will be shipping likely 4 boxes to contain
10x8
12x10
14x11
22x18 drums

A few tom holders and a clamp as well
I am trying to use either UPS or DHL. Trying to avoid canada post at all costs

If anyone has a general shipping cost idea or recommendations appreciate it in advance

Do yourself a favor and pack everything into one box.
The freight rates are outrageous these days.
I tried shipping a 20 inch (<3lbs) cymbal to Sabian a few weeks ago and it was $62 bucks UPS.
Not only do they go by weight,they go by dimensions which can add $$$ to the shipping costs.
 
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Yup, one box, light weight shiping material and pack them like they are going to be dropped from the tops of buildings, because they likely will.
Definitely don't go to the UPS store. They will sock it to you for shipping. Use online at a minimum and if your work will ship items and bill you back, that's the best. I shipped two cymbals to Sabian last week in a 5lb 18x20x4" box for $28 using their online method. The store wanted over $50. Total ripoff.

Best to ship Yamaha Stage Customs instead of DWs, since they charge by the pound....LOL!
 
Yup, one box, light weight shiping material and pack them like they are going to be dropped from the tops of buildings, because they likely will.
Definitely don't go to the UPS store. They will sock it to you for shipping. Use online at a minimum and if your work will ship items and bill you back, that's the best. I shipped two cymbals to Sabian last week in a 5lb 18x20x4" box for $28 using their online method. The store wanted over $50. Total ripoff.

Best to ship Yamaha Stage Customs instead of DWs, since they charge by the pound....LOL!

Whats this online shipping method u speak of? U mean fill out and process it online with whatever company i use? And i dont think my work will approve of this. I planned on doing it myself.
 
Whats this online shipping method u speak of? U mean fill out and process it online with whatever company i use? And i dont think my work will approve of this. I planned on doing it myself.

Yes, instead of going into the store, log onto UPS.com and create a shipping label. The store charges you a $10 minimum to do the same and the more expensive the shipping, the higher their rate. This isn't the case if you can stop into an actual UPS hub to ship, but the stores are all owned independently.
 
Ok thanks

My question then would be (because ive never shipped drums ever...and really much else either... not much of a shipper lol. Ive always only had stuff shipped to ME)

What size and kind of a box and where can i get that is of such size to fit four of those drums in?
Configuration of how i would pack it?
What type of materials needed to secure and pad them?

Btw i am selling my pearl drums to my good reliable friend and he lives 3000km away... thats why
 
Your home improvement box stores will likely have good sized moving boxes to fit the drums. Office supply stores will have bubble wrap in large quantities. I'd go with the bigger stuff and go at least two layers on the kick. The rest will likely fit inside one another with a single layer isolating them from each other.

If you stripped off the lugs closest to the edge of the box, there will be less chance of caring damaging the shells. The light weight foam stuff works well too, but it has to be stiff enough to take impact. If you're shipping HW separately, this will be the most expensive.

As an alternate, moving companies may be able to to offer you a good rate too. That really all depends on how much room they have on the truck, but I have shipped one pallet cross country using a moving service. Shipping in those conditions aren't necessarily a 4 or 5 day delivery. You tell them what you have and they will tell you they have a truck heading that way with a slot for your stuff in a week, etc.
 
Get a sturdy box that you can put everything into you can get one at Home Depot or any other hardware store, Wal-Mart and Target carry boxes but they probably won't be big enough. Keep in mind that when boxes are moved via FedEx/UPS/whoever the bigger boxes go on the bottom of the stack and the smaller boxes go on top of them, so you want a sturdy box so a small box full of weights or something doesn't rip through your box and damage anything. Your box will also most likely get tossed around so make sure everything inside the box is packed snug so that nothing moves around if it gets shaken up.
Put the drums inside each other and put packing materials between each drum so you don't tear the bearing edges apart if they shake around.
Get the weight and dimensions of the boxes and shop around online for shipping prices. The last time I shipped a kit it was in two boxes one with the drums and another with the rims, tension rods, mounting hardware and some heads and it was $120 with FedEx Ground and $500 in insurance.
 
Go to the UPS website and read their packing suggestions. Drums are big, but relatively light in weight which means they are easily thrown around. You will also pay what is known as dimesional weight. Not only the weight but by the size of the box. A 22 inch bass drum is going to require almost a 30 x 30 box with proper packing. You don't want anything to be moving around inside any of the boxes. Packing more than one drum in a box may be cheaper but is almost a certain disaster when one drum shifts and bangs around inside the other. My last, shipped, drum set came in two boxes. Bass drum and 13 inch tom in one box, 12 inch tom and 16 inch floor tom in the other. If you have never packed before I would seek some help. Poorly packed by you will almost assuredly void any insurance and UPS is a bear to work with. good luck.
 
OK, so I just shipped a 14x20, 14x14, and 8x12 Craviotto set through UPS and got totally screwed. They were packed extremely well (by me) into two boxes. The Bass drum and small tom were nested in a Ludwig shipping box for a 24" bass drum.

Since the value of the drums was around 5,000, the insurance is what killed me. Total bill for shipping, insurance, and some packing materials I didn't have were right around 300.00. Actually, the shipping cost was about what I thought, but the insurance was more than the shipping.

I didn't have the 'ship-from-work' option. :-(
 
Question: is this for a gig? Or are you moving out there and this is a one-time move?

If it's for a gig, I highly suggest just renting what you need from a company in that general area.

If you're moving, then that's another thing.

But I have shipped 4-piece kits in one 24x24x24 cube box before. UPS and FedEx both sell boxes this big. I didn't have have to strip the shells, they all nested neatly inside one another. For instance, I put the 9x13 inside the 16x16 and padded that, then the 16x16 went into the 18x22, and the 5x14 snare was padded on top one of the bass drum heads. Then I filled the box with packing peanuts. For the shipping box and peanuts, and bubble wrap, I probably spent about $50. It was fairly heavy and this was a few years ago but shipping from CA to Nashville was roughly around $150. Your prices should be a lot different in Canada.

If I were doing a gig, I'd bring my sticks and maybe a pedal, and then find a place to rent a kit from when I got there. Totally worth the money spent.
 
Question: is this for a gig? Or are you moving out there and this is a one-time move?

If it's for a gig, I highly suggest just renting what you need from a company in that general area.

If you're moving, then that's another thing.

But I have shipped 4-piece kits in one 24x24x24 cube box before. UPS and FedEx both sell boxes this big. I didn't have have to strip the shells, they all nested neatly inside one another. For instance, I put the 9x13 inside the 16x16 and padded that, then the 16x16 went into the 18x22, and the 5x14 snare was padded on top one of the bass drum heads. Then I filled the box with packing peanuts. For the shipping box and peanuts, and bubble wrap, I probably spent about $50. It was fairly heavy and this was a few years ago but shipping from CA to Nashville was roughly around $150. Your prices should be a lot different in Canada.

If I were doing a gig, I'd bring my sticks and maybe a pedal, and then find a place to rent a kit from when I got there. Totally worth the money spent.
Hi

Its neither lol
It is for sale and would like to ship it to the buyer
 
I have shipped many drum kits all over North America, 6 kits shipped this year alone.
I would never, ever put all drums in one box. Way too heavy. UPS will almost certainly damage a very large, very heavy 24x24x24 box. Canada Post will not even ship a 2' cube box for starters - and all shipping couriers, and Canada Post have weight limits.
I would limit to no more than 2 drums per box. If they are expensive drums, double box them. 2" of packaging material all around, minimum.
Shipping is expensive no matter what you do - you aren't going to get them there for $60. Not possible.

As an alternative to the usual suspects, try Canpar for shipping. Reasonable rates, good service, and they haven't damaged anything I've received yet.

https://www.canpar.ca/en/home.jsp
 
I am in Qc and used Globex for a 24x24x24 and two 18x18x18, freaking heavy boxes. Gretsch USA customs + packaging, extra-heavy stuff (22x14, 12x8, 14x14, 16x16, 14X6.5).

They picked up the boxes at my office 2 hours after I placed the order, the driver took really good care of the packages. Drums arrived the next day in Atlanta by plane and it cost me 900$CAD everything included. Buyer covered most of the fees, due mostly to exchange rates. I felt responsible for some of the extra weight as I packed them to resist thermonuclear war.

Took me 3 evenings to pack, 100$ in material.

Canada Post declined due to the sizes.

Large shipping companies generally were of no help and could not clearly explain to me their extremely expensive and hard to estimate dimensional weight reasonning, were hesitant about insurance costs and would not estimate customs taxes and duties. So they were basically asking for a blank check.

They should clarify their policies in terms of insurance, pricing and customs brokerage at least to their own employees, who could in turn explain them adequately to their customers. All those loose ends made it impossible for me to do business that way, as well as the fact that costs seemed to be about the same but for 2 weeks ground delivery.

I still made good money mostly again due to the exchange rate.

I swore myself I will never buy flagship drums as there is no market for them locally. So add that to the "I'll never" thread.

Edit : I do not consider my experience to be the best planned nor executed drum sale, I overpacked and did not mind paying extra for peace of mind. However, the drums made it there as described to the buyer which was the crucial part for me, and I did not have to deal with lost packages or damaged goods.
 
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It all depends on the delivery service and on the music store itself. For example, in some stores, as in the Fog, where I order guitars for myself, the delivery is UPS, but it is a little cheaper because it cooperates with this store. And delivery in England is generally cheap there. When you order different things in music stores, the weight does not decide so much. After all, you pay for the delivery itself from another country. And don't forget to track your product when you order the reels. It must be done without fail so that you can get a discount in case of a delay and so on.
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https://www.ukmailtracking.com/en/
 
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Looked into bus service? In the states we still have Greyhound package express. Amtrak used to provide this too but they stopped it a decade ago.
 
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This may be a subjective topic but just want to get a general idea for it so anyone with experience with shipping their drums could chime in thatd be great

Im looking to get a general idea of what shipping charge is going to incur before going into the store to find out...

From: toronto ontario canada
To: north battleford saskatchewan canada
Distance: 3000km approximately
Will be shipping likely 4 boxes to contain
10x8
12x10
14x11
22x18 drums

A few tom holders and a clamp as well
I am trying to use either UPS or DHL. Trying to avoid canada post at all costs

If anyone has a general shipping cost idea or recommendations appreciate it in advance

Suggestion for boxes, check in with your local music stores (Long & McQuade, etc).

They are always receiving new stock. Loads of packing material - boxes, bubble wrap, packing foam, etc - gets tossed on a weekly basis. Let them know you are shipping some drums across country. Ask if you can get, or buy, some from boxes, etc. Get their advice on packing.

Re shipping, it won't matter who you chose. Shipping bulky items across country is expensive.

I always choose Canada Post for shipping within Canada. Their package handling is much more respectful than UPS and FedEx.

They do ship large boxes. I just received a 22x16 kick through Canada Post. Shipped from Nova Scotia to Manitoba.

It was one of three boxes, containing a total of 4 drums - 10x7, 12x8, 16x15, and the kick. Everything was wrapped, and packed VERY securely by the sender. Each drum was bubble wrapped, and then surrounded by sheets/strips of dense foam. The 10" tom was tucked inside the 16, with loads of material between them. It was a treat to unpack them.

IMO, packing all four drums in one larger box is asking for trouble. It will make a bulky and awkward box even more unmanageable. Definitely beyond manageable handling ranges of a single person.

Remember that box is going to be loaded on/off a number of vehicles during transit. Each time it is moved, there is a potential for it be dropped. I will gladly pay extra to know that each drum is very well packed, and the weight is manageable for the shipper/delivery person.

Normally, the buyer covers the cost of shipping. Do some more research, and discuss options with your friend. If they push for el-cheapo shipping, that's on them. Do your best to pack everything well. Take photos with your cell phone as you go. Take final photos of the boxes before handing them to the shipper.
 
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