$40 is not even a minimum charge for an LTL carrier these days.
Utilize an LTL carrier such as ABF or YRC, someone who handles PA to CA.
By rail you would pay for an entire carload by rail, probably about $4000, perhaps more.
I was using 2 cents per ton mile as the tariff rate for bulk goods. That's an older reference I have from 2010 and I am sure rates are higher now.
I fully expected that $40 would not be a final rate, and there would be all kinds of one off charges. I was proposing to have shipper drop off the pallet and separately to explore picking it up from wherever it lands.
I agree truck is easier, but I am paying $800 to ship $300 of product. That's preventing me from buying the product. I'm simply trying to find if train shipment gives me any economic savings at all.
Not sure what tarrif you looked at, but $40 for a shipment won't even get a switch crew on the local to stop to pick up your load. Even a shortline, with their reputation for better service, won't even fire up their locomotive for that. Nor will it cover the car hire costs, as I assume you do not have your own railcar to ship your 1 pallet load.
Put it on the truck and call it a day. You'll spend more of your time (yes, it is worth something even if you're retired) than you'll ever save trying ship it by rail. Railroads got out of the LCL (less than carload and that is what your shipment is) business several decades ago.
If I want to send a 2000 pound 4'x4'x4' pallet of stone from Pittsburgh, PA to San Jose, CA, what is the process for doing that by train? Would I be contacting a railroad directly? I assume not because I am an end user and do not have recurring shipments in sufficient quantity. Is there a logistics firm or broker who could take the order and arrange the details of dropoff and pickup points?
In terms of cost, bulk tariff used to be about two cents per ton mile. What is the going full-price tariff rate? Unlikely I am going to do better given my single pallet order?
What I am trying to compare here is my price for delivered freight going by truck versus having my shipper drop the pallet off at the freight forwarder's yard, then having a firm I pick get the stone from the delivery point near San Jose.
It looks like the truck price - picking up at origin and driving all the way to the final end use point - is being quoted at around $700 to $900. Unless I can get delivery by train significantly cheaper than that it will not make sense to do it. At the old tariff rate, it would be about $40 for the one pallet, and then I would have additional costs for trucks at either end.
Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.