Topic: Cheap shipping of heavy glass from UK to US?

[ian.macky]

Hello all!  Long time no yak.

I was just contacted by someone in Norfolk (UK) who wants to sell me a Lenscrete cambered roof light -- you can see a drawing at the top right of this Laxton's page--  OK, so far, so good.

But the lens is about 8" in diameter, ~2.5" thick and weights about 2.8kg.  Shipping calculators say this will cost on the order of.... wait for it... 75 POUNDS to send to California, an amount I find jaw-droppingly large.  £75 to send a £15 item is not really do-able.

Can anyone think of any alternatives?  Is there anyone who wants to do me a huge favor, and that will be travelling to the US any time in the next year or so??

I want that glass!  But what is with the shipping rates!?  I can't find anything that lets me choose surface over air, so presumably those are "economy" (!!!) rates.  FedEx was no better than Parcelfarce.

Will cry like a little girl if I miss out on this big piece.  And noone wants to see that, I'm sure.

--ian

[ju1i3]

Royal Mail is 41 to 66 pounds so cheaper but still a lot (you can check the price at www.royalmail.com).

[taylog1]

I've used these before

http://www.parcel2go.com/Quote-page.aspx?m1=18&m2=18&m3=18&w=3&cm=1&dest=FI&col=GB&qty=1

[Bernard C]

Ian — Do you know anyone on a US air base?   If so, it might be possible for your seller to get the parcel, addressed to your contact, to the US post office in either Lakenheath or Mildenhall bases, where domestic postal rates might apply.

Also I suggest you contact CMoG, who certainly buy chunky art glass, and ask them how they do it.

Also would you please get international surface mail reinstated.   It was cheap and efficient, never more than about six weeks from anywhere in the US to an address in the UK.   I've only imported one item from the US since the service finished.

Warmest regards,

Bernard C. 

[Anne E.B.]

I've used these in the past and was quite impressed.  Certainly one of the cheapest with the price calculated using the volumetric dimensions and not the weight www.worldwide-parcelservices.co.uk

[Chris Harrison]

Just a thought: does the light come apart?  As mount and lens?
If it does, it could perhaps be sent as two surface mail "small packets", which would make it massively cheaper (with the risk of half of it getting lost!).

[Chris Harrison]

Oops, scrub that, I just realised that you said that the lens weighs over 2 kgs.  Sorry.

[ian.macky]

Thanks everyone for the replies.  I am trying to get an exact packed weight/size, then will get some more quotes from the places mentioned.

Chris, the lens is a single big solid piece of glass, so nuh uh.

Bernard, alas, I know noone on an air base or similiar.  Will try to get international surface mail reinstated, but rumors of my influence are highly exaggerated.  I will mention that Bernard C has been discombobulated, and hopefully the name-drop will have effect.

Will report back with a price comparison later, which ought to be useful to others.

And now just so you have something to gawp at, here's a pic of my new 3" square Berger "Lazalite" (tm) multiprism, in unused condition:



This isn't the piece I'm trying to ship, it's just the latest addition to the prism glass collection.  It's a typical Selenium solarized "straw" color, which would date it to the 1920s, nu?  Just after the Manganese era.  Which reminds me, how did they eventually solve the de-colorizing problem without just adding something to produce the "opposite" tint to iron-greenish (which really produces a neutral "off-clear" instead of a true clear)?  Pure sand deposits which produce clear glass are as rare now as ever, so how do they do it?  Mn/Se both solarize, so do they just use something which doesn't?  Rare earths?

--ian