Al Lorona wrote:

I have been shocked to learn recently how expensive shipping can be.
What do you guys all do when you have to ship equipment?

I pack it myself and take it to the local FedEx ground depot. FedEx Ground
is usually cheaper than UPS for large objects.

I am selling a Drake station and took the AC-4 / MS-4 to the local
Mailboxes, Etc. store to get an idea of how much it would cost. They
told me that UPS Ground was $36.86 to ship from California to Michigan.
And that was not including the packing! And there would be two more
boxes to ship (for the receiver and transmitter)!

Right, but they are also tacking a substantial fee on top of the UPS fee.
You'll find if you take it to the UPS depot yourself, it'll cost half
that. FedEx will be still cheaper. The pack and ship places are NOT
cost-effective if you do a lot of shipping.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."