i have not done this for a long time , who has the best depot to depot price?

I was quoted $180 to ship a EATPM from Calgary to Toronto, dock to dock (pickup at dock only) with Manatoulin Transport..

of course, that was a scam artist, so take that how you will.  

Best or cheapest?

Forward Air is probably in the cheapest catagory. Best service I would have to say NAVL.

Here are some things to consider when shipping Forward from a previous post:

I found out why they were all over the map for pricing the shipping. When I called the first guy took the size of the machine packed itself. Now as soon as you get into palletizing a pinball they price based on "dimensional weight". Basically the size of the pallet and the height set the price so a pinball sitting on a 36 x 36 pallet costs $148.42 to Buffalo in this example. The same pinball shipped on a 40 x 40 is $183.24. They allow for 319lbs and 390lbs respectively in those dimensions regarless of how much it actually weighs as long as it's under. Now here's the kicker, in chatting with the branch who is receiving the pinball for shipment, they will charge just for the weight of the unit and not the dimensional size if it is not palletized. The funny thing is they will palletize and band it for you if you do all the wrapping up before hand at no charge. So it ends up being less expensive and less work if you bring it to them for them to palletize it because they base the shipping on the actual weight and not the "dimensional weight". For instance WW weighs 235Lbs and I can't off hand think of many machines that will hit the dimesional weight value.

For those of you that might be interested a 36 x 36 pallet which would be the most efficient size to put a pinball on is a "beverage" pallet. Your not going to find those at most shippers. Most are 40 x 40 or 40 x 48. Pallets are 5" high for your calculations and again get factored into that "dimensional weight" equation.

If you wrap it up for them to palletize it the cost is $128.59 to Buffalo in this case. I estimated 260Lbs which is 235Lbs net weight for the machine plus 25Lbs worth of packing junk around it. I don't think you'll have anywhere near 25Lbs worth of stuff on it. Insurance $1 per $100.

For payment they take cashiers check, business check or money order. I asked if postal money order is ok and they said yes.

YYZ charges $60 to pick it up. Buffalo does not as do most other US offices I have been told. When I asked why Toronto did they said t was Canada and they do things differently up there. I guess putting the screws to you for an unexpected $60 is differently. All depots will hold the item for 48hrs after they notify you for no charge. Each day thereafter is $30/day to hold your item.

I know this isn't huge $ differences but when you are trying to send a guy the right amount of money to ship your pin, you don't want to look like your trying to stiff the guy and get the value right. At least this way you will know by the way it is packed up what to ask when they quote it. The worst case scenerio using a 40 x 40 pallet and shipping to YYZ with the pickup charge was over $300 all things factored in. To ship to BUF using actual weight is $129. That is a big difference in my view and was worth investigation. At $300 that gets into NAVL pricing territory without anywhere near the level of service. Just doesn't compute. If this weren't a project I wouldn't think twice about using NAVL instead.

Another variable is the fuel surcharge. It changes weekly. If your getting something shipped you should also get an update on your estimated shipping charge just before shipping to get latest rate.

May not work so well in Canada, but you could always throw it on uShip and see what comes up if your not in a rush.

http://www.uship.com/