Anyone have experience in sending servers out via Fedex? Do I need to get an account with them first?

How about packaging techniques that will help the hardware from getting damaged?

Well, you can seal it in a box with bubble wrap, phome, and make sure its hard phone so the server doesn't bag on the walls of the box.

If you purchased the servers, and they came in a box, try to package it the same way they came in :) Or ask UPS or FedEx, I'm sure they have some tricks.

You don't need an account with FedEX. You just need to go to one of their locations and give them the box and pay. I normally pay with a CC, so I'm not sure what other forms of payment they take.

I just shipped my server in the same box that it came it. Since it arrived safe and sound to me in that box.

Just make sure that you have a chat with your coloc site about keeping the box/padding and not pitching it. You might want that server back some day.

I'd also suggest that you write your name on the box and all packing materials so your coloc can find it again to ship it back.

Frank

Originally posted by ffeingol

I just shipped my server in the same box that it came it. Since it arrived safe and sound to me in that box.


You really can't beat the original packaging... Every rackmount case I've ever seen has been shipped to me in excellent packaging. You could drop the box out of the back of the truck a couple of times before you would see any damage :D

Originally posted by mpope


You really can't beat the original packaging... Every rackmount case I've ever seen has been shipped to me in excellent packaging. You could drop the box out of the back of the truck a couple of times before you would see any damage :D

Exactly why they package it so good :) You pay upwards of $3000 for a server, you should at least get proper packaging!

Originally posted by hostingplex


Exactly why they package it so good :) You pay upwards of $3000 for a server, you should at least get proper packaging!

How about those $100,000+ extreme servers from Dell?

They should be shipped in steel titantium packaging!

Or better yet, by personal courier :D

I will never ever use fedex because of what happened a few months ago. I was waiting on a server to be shipped to my house from california. It took them over 3 weeks to ship it. The estimated arrival time they gave me was 1 day before a national holiday/weekend. The package made it to my city but the man who was supposed to ship the server to my house decided he wasnt going to do it. The he pulled off a "requested later shipping date" bit. So it was about 2 weeks late. On a side note, UPS has always gotten packages shipped on time.

Exact opposite for us. Fedex have always been flawless. Turn up at your office on time, despatch on time and delivery date always met.

UPS on the other hand have twice lost packages (routers) which we werent too happy about!

I guess with such large companies, you will always find the good and the bad...

We always use FedEx 3 days or faster. They are more reliable than UPS and handle things more carefully. They also never late (at least that's what we've experienced so far). :)

I wouldn't use ground to ship a production server if it is more than 3 states away. A little bit risky (or it's just me).

WHATEVER you do never EVER EVER EVER and I do mean EVER ;) ship with UPS, or USPS.

Also since we just build all our machines, we just use the box the rackmount came in and it works perfect :).

Originally posted by rey
We always use FedEx 3 days or faster. They are more reliable than UPS and handle things more carefully. They also never late (at least that's what we've experienced so far). :)

I wouldn't use ground to ship a production server if it is more than 3 states away. A little bit risky (or it's just me). Yea, I had bought something online it was like down the street they shiped UPS, and they couldn't even walk like a mile to deliver it to me so I had to wait a WHOLE day on something that was critical and due that day but they delayed it one day which is crazy for my house being only a mile away.

FedEx Super Saver (formerly called 3 Day Select) is your best option. And take it from someone who's shipped his share of servers: FedEx seems to treat the packages the best of any I've tried.

Make sure its packaged with lots of Styro Popcorn, and bubble wrap :D

Yes FedEX does it best.

Thanks for all your advice!

Make sure its packaged with lots of Styro PopcornNever use popcorn!!!! One, it's causes very bad static problems and it will not protect your server. We have had many, many servers come in damaged becuase of packing peanuts.

UPS and Fedex are both great, USPS is horrible.

Oh? really - i've never had a problem. Hmm think i'll take that into consideration next time.:)

For all the parts and a server I sent with Fedex, it ALWAYS arrives broken. Then they take 2 weeks to get back to you about insurance.

Never those dumb idiots ever again. I would rather use USPS, at least I dont expect much, but then again - nothing ever arrived broken with them in more than a year

About 8 years ago, when I was in college, I worked in my university's post office. This was the college's central post office and catered primarily to students living in the residence halls. In addition to regular postal mail, all student-addressed packages (UPS, FedEx, Airborne, and so on) had to come through our post office since delivery staff weren't allowed directly into the dorms.

My experience working at that post office taught me to never, ever, ever send any package through UPS. Never. We had more broken packages come in from UPS than from all the other carriers (including the US Postal Service) *combined*. It was horrible. Whenever a package arrived with broken contents, *we* were the ones that had to deal with the irrate students, and the sheer volume of beat up, broken, busted packages coming from UPS was appalling.

The post office processing facility was in the basement of one of the dorms. Our entrance was an outdoor entrance with 6, maybe 8, steps down to it. The UPS guy would roll a rolling cart (one of those big white bins that hold hundreds of boxes) to the bottom of the stairs, back his truck up to the top of the stairs, and then proceed to toss all the packages down the steps into the cart. Ridiculous. I once watched a Gateway computer monitor slip out of his hands and bounce down the flight of stairs - he went, picked it up, and just tossed it into the bin, despite the very audible sound of broken glass from inside the box.

I will never, ever, ever use UPS for any shipments I ever make.

FedEx, on the other hand, was fantastic. The FedEx driver would hand-carry each and every box down the stairs - in the year I worked at that post office I can only remember two packages that came through FedEx broken. Versus literally hundreds from UPS.

Jason

I've had great luck with Fedex. Awful with UPS.
I refuse to use UPS anymore. I stayed home one day to wait for a critical computer part package. It never showed up. I checked online and it said a delivery had been attempted and no one was home. No attempted delivery sticker was left, nothing. I went to UPS and complained and was given a runaround. Tried to pick the package up then and was told it was on a truck that was on a run to the airport.
So I had to come back later and wait an hour until they finally found it and gave it to me. Everyone at UPS thought the whole thing was a big joke. I will NEVER use UPS again!
I've had great service from Airborne. IBM uses them to pick up and ship laptops to their repair center in Memphis. They have their trucks on radios and if you call in after missing a delivery they'll usually come back with it.
They can be hard to find, though.