Crowdsourcing Postal Advice: What’s the best way to send 62 boxes of typographic punches from PEI to the eastern USA?

So I’ve ended up in the temporary care of 62 boxes that look like this:

Monotype Punch Box

Each box is 8.75” x 3” x 1.75” and weighs about 1 kg. They are wooden boxes of punches1, used to punch Monotype matrices. They are a part of the typographic heritage of North America, and my friend Heather rescued them from the dump in Mount Stewart2. I have found someone, a noble soul, in the northeast USA, who is willing to take on their stewardship, but for this to happen I need to ship the 62 boxes to him.

Canada Post tells me that the maximum weight they will ship is 25 kg, so I would need to ship them in at least three boxes. They quoted me the following prices to ship a 21 kg box:

  • Expedited USA: $72.14 x 3 = $216.42
  • Xpresspost USA: $123.15 x 3 = $369.45
  • Priority Worldwide: $384.78 x 3 = $1154.34

I’m looking for advice from the crowd as to whether there are alternatives to Canada Post that would be less expensive; we’re doing this as a heritage-preserving non-profit effort, so the money is coming out of our own pockets. Please leave advice in the comments if you have any.

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1. Inside the look like this:

Monotype Punches

2. After Gerald Giampa held his auction in Mount Stewart (after he was flooded out by a tidal surge) he hauled the items that didn’t sell to the Mount Stewart dump; Heather, keen of eye and present of mind, followed him and waded in amongst the rats and the garbage to rescue these boxes. She deserves and award.

Comments

Oliver's picture
Oliver on July 12, 2013 - 22:20 Permalink

Shipping in the other direction, from the States to Canada, it’s key you look out for the hidden cost of shepherding your package through custom. One company I looked into charged $55 and another nothing. There’s a long thread of lore on ebay.com.

David's picture
David on July 13, 2013 - 16:41 Permalink

I don’t know if they do cross-border, but I know people who’ve shipped things very economically using Greyhound, the bus company.

Heather M's picture
Heather M on July 22, 2013 - 13:36 Permalink

Thank you for taking this project on Peter. I am happy to hear the rescued type will continue to have a life of it’s own. My one and only time at the dump — but it sounds like it was a good rescue.

Peter Rukavina's picture
Peter Rukavina on March 6, 2014 - 22:09 Permalink

To tie a knot on this: months and months later, in March of 2014, I ended up shipping the boxes via Purolator Ground. The total was about $180, and I was able to book the shipment and print labels online, and a man showed up at my office a few hours later to pick them up. I just received word that they arrived in Massachusets today, 3 days after I shipped them. That seems pretty magical to me, and certainly worth $180.