Craters & Freighters

We had this firm pack up a small apartment of stuff and ship it from Sterling to San Francisco California. Everything was done on time and on budget. Everything arrived meticulously packed with not a single item damaged. We would certainly use this firm again. Please be weary of other reviews. We too got low prices from other shippers, but I can guarantee you the competing firms (yes we have used others in the past) will not spend the time and effort to crate and pack high value items like these folks do. You get more than your money’s worth with Craters and Freighters of Sterling.

I received a quote from Craters & Freighters DC that was grossly inflated. I received a quote from Pak and Ship that was $ 100 where as Craters and Freighters was $ 600. They ask you the insured amount and base their quote on that price and not the actually shipping and packing fees. Go some where else.

Very professional, very responsive, and very personal and straightforward treatment. Especially appreciated their stepping in at the last minute for a semi-​emergency situation — in the middle of the pre-​holiday craziness, by the way — requiring someone to step in to ensure our shipment arrived safe and sound and take care of the details.
Would definitely use these folks for both big and small shipments.

These guys are ripoff artists.
They pulled a bait and switch on us shipping a very expensive sculpture.
Their markup on shipping via fedex was about 400%.
Their insurance was 400% of what fedex would have charged.
Packing was 3x what reasonable shipper would charge.
We shipped a high value item with them, obviously when the saw the value of the transaction, greed took over, final charges were more than 4x the original estimate. What we paid them ended up basically being a ransom to get our piece delivered.
I send expensive stuff (mostly art) all over the world regularly and know what it costs, my less experienced partner on this deal fell into the clutches of these thieves and we got completely screwed.
In the end I believe we were dealing with the owner of the company, he was the biggest thief and liar of them all.
I don’t know how they can stay in business in this day and age, I’m sure word will get out eventually, I’ll just do what I can to help make that happen.
NEVER AGAIN!

So have you ever had one of those cravings — no — let me re-phrase…OBSESSIONS where you absolutely had to have something, even though it seemed like an unrealistic complication and a logistical nightmare?
No, I’m not talking about dating and mating (although it is certainly applicable there!), i’m talking about shopping and shipping.
Since the advent of ebay and craigslist and the like, this has made previously unaccessible obscure ‘obsessions’ for hobbyists and collectors suddenly available and so easy to contribute to the perpetual draining of our bank accounts.
Case in point. I have a ‘robust fascination’ with mid-​century furniture, and i am a self-​professed musicoholic/​vinyl fetishist… records, that is :)
therefore, the dangerous nexus of these two ‘fascinations’ are mid-​century (50’s-early 70’s) record consoles.
i had a love at first sight moment one day back in april of this year while browsing ebay, where i rarely shop-​bid. but there she was, a 1950s era Grundig console with beautiful sheen, a rarefied, exotic look, and a shapely body. mmm. mmm. and… mmmm.
so the bidding began. I convinced myself that I would never win it b/​c the freekin’ thing was in Gaithersburg Maryland and, well, yah I live in LA.
Everyone else told me I was wasting my time. So two days before bidding ended, I called my sis in D.C. (her beau happens to hail from Gaithersburg by co-​inkydink) and ‘mentioned’ i was bidding on this thing but was unlikely to win but in the miracle situation that i did, could I possibly pick it up and bring it to her place in D.C. (it just so happened I was coming to see her the next week for her big birthday celebration — I KNOW, more coinkydink).
Well, the stars were aligned. not only did i win the bid – i got the thing for a STEAL!
Once the euphoria wore off (actually i am still kinda euphoric, but i digress…), reality set in. It’s gonna cost me a FORTUNE to get it back to LA!
So let’s fast forward 6 months (I know, I kinda took advantage of the holding it at sis’ house before shipback)
I did some creative investigation of local antique shops in the D.C. area, knowing they’d ship delicate, valuable, old shit all over the U.S. – and they must have an idea who’s good and bad to use.
I was right, they called out a few leads, and I began calling around to check ‘em out.
enter CRATERS and FREIGHTERS. First of all, props for the catchy name. As one with a marketing bent – touché.
Now, they have many locations across the US, so you need to check out their website to see if they’re a fit geographically.
I can only speak for the Sterling, VA location near Dulles, as that’s the location I used.
Joe, their sales manager and key setup guy for the shipments, was a pleasure to work with. Knowledgeable, professional, and honest, he helped me figure out how we were gonna do this. Rather, he listened to my story, saw my photos, took dimensions, and then came back to me with a quote that was HUNDREDS of dollars cheaper than any of the other companies (FYI, it’s cheaper to ship to a business rather than a residence). And he told me exactly how they’d pack everything safely. He inspired confidence in their operation.
So they picked up the 140 lb record console at my Sis’ place on Nov 26^th.
Fast forward 3 weeks later, December 17, 2008.
(yeah, shipment was delayed 1. b/​c they were closed for 4 days around Thanksgiving and 2. according to Joe, due to the Christmas shipping overload)
«HOUSTON, TRANQUILITY BASE HERE. THE GRUNDIG HAS LANDED.»
It arrived on Dec 17^th, my actual birthday. Everything was packed professionally as promised, and it arrived in great condition, with the exception that the ‘Grundig’ branding plate on the front of the console fell off, b/​c it lost a metal pin that musta broken off.
I assume it may have broken during shipment, but I don’t blame Craters and Freighters. Hopefully, it’s nothing some special glue can’t fix.
so if you’re not in a rush to ship something over long distances, C & F are your guys. If you ARE in a rush, I would assume they are still comparatively affordable and competent.
And tho I’m several hundred dollars poorer, it’s still love at first sight – this time, at close range. Every day.