Someone asked me recently about possible shipping options for games. Since the information is scattered, I thought I would pull it together.
Fastenal has palletized shipping from store-to-store for around $125-$250, but there's no insurance when a game is just strapped to a pallet. Also, whether or not a store can help pack and strap to a pallet sounds like it would depend upon the store, so call ahead to inquire. I haven't heard anyone report any problems with using this method for shipping a game, but I probably wouldn't want to risk it with an expensive or exceptionally nice game. A game can be insured if it is crated.
https://www.fastenal.com/en/22/3pl-(third-party-logistics)
Michelle Bianchi arranges shipping and can be in the neighborhood of $350-$600. There's shipping depots in various cities if you want to see if shipping to the depot for pick-up is cheaper/faster than directly to you door. A handful of people have posted threads about damage to games to varying degrees (bent legs, gouged and damaged cabinets), but I don't how frequently that is actually an issue. NAVL/STI is used as the shipper.
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/michelle-bianchi-update-aug-8-2016
There's a guy who transports games from place to place on the east coast for about $300, but there can be along wait time until he can arrange enough games to make a trip worthwhile for him: Ray Starego with Games on the Go. It might be worthwhile to check if he has any trips planned if you need to ship a game.
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/games-on-the-move-transportationdelivery-service
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/pinball-machine-shipper-shipping-referral-option
There was another possible shipping option I read about within the last few weeks, but I can't recall or find the details for that one since I don't really ship games and it was only posted once.
Does anyone have any other shipping options they have used or have heard of?
