Tuneman1984

I did a search and didn't find anything recent come up, so apologies if this has been discussed already.

Last February I took the Empire Builder to Seattle, mainly due to the generous baggage policy. I was able to check three bags free, and paid $10 per bag for the next three.

Now I checked on their website and it says two free, $20 per bag for the next two. It's not the fee that bothers me, but is four bags total the new hard limit? I might be relocating for work in the spring and if that's the case I'll be better off just flying, unfortunately.

darben

Four bags is the limit on Baggage per person. Even if oyu do not fly Amtrak though you can pay to ship packages (Baggage) on Amtrak. IIRC last time I did it 100 lbs from LA to CHI was right around $65.00

AGR Insider

More info about Amtrak Express shipping can be found here:

http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/Conten...=1241267371736

EnhancedByCO

And while this may be heresy to say on the Amtrak forum, Greyhound also offers competitive pricing for terminal-to-terminal package/baggage shipping at about the same overall speed as Amtrak.

That's how I moved across the country about a decade ago when I was a student and only had six boxes and three suitcases of possessions (it was also by far the cheapest method thanks to a then-50% discount with a Student Advantage membership).

Often1

So does Fedex Ground, but they pickup and deliver from home/office to home/office/hotel. Great to drop your stuff in the lobby at check-out and not lug it around.

darben

on the other hand my way your stuff is on the train with you

Tuneman1984

Thanks for the replies everyone.

I looked into Amtrak shipping not long after I posted this so that could work as well. The only issue with using other carriers or Fedex is being a Canadian citizen and shipping domestically in the United States might pose an issue. I'm sure if it was just excess cargo shipment with Amtrak, where I would already be a ticketed passenger, that wouldn't be a problem.

If I am moving for the summer I may end up just driving my car out anyways, but I really enjoyed my train trip in February and would love a chance to do it again.

EnhancedByCO

As long as you have a credit card, this won't be an issue. Once you sign up for a shipping account online with your preferred shipper (UPS or FedEx) and link it to your credit card, you won't be asked for ID when you drop off packages. And as an added bonus you'll usually save a small amount printing a label online over filling out a paper shipping waybill by hand.

jackal

I contacted Amtrak Express by email several years ago (2006, I think?) and was assured that an online rate quote function (or at least rate card) was under development and was due to be released soon.

It's been several years. The Amtrak Express webpage looks exactly the same as it did then.

You might get a lot more business if you make it easier for people to find out just how good of a deal Amtrak Express can be.

On another subject, I'm sad to see the baggage allowance reduction. Even though I can't recall ever checking a bag on Amtrak (maybe once?), it was nice to know the option existed, and I'm disappointed to see the continual chipping of benefits that really didn't cost Amtrak much (if any) money to provide and that engendered goodwill towards the company.

The one time I did get a price quote, IIRC, USPS Media Mail was by far the cheapest, followed by Amtrak Express, then USPS Parcel Post, then FedEx ground, then UPS Ground, then USPS Priority Mail, and then UPS air and FedEx air. In other words, UPS Ground may be more convenient than Amtrak Express, but you pay a premium for that convenience.

Tuneman1984

The other issue is - being a foreign citizen - not having an address to send bags to in the US if I'm using ground services. If I went with Amtrak I presume my bags would end up on the same train as I'm taking so it would be just like checking extra bags, albeit for more money. I'm not sure, but if I went with FedEx could I address my stuff to the nearest depot at my destination or is that disallowed?

The other side of this is timing...if I'm having to wait around in Chicago or Buffalo for other bits of my belongings to arrive then that would blow a hole in any cost benefit to taking the train...

jackal

I don't think you can address a FedEx or UPS parcel to a respective shipping center. It may, though, be possible to address something to a UPS Store or FedEx Kinko's, although there may be an extra fee for doing so (since people do pay those stores for mailboxes, I doubt they'd want to allow people to pick up packages for free without paying for a mailbox).

On the other hand, the USPS may still allow General Delivery. USPS Parcel Post is also usually cheaper than UPS or FedEx Ground although potentially a couple of days slower (5-7 days for USPS Parcel Post transcon vs. 3-5 for UPS/FedEx Ground). Check this link out for a discussion: http://www.city-data.com/forum/gener...very-work.html

jackal

On-topic necro-bump:

So I recently had a much better opportunity to get a real Amtrak Express quote.

After Christmas with family in California, I was taking the train LAX-CHI, staying over a few days with friends, and then heading onward to PGH. I didn't want to bother with hauling an extra bag with Christmas presents and things all around Chicago, so I thought that rather than check the bag, pick it up in Chicago, and carry it around on public transit and things, I'd just Amtrak Express it to Pittsburgh and pick it up when I got there.

I was shocked at the high price. The agent quoted me a minimum charge of $67 for any item under 50lbs (even a light duffel bag or even, shockingly, a 2lb small box) from Los Angeles to Pittsburgh.

I then thought, well, why don't I check the bag to Chicago as part of my checked luggage allowance for free, pick it up there, and then immediately drop it back off with the Amtrak Express office to go to Pittsburgh? The half hour waiting for baggage to come out in Chicago would be worth a big price savings.

Not much of a savings: $57 for the same item from Chicago to Pittsburgh.

Of course, I opted to ship the item via UPS Ground from LAX for less than a third of the cost ($19), which was surprising, since UPS offers door-to-door service, which adds to their expenses. Theoretically, Amtrak's cost to handle the package should be much lower than UPS's (actually, it's virtually nil), and that should be reflected in a lower price than UPS. It is surprising that it is not.

(It would have cost me only $11 to ship UPS from Chicago, but the hassle of picking up the checked bag, finding and dragging it to a UPS store, boxing it up, and shipping it wasn't worth the $8 savings.)

Even air cargo companies offer better pricing than Amtrak Express does. I could have shipped my bag via United Airlines cargo for $45. Since air transportation is much less fuel efficient than rail transportation, it is surprising to me that Amtrak Express's charge is so much higher than air cargo.

I would gladly use Amtrak Express as a method of transporting personal goods and excess baggage around the country, but at the cost structure currently in place for small items, it is prohibitively expensive. I understand that Amtrak Express's prices are likely very good compared to air cargo for large, heavy freight shipments, but for small packages, Amtrak really should look at being much more cost-competitive in order to drive additional business, especially since the actual cost of handling such packages is very low.

By my math, my 20lb duffel bag should have cost about 2.8 cents in diesel fuel to move the 500 miles from CHI to PGH. Add in 5 minutes of employee time to handle dropping off the package, 3 minutes of employee time to handle picking up the package, and 2 minutes of employee time to load and unload the package on the baggage car, and even at $30 per hour, the total employee cost to handle my package is around $5. So Amtrak's cost to move my bag from CHI to PGH was less than $5. Why don't they sell it at 100% markup for $10 (just undercutting UPS's price of $11--which is a great price given that UPS has to pay a driver and fuel to actually visit individual households to deliver packages)? There seems to be no reason that Amtrak shouldn't be able to do this and make a profit at it! (Combine it with an interactive quote system or at least published weight/distance tables on Amtrak's website and this could turn into a nice revenue stream.)

Anthony, mind passing this observation over to the Amtrak Express product managers?

RogerD408

Yes, your cost analysis may be accurate except for the added cost of tracking down the package once it goes missing.

There are some people that will not change what they do and Amtrak is definitely in that camp. This is what we have done and we will continue to do. If you want it, pay for it at what ever rate we choose to offer. Many businesses have made this mistake and paid the price for it. If it wasn't for government subsidies, passenger rail service would have died off years ago. Sounds like Amtrak does not want to be in the shipping business (and they have to deal with a lot of frustration from the freight rails already) being competitive in that space is not in their cards.