How much do Midway cocktail cabinets weigh?

[ThunderFist]

I'm getting one soon, but may have made a big mistake. I looked at the sales flyer, which tells the dimensions for the game, but not the weight. I contacted a freighting company for a quote, and they quoted me $854.72! The game is only 13 hours and 1 minute away from my house, but since I couldn't tell them the exact weight of the game, just the dimensions, I told them that I thought the game weighed about 180 lbs. I've seen somewhere more recently, though, that it may only weigh about 100 lbs. Does anyone know what a standard Midway cabinet weighs? This one does have wheels on the bottom, and I have a feeling those weren't put on in the factory.

[Cebus Capucinis]

You're actually pretty close with the 180lbs weight, though the Midway cocktails might be a bit lighter than, for example, an Atari cab, due to differing construction. However, it's generally safe to assume that all cocktail cabs will be in the 150lb ballpark no matter what. Who did you quote through? If it wasn't NAVL, I'd suggest giving them a call and get a second quote before pulling the trigger on something. $854 for that mileage isn't horrendously high, but it's definitely in the upper ranges of what shipping a cab is going to take. I'd say it's just in the "too high to make me sick" range, not in the "laugh in the guy's face" range. Some additional questions:

 

Does the quote include palletizing, wrapping, and curbside pickup and delivery? If this is the case, those will all add significantly to the cost. To save, see if you can get the seller to palletize it and pallet-wrap it for a smaller fee, and tell the shipping company it's already good to go, they just need to pick it up.

 

Is it a warehouse or a residental address? Residential addresses always add a bit to the cost of shipping, as the truck has to maneuver the side streets and whatnot to be able to get to the location and pick-up. If there's not at least 50 feet or so of available space, they may not even be able to pick it up in the first place. If it's a commercial dock with shipping apparatus, that lowers the cost significantly as well.

 

Either way, your weight estimate is very close to accurate, and when shipping including a pallet and packing materials (some places demand that you crate it rather than just palletizing), you're going to probably be up to 185lb anyway. I've heard from big sellers that they always bump it up to 200lbs just to be safe.

 

Having said that, give NAVL a call and talk to them directly. When you call their 800-number, ask to speak specifically to the arcade/jukebox/collectibles person (I believe her name is Michelle, or at least she used to be their person). They will talk you through all the options and processes and get you a much more reliable quote for more than likely a much, much lower price. It will likely still be $500-ish, possibly down to $375 or so, but it's definitely more reasonable than just going through whoever you can find.

 

If the seller is willing to store and sit on it for a week or two, another good option folks I know have done is used Uship.com. I've used it for a couple moves and it works really well -- you just put in the info on the item and shippers bid on how much it will cost to ship. Usually you'll end up with a '2 guys and a truck' type outfit that is pretty good that will do it for a heck of a lot less than a national chain, and there's a lot of guys who run routes shipping for a living that undercut a LOT of the corporate costs. I'd recommend that as well if you've got the time. The caveat for it, though, is make sure it's a reputable organization (even if small) that has good feedback and most importantly look for pictures of what the trucks or people look like. Believe me when it makes all the difference -- if the trucks are beat up and don't have professional logos on them or the staff doesn't have a uniform shirt at least, DO NOT USE THEM. I had a horrendous experience moving to this new apartment through Uship because I didn't take the time to look into the low quote I got. Even if it costs $50 or so more to use a professional outfit, it is definitely worth the cost.

 

Hope that helps a bit, what game is it? If it's Bubbles, I'll just go ahead and tell the driver to drop it off at my house.

[ThunderFist]

Thanks for that! I called NAVL this afternoon and they're supposed to call me back with a quote sometime. I'm keeping the actual machine a surprise until I get it, but I'll tell you right now that it's not a Bubbles. I said Midway, not Williams.

[Atari_Bill]

Thanks for that! I called NAVL this afternoon and they're supposed to call me back with a quote sometime. I'm keeping the actual machine a surprise until I get it, but I'll tell you right now that it's not a Bubbles. I said Midway, not Williams.

 

It may have just been my experience, but I would avoid NAVL at all costs. I bought a custom built machine a few years ago and had it shipped via NAVL. The machine arrived to my house literally broken in half! The entire side of the cabinet was split. I had them return it and waited for another few months to get a replacement machine and when it arrived, the base of the machine had a big crack in it. It was still functional so I didn't feel like waiting again and I kept it. They will never get any business from me again.

[ThunderFist]

Thanks for that! I called NAVL this afternoon and they're supposed to call me back with a quote sometime. I'm keeping the actual machine a surprise until I get it, but I'll tell you right now that it's not a Bubbles. I said Midway, not Williams.

 

It may have just been my experience, but I would avoid NAVL at all costs. I bought a custom built machine a few years ago and had it shipped via NAVL. The machine arrived to my house literally broken in half! The entire side of the cabinet was split. I had them return it and waited for another few months to get a replacement machine and when it arrived, the base of the machine had a big crack in it. It was still functional so I didn't feel like waiting again and I kept it. They will never get any business from me again.

 

Well, hopefully the amount of insurance they have to slap on it (The quote does include insurance, right?) will help deter this from happening in my case. For the record, their quote is $431, which is a lot more reasonable than the other company.

[ThunderFist]

Here it is! It just came in today!

 

http://image82.webshots.com/482/3/35/16/2421335160051820691wrpjUH_fs.jpg

[Cebus Capucinis]

....what is it? Pic is corrupt. LOL

[ThunderFist]

Okay, sorry about that. I'll try it again. If it doesn't display properly this time, I'll come out in the next post and say the title.

 

[Cebus Capucinis]

:lust:

 

AWESOME!

[ThunderFist]

I went ahead and went with the company that charged the $854.72 after reading some not so flattering feedback on NAVL. There were the ones here, plus elsewhere, so I decided a few extra hundred wouldn't hurt since I knew they were going to crate the game up. They did palletize the game and they crated it up, and they did do curbside delivery to my house. All things considered, it arrived in great shape, and the previous owner had installed a new monitor before I got the game, as well as a free play button on the coin door.