Freight and Commercial Discounts

Freight is expensive in time and money for both of us.  While we value our freight team, I hate paying and charging for it.  Here’s the basics on freight.

Volume v Mass (Weight)

In the contest between mass and volume, volume is the enemy when it comes to freight. When sending a two or three full depth box complete hive via Star Track the difference in freight cost is zero.  The two high boxes hive you see below is actually three boxes as the third box is inside, with Queen excluder and spare locating pins.  Its volume is 66 x 42x 52 all centimeters for a gross volume of 0.114 cubic meters.  The mass is 19 kg and the Star Track small parcel limit is 22kg.  Reducing to a two box only hive reduces mass to ~15kg with zero impact on freight cost.   Run the numbers yourself.  If starting out a three two box hive set-up is the same freight cost as a two three box starter set-up.  As there’s room for an additional base or lid within the two high box cavities.  The freight cost is $114 going to Flaxton QLD.  This brings the question of larger shipments.

commercial-frieght1

Larger Shipments

Below is a one third packed half height pallet of hive parts.  This packed half pallet load will contain:  22 bases, 22 Lids, 22 Queen excluders, 22 sets of gates (a set is left and right hand) and 24 boxes.  I played Tetris in full size for three hours to reach these quantities.  It IS possible to get more lids, bases and boxes into this volume.  Just more Tetris, but the limit is about 24 all round.

commercial-frieght2

FREE SHIPPING within a 250KM radius of Booral NSW for orders of 10 hives or more.

250km circle from booral

This is a custom pack.  It went to Flaxton QLD in the first week of August 2022 via Castle Inman Ford Ranger and Trailer as the Truckit.net person bailed and the refund on a freight cost of $569 later arrived.  It was a 1,600 KM round trip. 

There is zero assurance what freight, assuming the truck arrives will be going forward.  If the 22 sets had packed down to about 15, via Star Track it would have been about $1,710.  Remember this is a HALF height pallet and a FULL height pallet is more like 40 sets.  I am guided here by what the customer wants.

Our job here to help save the pain and agony of freight.

Realistically a half pallet is minimum commercial order that is going to be shipped a decent distance.  Below this volume we cannot get quotes on Truckit.net. 

After the drive to QLD and back our freight delivery radius is greatly expanded IF the trailer and truck are PACKED!  My guess is that the trailer and Ranger tray will take about 40 two box hives with lids bases and Queen Excluders.

If you are a commercial keeper and finally sick of rotting wood hives that look horrible.  Yes they really do, so if you have customers coming onto site, like Harvest Honey does, show the beauty and class of your site.  You only get one first impression so make it a great one.

Larger commercial haulage companies will take it at 40% more cost.  The actual pack is determined by you and we aim to pack every available centimeter that we safely can.

Use the request for quote form for your commercial quantities, if you are a beekeeping supplies shop and pay your bills on time, please call and we will work something out.  

Here is the comparison of individual rates and commercial quantities of equipment.  If you ORDER equipment for pick-up at a Farmers' Market a commercial deal can be done.

Base - Home Beekeeper Inc. Freight: $75
Base - Commercial Quantity: $45

Lid- Home Beekeeper Inc. Freight: $95 
Lid - Commercial Quantity: $60.50

Queen Excluder - Home Beekeeper Inc. Freight: $15
Queen Excluder- Commercial Quantity: $12.50

Full Depth Box - Home Beekeeper Inc. Freight: $95 
Full Depth Box - Commercial Quantity: $66

Ideal Box - Home Beekeeper Inc. Freight: $90
Ideal Box- Commercial Quantity:$60

Gate Set (left and right hand) - Home Beekeeper Inc. Freight: $5
Gate Set (left and right hand) - Commercial Quantity: $2.50

All prices are INCLUSIVE of GST

On the commercial quantities you see the raw power of volume.  We are incentivized to ship the most we can.  Grouping the types of items ordered and a single line item for freight saves a LOT of money.  See the page ‘How to Save on Freight’ (live link).

Beekeeping Supplies Request Form

Hello commercial or pretty serious keeper.  Thank-you for considering Technoset hives from Castle Inman.  We will NOT be as cheap as an unassembled, unpainted and unpreserved wooden boxes.  I only ever assembled one set and it took ages and has since been thrown away.  Our boxes are ready to accept frames.  If you value your time or sanity in any way we are far superior value for money. Stop wasting your valuable time assembling, painting and cursing your soon to be rotten wooden boxes.   You have honey to make and mites to fight.

Please fill in this form and we will get back to you with a quote very soon