Well, I guess I haven't had to ship anything since before covid hit. I checked on price to ship four beaver hides out to Moyles Tannery today from my home in northern Minnesota. Speedee, UPS, and US Postal Service; $60 to $100, with Postal Service being the most expensive.
So with tanning process and total shipping charges for four beaver, it would bring total to over $220.00
I guess I just wasn't expecting this amount..........

You could ship them to Sleepy Creek Tannery much cheaper as they are in the SpeeDee Delivery area. I used to ship complete skinning machines with a hoist for around $50 if the person was in the speedy delivery range.

I checked this also. Wanted to get some beaver done to get some mittens made. In the long run it would be just as cheap to get them done without my fur.

Did you roll them up tight or try to ship them flat?

I’m gonna learn to tan my own for this very reason. Can’t afford to have a tannery do it

What Monster Toms is referring to is the excess charges for oversized boxes. In the old days the mountain men used to fold those plews twice and then press them into 80-90 lb packs wrapped in smoked deerskin.
We could maybe learn from them.

Or....use pirateship.com

Sounds like a scam but it is completely legit. Huge discounts on UPS shipping especially with oversize packages. It is how I ship whole frozen coyotes and fox across the country.

I usually ship packages for $40-$60 that UPS would charge $200+ for

You just go on there and put in the dimensions of the box and the weight of the package, print the label, tape the label on the box, drop off at UPS store

^^^^ Thanks for the info. I hadn't heard of that service before.

Was that just shipping or did you insure them too ?

Thanks Coondager. I'd never heard of them before. I'll try them next time I have something to ship. I will also be shipping some fur to Moyles and was shocked last year at what it cost.

I just shipped 21 coyotes by UPS to Sleepy Creek for $90. I thought that was bad enough.

4 beaver should be able to be rolled up and shipped in a round rod tube like package. The smaller the better, as they will calculate the weight based on dimensions of the product usually. Would guess you could ship them for $25 or so done that way.

Like others have said, Pirate Ship will get you the standard commercial rates for UPS and USPS and has a better interface than either of them!

That's a negative Mike; smallest box that would fit 4 rolled up tight beaver was $60 for the shipping; 4 tanned beaver at Moyles including their shipping back to me was $160. I will look into Sleepy Creek Tannery also.
.....shipping has gone up.

Shipped 5 marten pelts, 2 fisher pelts and a coyote pelt to Moyle from Maine a couple of weeks ago. Packed it all in a 10x10x24 box. $64 USPS. With the $36 Moyle charges to send it back I’ll have $100 in the lot. No good, but how else can a guy get pelts to Idaho and back.

You just have to know how to play the game! It helps when you ship on a daily basis and know how to pack to minimize sizes.

Just looked it up. A 32" x 8" x 8" tube weighing 15 lbs, shipped though Pirate Ship has a UPS rate of $18.45.

I am pretty sure I could do it in a smaller tube - 6", and the weight would be less unless they were the 4 biggest beavers I see in a year.

Larger packages are much cheaper to ship through UPS than USPS. Doing the shipping online will help save you 40% of retail prices for UPS also.

Try Tubari in NJ. Closer to you than ID.

Speedee Delivery doesn't ship to Idaho far as I know. Otherwise, Speedee does a great job at a discount price for WI, IL, MN, IA, ND, SD, and NE. I've shipped many boxes of hooped beaver to the Dakotas for less than $20 a box, some having up to five hooped beaver in them. Speedee plays the same game UPS does IF . . . they come to your door for pickup. That is, if the box dimensions come in at 130" or under, then you're good to go. Over that, and there's quite a leap in surcharge. They measure this way: length X 1 plus width X 2 plus height X 2. If the sum is 130" or less you're good to go. If it's over that, and you've got the time, gas efficient vehicle, and a Speedee depot "nearby", you'll get a very good rate.

What might cost me $65 and up through UPS is always less than $20 through Speedee picking up at the door.

Ship south to Sleepy Creek in IOWA much closer than any other professional tannery.

I shipped 6 large beavers and a coyote to Sleepy Creek last month and it cost me $23 and the picked it up at my work for $8.