Shipping Art to Playa from Overseas

[dhiana]

Currently putting together everything needed for the Art Grant application and am having some difficulties with the final delivery details:

Just to make things super fun, by husband is currently in salary negotiations for a job overseas. Doubtful that we will have any solid news either way until the very end of January.

If he does get the job, I will have access to USPS to ship the parts/pieces back to the US at a fairly reasonable price but...

Can I have USPS deliver it all the way to the gate? Which I could then pick it up with a friend's truck and set it up. Each box would be light enough/small enough for me to carry by my self.

If not USPS, is there another company that would deliver from it's SFO (San Fran) entry point?

I would love to just put out a message to another artist to say, 'hey, let's share truck expenses, etc' but there's no guarantee at this point when it comes to writing solid numbers on the Art Grant...

Looking forward to contributing an art install in 2011. It'll be my 4th year returning and have been on our camp's build team for the last 2 years =)
I don't feel comfortable just throwing it on the truck with the camp stuff because our camp capt already works super hard coordinating both our camp and another camps stuff into a single truck and if I wait to bring my art until then (not that there would be any room on the truck) I won't be able to help build our camp. Important for me to contribute my part to our camp :)

Any ideas will be appreciated,
Thank you,
Dhiana

[theCryptofishist]

Call the Gerlach post office. General Delivery *should* work. If you're staying in a hotel in Reno before going to the playa that's another option.
People do get packages on playa through the post office, but I don't know when they start delivery and I think there's a certain burny randomness that you may not want to rely on. Can you have it delivered to your friend at his/her home address? Perhaps you could rent a mailbox at one of those mailbox places. I'm sure there are other options, I think this is a brain storm and then look at the pluses and minuses situation, rather than having a perfect answer on a platter. You are going to have to weigh security, price, and other factors, and only you can decide what each is worht.

Edited to add: You might be able to work with Artery on a solution. It's possible they've done this before.

[dhiana]

I could send the boxes to my friend's place but she already has enough on her plate with coordinating camp stuff including already receiving 2-3 boxes of my personal items such as tent, sleeping bag, costumes, etc. each year. She's a good friend, I want to keep her as a good friend :)


How do I contact the Artery? I've searched the site here and can only find the volunteer form link. I don't think it is the same email addy as we are to send the Art Grants to, or is it?

Thank You,
Dhiana

[theCryptofishist]

You might try "artery" or "theartery" at burningman dot com.

Maybe one of the people who've had art in the past knows.

[dhiana]

:( I can't reach the Artery via email. They think I'm spam :(

"Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently:

artery at burningman dot com

Technical details of permanent failure:
Google tried to deliver your message, but it was rejected by the recipient domain. We recommend contacting the other email provider for further information about the cause of this error. The error that the other server returned was: 550 550 5.1.1 <>: Recipient address rejected: User unknown in virtual mailbox table (state 14)."

Does anyone maybe have a phone number instead?

[andy]

Honestly I wouldn't risk the Gerlach post office - not because of any issues with the US postal service but because the post office may not be open when you arrive.

A much safer option, if the art will fit in a car, is to pick a hotel in Reno where you plan to spend a night and send it to arrive about 2-3 days before you get there. (I do something similar for many of my conventions). Hotels are well-accustomed top this sort of thing, some charge $10 or so to receive the package, others charge nothing. JUst label your package "John Smith, guest arriving Aug 22, ABC Hotel, 123 Maint St, Reno, NV".

[theCryptofishist]

Artery at burningman dot com was a guess. I don't know what the general email is. Maybe you can call 415 toflame and leave a message asking them to get in touch with you. Sorry, I have nothing better.

[Bob]

Imagine if Burning Man were to offer parcel handling for 50,000 participators.

[theCryptofishist]

Horrible, yes. If it came to that, I'd say go with BRCPO. Still, someone at the Artery might have valuable input. If not, at least we'd be forcing someone who's "volunteering" in order to get a reduced price ticket, would have to spend 5 minutes talking to a "participant" in order to convince the llc he/she is actually "working."

[fbcota]

We are based in Reno and will be renting a truck to take The Pier out to the playa. I'm pretty sure we will have some extra room so depending on your needs maybe you could pitch for part of the truck rental and we can transport your items out from Reno.

Try contacting Jonesy Jones with the artery (jones at burningman dot com). I think maybe he can point you in the right direction.