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I fired my film transportation company for the second time in seven years today. That means I have to drive about 700 miles sometime this week to pick up my movie. I will be calling the studio tomorrow as well as ETS. This time I am going to insist that there is an alternative to the mafia-type shipper they require us to use. I want DHL or UPS to transport but ETS says they cannot do that. I will not hire the guy back this time no matter how much he grovels. What are the alternatives? I am in Northern California.

I don't know about California but here in the hill country of Iowa we are able to use anyone we can get to do the job. I use UPS with ETS and it is nice. I just drop off the prints to the local UPS shipping office in town (about a block away by shopping cart) and I don't even have to wait for a pick-up. I wish I could talk Technicolor into it too....

This won't help you get your print but when I send my prints back to ETS I use the good old US Postal Service. You can send film using the book rate or parcel post which I believe is the same rate. My private contractor charges me $30.00 to deliver a print from ETS and I can usually mail it back for half that amount.

Leeler, ETS lets UPS deliver your prints to you and back to them? The manager at my ETS depot said they wouldn't let UPS pick up prints there. I know I can use them to ship back to ETS though.

Has anyone made a comparison between USPS, UPS, FedEx, DHL, and anybody else?

yup, Burney. They wanted me to use a local carrier when I started (and I did) but they were way too unreliable and I quickly gave them the ax. he then let me use whomever I needed. I ship both ways with UPS. Never tried USPS. might be worth looking into.

At our ten-plex on the west side of Puget sound we have prints delivered and picked up by DHL and a private carrier (I think she calls herself "I Deliver Your Films" or something like that). In the six months I've been here I don't recall UPS ever delivering a print. Are you on a Greyhound route? If so perhaps they could bus them to you.

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Bob Allen
The Old Showman
"Back In The Saddle Again"

Inter-City buses (like Greyhound and Trailways) usually offer package delivery on their routes. Is there any other commodity delived from the city where your ETS depot is to a city on Interstate 5 that is reasonably close to Burney (e.g., Redding)? Maybe the truck delivering magazines, newspapers, or bread?

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John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Customer Technical Services
Entertainment Imaging
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7525A
Eastman Kodak Company
Rochester, NY 14650-1922
Telephone: +1 585-477-5325 Cell: +1 585-781-4036 Fax: +1 585-722-7243
E-Mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Website: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

When I was in Mankato, MN ... our ETS prints were delivered Wednesday night/early Thursday morning by ... The Twin Cities News.

ETS will ship our prints via UPS. You just get a UPS account number and they keep it on file and bill it to your account when ever they ship a print to you. They will also ship it to us COD. However, we pay a private company to deliver it to us. It costs a little more, but we have far fewer problems getting our prints with them. They have a key to the front door so no one has to be there to meet them. And if there is a problem with getting the print to us, they call and let us know when it will be delivered.

Also, LEELER, talk to Technicolor about becoming a key drop theater. Both of our theaters are set up that way. The DHL driver has a key to the front door and we have a designated drop off/pick up area. They put a little sticker some where near that area that they scan to prove that they were at the theater. It can be difficult to become a key theater, but I think it is worth it. And it works with anything that is sent through DHL to your theater, not just prints. You still have a delivery/pick up window, but now no waiting for the truck to show up!!

Pardon the newbie question, but... what is ETS?

ETS is the film depot/distribution hub for WB, Paramount, Sony, Miramax, New Line, and some smaller studios. Technicolor handles the others.

I had the print shipped here via DHL. It should/better be here tomorrow. I will ship it back via UPS and see who is less expensive. UPS rents from me and has access to one of my buildings across the street from the theatre, and DHL already has a key for Technicolor prints. So either is convenient for me.

Neither of those companies will work out for a circuit print though. What do you do then? I can drive a ways, but...

Do you have relatives, friends, neighbors, or other businesses that normally commute to a city where prints could be delivered/picked up? For example, if someone worked in Redding, and commuted every weekday, could you arrange to have the prints dropped there as the film delivery truck traveled up and down I-5? How about having your film dropped at a theatre in Redding or Dunsmuir?

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John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Customer Technical Services
Entertainment Imaging
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7525A
Eastman Kodak Company
Rochester, NY 14650-1922
Telephone: +1 585-477-5325 Cell: +1 585-781-4036 Fax: +1 585-722-7243
E-Mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Website: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

My experience with a circuited print through ETS that is not with in driving distance for me to pick up has been that the studio usually arranges for delivery of that print. So far, I have not been charged for the delivery of a print that way.

One problem we had with having ETS ship us prints using DHL (back when it was still Airborne) was sometimes we would not get them, or they would show up on the Monday following the Friday when we needed it. Some one in the Airborne shipping hub would not pay attention to the shipping lable and when a print came in at the end of the day on the van, they would automatically set it with the Technicolor prints and not look at the label and see it was supposed to continue on to some place else. At least that is what I think was happening.

When I return prints to ETS through UPS, I ship them packed in a cardboard box. UPS charges us a $5.00 handling fee PER CAN if we just stick a lable on the metal cans. Supposedly it is because the cans cause damage if they run them down the conveyor belts, so a person has to hand carry them through the shipping hubs. Don't know, but for the $10.00 per 2 can print for additional handling, I can pack them in cardboard boxes to ship. I found 16x16x16 boxes for about $1.25 each (including shipping) through U-Line. These are just the right size for putting 2 cans (any combination of 2, 3, or 4 reel cans) in laying on their sides, and ETS has never said anything to me about getting them back that way. And if I really wanted to be cheap, we usually have lots of empty boxes that could be cut down to size for shipping. I just think it is easier to buy the boxes that are the right size, and I am still saving $8.75 per shipment.

John, taking them to a Redding theatre won't work. The same guy transports their film. I don't know who I could use even out of Redding that would be reliable. Last time I tried a shipping company for a few months. It was a constant hassle with them. I had to call daily, sometimes several times a day to get a print up here on time.
Puzzlenut, thanks for the information on your circuiting experience. That helps. I have a print to send out today via UPS and will find out about the extra charge for the cans. I will take a box with me just in case.
Bob,
There is no Greyhound or anything else up here. When a taxi passes through town everyone stops what they are doing just to stare at the cab. It would be the talk of the town!

[This message has been edited by BurneyFalls (edited January 29, 2005).]

[This message has been edited by BurneyFalls (edited January 29, 2005).]

puzzlegut, good tip on the cardboard boxes. I'm gonna start right away.