Bob Moos wrote:

o) I don't live anywhere near one of Grizzly's warehouses, so
I'll have to pay the $135 for truck freight. Other than appliances
and furniture bought at local retail stores, I've never purchased
anything this big. With the appliances and furniture, the drivers
brought eveyrhing into the house, but that doesn't sound like what'll
happen when the jointer arrives. From looking at Grizzly's policy
about truck freight[4] they talk about how the driver making the
delivery won't necessarily unload it. They make this suggestion
though:

We recommend that you make arrangements with the trucking
company to take delivery at the freight terminal if you can.
They will load it on your vehicle.

That sounds like it would be the way to go for me. Has anyone had
experience doing this? Is this something that I can count on being the
case or does this vary from one trucking company to another?

I'm fortunate enough to live not far from the terminal for the shipper
Griz uses in my area. I've got a Griz 1022 tablesaw and the GO586
jointer. Happy with both of 'em. Took me weeks to get that jointer
assembled.

In both cases, one or more cartons was just about disintegrated when
the unit got to the dock. In both cases the men and women at the dock
helped me remove each piece and check it for damage. This took a bit of
time. Then they helped me horse it onto my vehicle, and away I went. It
was pretty obvious that if I'd found a problem with shipping damage,
they would have logged it right away and begun their return process. I
looked hard and was satisfied with everything. The cartons took the
damage, not the merchandise.

I tell ya: The bed of an 8-inch jointer is one heavy sucker. With no
hoist in the shop and SWMBO - and most of my neighbors - not exactly
built like a construction worker, I had to wait till somebody wanted to
borrow the truck. :-)

I've had experiences like Mike's so I sympathize and I'm grateful I
don't get that from these guys. Wish I could remember the company name.
Great people.

I've got the standard knives. I don't use it enough yet to justify the
bucks for the spirals.

I love this jointer. I was used to my vintage Craftsman four-inch, and
figured there'd be SOME sort of trick to getting two good reference
angles on a 3 foot, 8-inch walnut board. There is: make sure the fence
is 90 degrees. Other than that, it was turn it on, push the board
through. I just stood there for a while staring at those beautiful
surfaces. Felt a little silly afterwards but it's so NICE to run
something and then feel like you got your money's worth.

I'd contact the shipper days ahead of time and ask if you can come
down, check out the dock, see where you should pull up your vehicle,
and talk about inspection and possible return. Truck is best, station
wagon might be okay. The bed comes in one piece and the box will be
about a foot longer than the bed. They like you to come in as soon as
possible but they were okay with next day. Also helped that I could
take time off work at a moment's notice.