A bed frame ships in pieces or does not ship at all. Break it down, bundle the long rails, box the headboard, and the whole thing turns from a moving-truck problem into a $59.05 parcel on a good lane. A queen bundle priced through the calculator on 2026-08-11 came back at $59.05 for the fastest ground quote, Berkeley Heights, NJ to Atlanta, GA.
The frame that ships in one Tetris shape is the frame that arrives whole.
| Carrier and service | Rate | Delivery window |
|---|---|---|
| UPS Ground | $59.05 | 2 to 3 business days |
| UPS 3 Day Select | $83.95 | 2 to 3 business days |
| UPS 2nd Day Air | $111.19 | 2 business days |
| FedEx Ground | $113.00 | 5 to 6 business days |
| UPS 2nd Day Air A.M. | $125.30 | 2 business days |
UPS Ground was the cheapest of the five and matched the fastest delivery window on this lane. A shorter zone drops the number further; a cross-country run pushes it up. The parcel-versus-freight question does not really open until the longest single piece grows past 108 inches or the total climbs past 150 lb.
Take the frame apart to the pieces the manufacturer packed originally: headboard, footboard, two side rails, center support beam, and the slat assembly. A four-poster with turned columns comes apart at the joinery; force nothing. If there was no manufacturer, take photos as you go.
A resealable bag per joint, labelled with a marker, taped to the piece the screws come out of. This is the single practice that decides how quickly a frame reassembles at the far end. A generic pile of loose hardware guarantees a hardware-store run.
Rails and slats bundle together with corner protectors and stretch wrap; the whole bundle rides in a long parcel-outer carton with foam ends. A headboard boxes flat with corner blocks and edge protection. A queen headboard is generally the piece that flirts with the parcel width limit; a king headboard is almost always freight.
Wrap the finished surface first. A moving blanket cut to the piece, then bubble wrap over it, then corrugated corner pieces, then the outer box. Solid wood scratches; painted or veneered wood chips. Both take the same protection.
UPS Ground and FedEx Ground both accept parcels up to 108 inches in length, 165 inches in length plus girth, and 150 pounds. USPS caps its ground parcels lower — 130 inches combined and 70 lb — which is why bed-frame parcels usually route to UPS or FedEx and not to USPS. Anything above the 108-inch or 150-pound line becomes a freight shipment: a pallet, a crate or an LTL run, priced by weight and class through a manager rather than a parcel API.
The parcel calculator on this site handles the first case. A frame that grows past those limits — a solid oak sleigh, a california king with a headboard over 84 inches — belongs in freight review, where a person prices the lane and picks the equipment. Do not try to force freight-sized furniture through a parcel account; the reweigh charges and the returned shipments are what eat any saving.
Carriers revise their size and weight rules independently. Treat the numbers above as what the carriers published on the date shown; a specific bed frame at the edge of the parcel envelope is worth priced-out in the calculator or routed to freight review before packing.
A disassembled queen or twin frame usually fits. UPS Ground accepts packages up to 108 inches in length and 150 lb; FedEx Ground matches those numbers. Longer rails or heavier assemblies belong on freight.
$59.05 for a 62-by-14-by-6 inch bundle at 45 lb from Berkeley Heights, NJ to Atlanta, GA, on UPS Ground, quoted 2026-08-11. FedEx Ground for the same box came back at $113.00 and UPS 3 Day Select at $83.95.
Break it down to headboard, footboard, side rails, center support and slats. Bag every screw, bolt and washer by joint, and tape the bag to the piece it belongs to. A frame that ships bagged and labelled comes back together in an evening; a frame that ships with loose hardware ends in an emergency trip to the hardware store.
When the longest piece is over 108 inches, when the total assembly is over 150 lb, or when a king headboard is too wide to fit inside a standard parcel outer box. A pallet or a crated freight shipment routes through freight review, not the parcel calculator.
Declared-value coverage costs a few dollars per hundred and is worth adding for a frame with a heirloom headboard or a solid wood construction. For a flat-pack replacement frame the padding decides more than the coverage does.