My experience today was that the UPS Store (franchise) wanted $123 to ship a bike, and another independent UPS shipper charged me $73 for the same package to the same destination...I, too, was taken to school on the fact that they all set there own pricing, so shop around. I am not sure how the online price estimates are supposed to help with it being anyone's guess in the end. I also insured the box for $600, my packaging and padding, no questions asked.
Karl Swanson
Santa Barbara, California