Adding further information to my earlier post for comparison, I won a few more lots in the MTH warehouse auction of 8/14/23. This comprised two lots consisting of paired MTH Premier rolling stock (60' flatcars with track sections) in their two-unit shipping cartons, and three lots of loose freight cars (five assembled/unpainted cabooses, and two lots of photo/decoration samples with a total of seven freight cars between them)
So, sixteen cars in total, with four of them in a pair of shipping cartons. That leaves twelve loose cars in the shipment. The last time I had a dozen unboxed cars (the "tankerpalooza" win) in a shipment, the packing material+labor fee came to $55. I estimate the bill for this shipment will be somewhat larger with two MTH shipping cartons included in the mix. I'll update this post accordingly when they ship. (and try to add photos in the "buy anything cool" megathread once they arrive--probably the following weekend).
Edit 1 (08/20/23): I took another look at my invoice for the 'tankerpalooza' shipment above, and am issuing the following correction for this post:
--Carton+packing material+labor fee was $29.96 for the 12 unboxed tankers, plus 25.31 for UPS shipping. Both fees are expected to be larger for the current shipment of 8/14/23 items (hasn't been billed yet, maybe Monday), but not greatly so.
Edit 2 (08/22/23): Shipping invoice arrived. 11.95 for the boxes/packing, 38.66 UPS shipping/handling. Total: 50.61
Huh, it actually cost less than Tankerpalooza. Maybe it's cause the loose MTH cars weighed less than aluminum tankers?
Edit 3: Tracking number arrived. UPS says its a 29-pound shipment 
Final edit (08/23/23): Package arrived one day later. 24 pounds on the label, in a 24"x16"x12" box (safe lifting practices in effect!)
Took photos of some individual pieces unwrapped on my computer desk (not enough time to do all of them in one session, the test-track yard is full, with a long train on the main). I'll try to put some shots up in the "buy anything cool" thread when I finish taking pix.
One More Edit: posted photos in the Buy Anything Cool megathread. There are multiple posts (five in total) following the one linked here, just jump to the next page for the rest.
---PCJ
