Delivery Information
Truck Deliveries and Pallet Pricing
When an order is large enough to ship on a pallet, it will be delivered to you via a Less-Than-Truckload (LTL) common carrier, such as UPS Freight, FedEx Freight, or any number of other regional trucking companies. These delivery trucks are typically full-size tractor trailers, so it is important that you consider the area surrounding your delivery location to determine whether there may be any access issues for the trucks to be able to reach you.
The shopping cart will automatically add the proper LTL freight charges at checkout. In many cases, if you are purchasing quantities that equate to a full pallet of one material, that item may already include these trucking charges. If it does, you will see "Delivered Price" listed next to the Add to Cart button. In either case, the shipping charges are based on the delivery zip code you enter for the order. If you have multiple ship-to addresses and change the destination for an order after the items are in the cart, the system will update all the pricing based on the new zip code before completing the checkout.
Also, please keep in mind that the term "delivered price" reflects typical business to business shipping, which means "dock to dock" shipping. The freight rates incorporated into the pricing are extremely competitive, but are negotiated on the premise that minimal "extra work" is required by the common carriers. Therefore, when extra work is involved in making a delivery, extra fees do apply. If we were to offer freight rates that included everything, they would be higher for everyone and this would penalize those customers who do not require any extra services to receive shipments.
At checkout you will have the option to select these extra delivery services. Please be aware that the fees for these extras (liftgate, appointment, residential, high value insurance) will apply for EACH shipment that is part of your order. A shipment is defined as a single pickup of any number of pallets shipping from one warehouse to one customer location. If your order comprises items that ship from multiple warehouses, the fees for the additional services you request will apply from EACH warehouse location that ships to you. For example, if you request a delivery appointment for an order that has 3 pallets of material that each ship from a different warehouse, you will be charged for 3 delivery appointments, even if all the pallets ultimately deliver to you on the same truck at the same time.
Please understand that the complexities of modern trucking makes it impossible for us to have the carriers coordinate pallets from different locations to arrive at the same time with the same set of services without requesting and paying for those services on each individual shipment. We have tried and tried, and it does not work!
The shopping cart will track delivered price items separately from all other items in the cart. Therefore, you will have the option to select additional delivery services independently for each of these two groups within the cart. The fees for additional delivery services for delivered price items will be applied directly to the sub-total line item at checkout, where the fees for any other items will be applied directly to the freight line item at checkout. The system will automatically add the appropriate fees based on what items are in the cart and where the products ship from (and you wonder why this site took us so long!).
Each pallet that ships from our Lancaster facility will incur a $16.50 pallet, wrapping, and banding fee. This fee will be added to the order total at checkout. It will not show up as a separate line item online, although it will be shown as such on the actual invoice receipt you received from the accounting department.
The information below is a guide to help you understand the logistics side of processing your order and the details that are required to make it go as efficiently as possible. As always, we will work as hard as we can to ensure the smoothest, lowest cost delivery possible.
Destination Zip Codes:
The freight charges for your order are based on the delivery zip code you provide. Some carriers have additional fees for certain zip codes that other carriers do not. If we see an order come through with freight charges that could be less
with an alternative carrier, we will contact you and manually adjust the order based on
the better option.
Residential Deliveries:
A common delivery issue we run into is "home-based" businesses. The freight rates incorporated into the product pricing are for traditional commercial "dock-to-dock" shipping. Even if you have a forklift onsite, if your facility is in a residential area, there may be a residential fee applied to the delivery. In many cases, the LTL carriers already have specific addresses classified as "residential" and there is little we can do to change this without you proving to them it should be otherwise. We typically ask each customer a set of questions to help determine the likelihood of this occurring. For the most part, we try to avoid these fees and for the most part we are successful. The best way to avoid a residential fee it to make the delivery go as smoothly as possible. This means being ready to unload when the truck comes and if hand-unloading, having ample help to offload the freight as quickly as possible.
Delivery Appointments:
Another common issue we encounter is when customers ask us to have drivers "call them 30 minutes in advance" so they can get back to the office to unload pallets. Although it seems like a simple request, please remember that pallet deliveries are made by common truck carriers and each truck makes dozens of stops per day picking up and dropping off materials, very much like UPS/FedEx small package trucks. Imagine asking your UPS/FedEx package driver to call you 30 minutes before a delivery so you could be home. There is a mutual respect for everyone's time that must be kept in mind. Therefore, if someone is not always present at your facility, we suggest adding a delivery appointment. You will be able to pick the day and a 4 hour timeframe that you would like the delivery to occur within. We have also found that using the appointment system is the only reliable way to have a driver call 30-60 minutes before delivering so you do not have to wait around all day.
Liftgate Deliveries:
As a general rule, carriers will allow hand-unloading pallets when the customer does not have a dock or a forklift at their facility. The allotted time-frame is normally 15 minutes per pallet, so if you are receiving multiple pallets of bagged material, it is important to have help on hand to unload the material in a timely manner. In almost all cases, the drivers will have pallet jacks to move the pallets to the rear of the trailer, but beyond that, they are not required to help unload in any way. If you ask them to help, there may be a "driver assist" fee added to the delivery. A liftgate delivery may be requested for an additional fee. Not all carriers have liftgates available, so you will need to check with us at the time of order to see if we can accommodate your request. When liftgates are available, the driver will lower the pallet(s) to the ground and set them off to the side. Drivers are not supposed to move pallets inside buildings or to remote areas. If you request a driver to do this, there may be an additional "inside delivery" fee applied. When in doubt, ask the driver before hand to see how he feels about it. Some drivers may agree to help you if it is not much extra work.
Alternate Shipping:
In situations where it is not practical to make the delivery to the desired location, there are two alternatives. You may pick-up your order at the carrier's local terminal or you can choose an alternate shipping location. When a pallet is going to be picked-up at the carrier's terminal, the local branch will call you when it arrives at their facility. It is then your responsibility to pick-up the order within 24 hours (unless they tell you otherwise) or they may add a small storage fee. We will help you choose the carrier that has the nearest facility to your location. If you would like us to ship to an alternate location, it is best if you know of a local business with a dock that can receive the pallet on your behalf. If you do not know someone in a company with a dock, sometimes local rental-equipment companies will be willing to receive your shipment for a nominal fee.
Damages:
With LTL shipping, it is nearly impossible to prevent the exterior packaging of certain products from receiving a few nicks and bruises during transit. We do our best to secure each shipment such that it arrives intact and in saleable or usable condition. However, in the event that significant damage should occur, it must be reported at the time of delivery. The delivery receipt signed when the product is unloaded has "received in good condition" typed on it by default, so it is up to you to make the damage notations on it or to have the driver call in to his terminal for a damage reference number before he leaves. If you sign the delivery slip and make no reference to any damage, we cannot file a claim with the carrier and therefore, we cannot reimburse you for any damages.
Fuel Rates:
Fuel rates can be very volatile at times. Fuel surcharges are updated on a weekly basis; Therefore, the delivered pricing will be updated on a weekly basis.