GRIZZLY shipping

[jack darcy]

I got an email from grizzly regarding their lift gate fee and i believe i have that all set up but there was also a sentence saying that "If you request liftgate delivery, the truck driver will use the liftgate to lower your freight from the truck to the ground. You will then be responsible for moving the freight into your shop or garage." Does anyone else have experience with grizzly shipping? The freight company brought my jet tablesaw into my garage without any questions. I don't blame grizzly for this because i know its not their fault but i know theirs no way i can lift that thing into my shop. can you rent a pallet jack? They haven't responded to my email yet so ill see what they say. thanks

[Ed Hazel]

They have always rolled my tools in the garage for me I have always had to pay more than the advertised delivery charge I usually call Grizz after I place the order to pay the extra it was around $30 last time I think. Might want to call the freight company to double check.

[John Coloccia]

Your shipping fee pays to get the item onto your property. When UPS delivers a TV set, they don't have an obligation to carry it into your living room for you, although if the driver's in a good mood he might just give you a hand with it. Same thing here. I've personally never had a freight driver refuse to help me get an item into a shop. If it's particularly difficult, such as the setup at my house, I'll give them a little tip for helping. The last guy got a really nice pen I turned.

[Anthony Whitesell]

As has been said, the drivers are not obligated or required to do anything but get the equipment to your property. If you request lift gate service, they will get it to the curb. That's as far as they *have* to go.

When I received my bandsaw (G0513X2, a big sucker) the driver attempted to help me into the basement (walk out on the opposite corner of the house from the driveway) by trying to get his pallet jack to roll across the lawn. When that didn't work, I asked him to leave it on the driveway and I would use my hand truck. He left the saw on the driveway and returned to packed his truck to leave, at the same time I went to get my hand truck. I had just secured the saw to the hand truck when he reappeared. He helped guide the saw on the hand truck all the way into the basement. I had placed a twenty in each pants pocket for his tip. None if the service was below par, one if the service was typical, and both if it was above and beyond. This gentleman got both.

[Stephen Edwards]

As others have said, it all depends on the driver. I've been blessed to have have good drivers who were very helpful both times that I ordered big machines from Grizzly.

In my case, the liftgate service was out of the question because I live on dead end road with no place for a semi to turn around. The local carrier wouldn't send a smaller truck. So, I met the driver at the end of my road and he helped me to carefully load the machines into the bed of my pick up when, in fact, his responsibility ends when he has moved the boxes to the back of his semi trailer.

[Jason White]

Depends on the driver bringing your machine.

In my case, UPS freight delivered my Grizzly tablesaw and the driver was kind enough to lower it to the ground and push it across the driveway (through the snow, I might add) to my garage door. I paid for the lift-gate service ahead of time. I also offered the driver a tip, but he declined.

Jason



I got an email from grizzly regarding their lift gate fee and i believe i have that all set up but there was also a sentence saying that "If you request liftgate delivery, the truck driver will use the liftgate to lower your freight from the truck to the ground. You will then be responsible for moving the freight into your shop or garage." Does anyone else have experience with grizzly shipping? The freight company brought my jet tablesaw into my garage without any questions. I don't blame grizzly for this because i know its not their fault but i know theirs no way i can lift that thing into my shop. can you rent a pallet jack? They haven't responded to my email yet so ill see what they say. thanks

[David Prince]

If you do not pay for lift-gate service, the truck is only required to show up at the delivery address. From there, you are responsible to get it off the truck. The lift-gate service is valuable if you do not have the means to get it off a truck. Each of these services are contracted by the company you purchase from, so the delivery efforts could vary even if they come from the same company depending on what freight company is used. Plan to have some help if you suspect the item will end up at the end of your driveway. If the driver is helpful, a tip makes sense, but you may not know if you are going to get this help until the delivery arrives. I think asking or expecting a driver to help you get an item down or up a flight of stairs is asking a lot, but is super service if they willingly help. The last two large items I had ordered were brought right into my garage for me without my asking. They just asked where I wanted it.

[Jason Hanko]

My G0490 was delivered last Thursday. I had contacted Grizzly to arrange for the liftgate service ahead of time.
The semi (UPS Freight) showed up with a broken liftgate... My buddy and I ended up getting the 350+ lb crate with the jointer bed off of the back of the semi by hand. The driver didnt so much as lift a finger once he had rolled the crate to the back of the trailer. (In fact he misjudged when he set the pallet down - so when he took the tines of the pallet jack out the crate started to tip off the end of the semi bed. If I hadnt been paying attention and reacted quickly enough to catch it from completely tipping not only would my new jointer have been smashed onto the frozen concrete below, I probably would have been UNDERNEATH IT!:eek::mad:)
The driver wouldnt let us take the pallet jack down, but was nice enough to let us use his two-wheeled vertical hand dolly to move the crate across my ice-covered driverway. :rolleyes:
All ended well with my new baby safely in the garage, but needless to say my driver did not receive a tip.
I was on the phone with Grizzly within the hour - my $32 liftgate fee was refunded the next day.

[Jacob Mac]

My driver has delivered four items from Grizzly to my shop. Each time, he rolled it into my garage, or my shop depending on where I specified. Last week, the driver couldn't back into my driveway because of the snow, and he pushed my DP all the way down a very long driveway on a pallet jack. He really went out of his way to help. Which was nice, because I was called away and my wife was the only one home.

[Alan Bienlein]

I'll probably stir the nest here but paid a liftgate fee for my first delivery only. Once I knew what company was delivering I knew that they always had a liftgate on the truck and never had a problem getting it unloaded even though I didn't pay for my delivery to be made on a truck with a liftgate. Couldn't see the sense in it since any trucks in my area that make deliveries to a residence automatically have liftgates.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

It really depends on where you live, which company they use in that area and the driver.

I had lift gate service with the delivery of my MM-16. The driver rolled it down 100 feet of gravel driveway while a neighbor and I shuttled 3 sheets of 1/2 plywood for him to roll it on.

When they delivered my PM3520B they rolled it into the shop.

I haven't had anything the drivers didn't help put in the shop or in our absence, put it on the carport out of possible weather.

[Dave Lehnert]

As others have said. Depends on the driver. By law the driver is only responsible to get it to the back of the truck. This type of delivery is different than delivery from Lowe's, Sears or the like. You are dealing with a freight company just like retailers do. Not with Grizzly, but they do make sure you are happy. Also with freight trucks you are lucky to get the day they will deliver let alone an exact time. Common is before or after noon.
99.9% of the time the driver will help. He wants to get down the road. But you must be prepared if he does not.
If you live close enough the best way is to pick up at the freight co.

[Scott Wigginton]

My concern with lift-gate was knowing I wouldn't be home and feared getting a PITA driver who'd leave it on the edge of the driveway. Scheduling pickup at the terminal was a breeze and I could get it rather late (after 11pm). Worked like a champ with my schedule and they easily forked the G0490 into the back of my pickup. Was the perfect height to transfer the jointer top to its base (as opposed to having to lift it up from the ground first).

[Rob Holcomb]

I've had several items from Grizzly delivered and always buy the liftgate service for items over 150 pounds. The delivery man never hesitated to take the items off the truck, take them down my 100 foot driveway and put them in my garage. I have never even had to ask! You can also track your delivery so you know what day it will be arriving. That way you can have someone be there to inspect the packaging if you can't be there yourself.

[Cliff Holmes]

I think that it should be stressed that it's not Grizzly's shipping, but the shipping companies that Grizzly and every other shipper uses. They all give the same caveat.

What I find interesting is that Grizzly charges way less than any other company for the lift-gate service. I think most of the others I've dealt with want $100-150 extra vs Grizzly's $30. I'm just grateful that I have a tractor with a FEL and pallet forks that'll lift 1100 pounds.

[Jason Hanko]

I think that it should be stressed that it's not Grizzly's shipping, but the shipping companies that Grizzly and every other shipper uses. They all give the same caveat.
I agree 100%. Even with my terrible experience I realize that Grizzly had no control over the driver/delivery company. Even so they made things right and refunded my fee with basically no questions asked. I couldnt be happier with Grizzly's customer service throughout this purchase.

[Greg Wittler]

I am about to pull the trigger on a grizz Table saw & Bandsaw, and possibly a jointer and I am going to have them deliverd to my work where I have the use of a forklift then when I get home, hopefully the 1 ton portable crane I bought from HF will do the trick. Not sure if it will work for the BS as it is almost 700 lbs and almost 7ft tall. I don't understand why they charge so much for a liftgate, maybe they require a lot of maintenence. You could always try slipping the driver a picture of Andrew Jackson.

[Guy Belleman]

Like one of the previous responders, I live on a dirt road that few trucks can get to. So, I have used my 5x10 trailer to pickup up the jointer, TS, BS, and large timbers, going to the freight distributor center and the company loads everything in the trailer with their forklifts. My son and I have gotten quite good at rolling out the crates on some 1" dowels I had laying around.

[Doug Carpenter]

I think the best idea is to have your wife get the delivery. A little cleavage goes a long way. You can hide at your neighbor's house just in case. Come to think of it.....I'll come push it into the garage under those circumstances.:D

[Tom Godley]

I have had various situations -- usually bad - with delivery services. :(

I always need to get the lift gate service for heavy items because I have no way to get whatever it is off of the truck.

In New Jersey the delivery truck is normally a full sized tractor trailer -- this is not a problem as my street is large and the driveway is concrete. Normally all the trucks have a pallet jack on them because they need one to move the load around as they make deliveries -- but I always ask to make sure. This way they can leave the truck in the street and use the jack to lift the load over the street to driveway lip and up to the garage.


In PA I have a stone driveway that is long and narrow and I must have a smaller truck -- this has often been a problem because nobody reads!!! I have made arrangements and a tractor trailer still shows up. Also the smaller trucks do not always have a pallet jack on them as they normally deliver appliances and other smaller items. I always ask and have them load a jack.


For the most part the drivers from the big shipping delivery companies are very nice and helpful and I can not think of a driver problem - I always give them a tip when they help out.


I always make sure to explain the situation and get a name when they call to set up the delivery -- The women tend to listen and get it correct and the men normally screw it up. If you have an unusual situation it needs to be explained

One of the best things I bought was four small dollies from HF -- they go on sale for less than $10.00 each. I put one under each corner of the delivery pallet - that way I can move the tool around easily as I do my setup. I have had 1000 pound equipment on them with no problems and they come in handy for moving all kinds of stuff.

For basement deliveries you need friends!

[Don Bullock]

They have always rolled my tools in the garage for me I have always had to pay more than the advertised delivery charge I usually call Grizz after I place the order to pay the extra it was around $30 last time I think. Might want to call the freight company to double check.

That was my experience as well. The FedEx Freight driver lowered my jointer to the ground using the liftgate and with a pallet jack he rolled it into the garage right where I wanted it.