Having tools delivered by freight truck?

[roger wiegand]

It varies, mostly with the driver. Company policy is almost always "drop it at the curb" for liftgate delivers. Almost every driver will roll it wherever it needs to go on a pallet jack, some will go above and beyond (they get nice tips).

You can pay extra for "inside delivery", but my last experience with that was pretty bad. In any event they send only one guy and no equipment other than a pallet jack. If there is a step or a threshold and the delivery guy is incompetent or lazy you are SOL. I paid an extra $350 for "inside delivery" of my 16" J/P (1400 lbs), the guy looked at the 5" threshold to get through the shop door, said sorry, I can't do that, and dropped it in the driveway just as the thunderstorm was starting. (I moved it into the shop by myself with a J-bar and a couple piano dollies). In contrast, the guy who delivered my new big lathe (800 lbs) wasn't paid for inside delivery, but managed to figure out how to get it all the way into the shop, over the same threshold, no problem.

As long as it's a flat run to get it where it needs to go you should have no problem. If there are steps or thresholds you should have a plan for dealing with it if you get a less cooperative driver. An upright compressor is pretty easy with an appliance dolly, for anything else I would keep a couple piano dollies on hand and have them set the pallet up on the dollies so you can easily move it around. Having ramps built and ready to go will help.

[Bob Falk]

I have had several larger (and heavier) items delivered to my home and the drivers are almost always willing to help get it up my 80' driveway with a palletjack. I tip afterwards ($20-$40 depending on difficulty). Most try to refuse, but I insist. Good deal all around.

[Lee Schierer]

Another option would be for you to rent a Ryder truck with a lift gate for local use and pick up your "freight" at the local depot and deliver it to your own shop. You can also rent a pallet jack to move it to where you want it in your shop. The daily rental cost would be around $110 depending upon your location.

[Curt Harms]

If your luck runs like mine, have a very good contingency plan in place. You won't need it. If you don't have that contingency plan in place you'll need it sure as the sun rises in the east. But maybe that's just me

[Jeff Monson]

I quit paying the liftgate fee, 2 times I paid for it and the truck came with no lift gate!! I'd take the advice from others with the donuts or beer and your neighbor unloading it, invest in a pallet jack and be done with worrying about unreliable truck drivers.

[Travis Conner]

I quit paying the liftgate fee, 2 times I paid for it and the truck came with no lift gate!! I'd take the advice from others with the donuts or beer and your neighbor unloading it, invest in a pallet jack and be done with worrying about unreliable truck drivers.

If I paid for lift gate service they would be crediting back more than just the $50 charge I paid them.

[Jeff Monson]

If I paid for lift gate service they would be crediting back more than just the $50 charge I paid them.

Right on and good luck getting more than the $50 back. I had multiple calls in the last time and finally got my $75 back that they charged me, was a major PITA. More often than not its lazy truck drivers and poor coordination at the final loading docks. At my work we get truck delivery's 2 to 3 times a week, even if they have a liftgate most drivers wont use them. A good driver which is maybe 10% of the time will liftgate it off and pallet jack it into the shop for me, the other 90% let you deal with it. Sorry if I'm a little harsh on drivers but they have beaten it into me that they are lazy.

[Tim M Tuttle]

I've yet to have a driver not roll my shipment into my garage. I always tip them $20 when it's done.

[ChrisA Edwards]

Every large/heavy delivery, they've happily lift gate'd it down and rolled it into my garage and put it exactly where I needed it. I usually clear space right at the front as it's easy for him and easy for me to put the packing material straight into the bed of the truck as I take it off.

Normally I have them back onto my driveway so they only have to move it a few feet into my garage, when my Lathe arrived, he started taking it out while still on the street, I said I would really like to put that in the garage 70' away, he said no problem and rolled it in.

I always tip them.

[Josko Catipovic]

I just looked at the Grizzly website: "A full-size tractor-trailer must safely park at your curb and will not be able to park on a busy road or highway. Your road cannot be a private driveway, cul-de-sac, dead end, or unpaved. The carrier will not pull into your driveway, nor back down your street."

I live on a dead-end street - does this mean I can't take delivery from Grizzly? (Grizzly says no.) I've gotten a bunch of freight deliveries in the past, and they always came in something smaller than a full 18-wheeler that can easily maneuver down our street. Are we looking at different levels of freight service?

[Matt Day]

To the OP: don’t plan on the driver doing anything more than he’s contracted to do. So as others have said you need to have a plan.

That being said, I’ve taken freight delivery of a 60 gallon compressor and the driver, though a little grumpy, helped push the compressor up a driveway and into the garage. I have him $20 for helping, which took all of 5 minutes.

If I had a neighbor with a forklift I would make fast friends with him. I’d be very appreciative toward him for helping and straight pay him cash. Maybe he doesn’t like donuts or is on a diet. Everyone likes cash.

A 60 gallon compressor is less than 500 pounds btw. Still, that’s pretty heavy.

[Matt Day]

I just looked at the Grizzly website: "A full-size tractor-trailer must safely park at your curb and will not be able to park on a busy road or highway. Your road cannot be a private driveway, cul-de-sac, dead end, or unpaved. The carrier will not pull into your driveway, nor back down your street."

I live on a dead-end street - does this mean I can't take delivery from Grizzly? (Grizzly says no.) I've gotten a bunch of freight deliveries in the past, and they always came in something smaller than a full 18-wheeler that can easily maneuver down our street. Are we looking at different levels of freight service?

I’m thinking lawyers wrote that statement.

If you can figure out from Grizzly what LTL will be handling the freight you should ask them about your delivery and road.

[Mike Cutler]

The neighbors have a forklift, but I hate having to ask them since a lot of people do. If I pay the 50 dollar lift gate fee does that mean they're going to just drop it off in front of the shop or can I at least get the guy to roll it just inside the door of the shop? I know a lot of those third party LTL delivery companies say curbside delivery, but I mean really?

Are they pretty strict on that or is the driver pretty cool about putting it in the shop? It's really just a storage unit, so if he just drops it off the truck it's going to be out in the roadway where someone will hit it.

Travis
You need to talk with the freight carrier prior to delivery.
I've only had three experiences with large items being delivered to my residence, but all were positive. I haven't ever had a tractor trailer show up in the street. It's always been a smaller truck that had multiple deliveries and loads.
Every one of them showed up with a lift gate, and were able to back their truck straight back to my garage. I put some stall mat on the driveway entrance to the garage and they dropped the gate on top of it, used a pallet jack, and put it in my garage.
Maybe my expectations are low, but I have no expectation for the driver to do anything but deliver the load, and get it off their truck. They're not equipment movers. It's up to the recipient to have the necessary equipment to move the item once it's off the truck, and protect the floor covering if desired.
I am always there for the delivery and have all of the necessary stuff to protect floors, and the driveway, and allow the pallet jack to roll smoothly.
600lbs. seems like a lot for a 60 gallon air compressor??My Rolair 5HP, 60 gallon compressor is a little more than 1/2that weight.

[Bruce Wrenn]

Instead of a $20 tip to neighbor, find out where he likes to eat (everybody likes to eat out!), and buy him a gift card to there. If you have both a Costco and O'Charley's in town, buy him a gift card thru Costo. Costco sells FOUR $25 gift cards for $69.99.

[Jim Becker]

I just looked at the Grizzly website: "A full-size tractor-trailer must safely park at your curb and will not be able to park on a busy road or highway. Your road cannot be a private driveway, cul-de-sac, dead end, or unpaved. The carrier will not pull into your driveway, nor back down your street."

I live on a dead-end street - does this mean I can't take delivery from Grizzly? (Grizzly says no.) I've gotten a bunch of freight deliveries in the past, and they always came in something smaller than a full 18-wheeler that can easily maneuver down our street. Are we looking at different levels of freight service?

Yes, that's true and it's not limited to Grizzly. Tractor trailers have limitations where they can go for both safety and practicality. So if you, like I do, have a residence that's not directly conducive to the requirements for a delivery directly, it's necessary to make other arrangements for the "final mile". For my CNC, I had the truck go to a local business with a large parking area and I met the delivery there with a roll-back. For my SCM/Minimax sliding table saw, I had it delivery terminate at the trucking company's local terminal and had them load it on my utility trailer. My driveway can take a straight truck no longer than about 25-26' because of a sharp turn, so I can get material deliveries just fine, but the driveway combined with the very busy road out front precludes larger vehicles.