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Thread: Having tools delivered by freight truck?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2014
    Location
    Houston, TX
    Posts
    437

    Having tools delivered by freight truck?

    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.

  2. #2
    You should take that $50 and spend a portion of it on a 12 pack of good beer / some doughnuts / anything your neighbors will appreciate and value and develop a relationship with them (and their forklift.)

    A forklift is a terrible thing to waste.
    Still waters run deep.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2014
    Location
    Houston, TX
    Posts
    437
    Everyone tries to flip the guy $20 but he doesn't ever take it. The donut idea may not be a bad idea. At the same time it's kind of like conning him into continuing his good graces. I'm probably over thinking it.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Apr 2017
    Location
    Tucson, Arizona
    Posts
    1,204
    Maybe offer the delivery driver a cash tip to help you move it into your building. How much does it weigh? Perhaps he carries a pallet jack on his truck to move the large items around inside the truck.
    My pallet jack is rated at 5000 lbs. and makes it real easy to move large heavy bulky items around the shop.
    David

    Crown Pallet Jack.jpg

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Mar 2014
    Location
    Houston, TX
    Posts
    437
    60 gallon air compressor so like 600 pounds. I believe they do have pallet jacks it's how they move the items from the front of the truck to the back to be unloaded in the first place. I just don't want them to dump it off in front of the door and I'm SOL. Atleast stick it inside the door and I can uncrate it and have some people help me later on at their convenience put it in place.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Mar 2014
    Location
    Houston, TX
    Posts
    437
    But if they just dump it off then I'm going to reject the load.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Apr 2017
    Location
    Tucson, Arizona
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    1,204
    Step up to the plate!! Offer him a few bucks to help you out!! Or call the vendor to see what services are offered. I really don't think this is a major problem.
    David

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Apr 2017
    Location
    Tucson, Arizona
    Posts
    1,204
    Or have him back the truck up to your building. I've had many dealings with delivery truck drivers and they are usually most accommodating.
    David

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Location
    East Virginia
    Posts
    830
    Quote Originally Posted by Travis Conner View Post
    60 gallon air compressor so like 600 pounds.
    You sure about that? My 80-gallon model couldn't have been 300#, I don't think. At any rate, me and another guy moved it as far as we needed to on its pallet...

  10. I’ve never had a driver not willing to wheel the pallet into my garage. Carry things upstairs, yeah that’s more. But once they have the lift gate, pushing the pallet jack a few feet isn’t a problem.

    Bruce

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Sep 2019
    Location
    Massachusetts
    Posts
    202
    Quote Originally Posted by Travis Conner View Post
    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.
    Last time I had a freight delivery they were happy to roll it the legth of the driveway to the garage with their pallet jack. Of course before it came they royally screwed up the delivery losing the first shipment, maybe they felt bad...

  12. In my experience they always put it on a pallet jack, drop the lift gate, and wheel it up the driveway. I always have wanted to assemble out in front of the roll up door where there is more space and then move it inside so I never asked them to move it inside, but I am sure rolling it 10 more feet wouldn't have been a problem.

    Other companies may vary, but I am sure the guys who have delivered my machines would have had no problem wheeling it into my shop as long as it was just a matter of wheeling it in on the pallet jack. It was on the pallet jack already and on the driveway. If your situation is different, unpaved driveway, stairs, a steep ramp, etc. may complicate the situation.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
    Location
    Suffolk, Va.
    Posts
    208
    A 60 gallon Ingersol Rand 5 hp 450 lbs shipping weight. Shouldn't be too much of a problem moving it around with a hand truck depending on the shape of yours.
    Michael Dilday
    Suffolk, Va.

  14. #14
    I've had lift gate delivery service for two larger tools. The driver was very willing to use his pallet jack to get the tool into my shop on both occasions. I did have everything ready to go, having scraped a path free of packed snow up my driveway for one delivery and building a small ramp to make the 1" rise on my shop floor go easier. One came on a pallet and the driver even took the pallet with him. Both deliveries were via UPS Freight for what that's worth.

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Location
    Stone Mountain, GA
    Posts
    751
    In my experience the drivers have been very cool about it, but in each case I had plans to get it in the shop without their assistance, because they really are only obligated to drop it off at the front of your driveway.

    My driveway is short and quite steep. One driver put my 350# bandsaw on his regular pallet jack and we pushed it up the driveway together, that was fun. Another driver had a motorized pallet jack and he motored up the driveway with my 500# jointer. It was so anticlimactic after all the contingency planning I had done.

    I didn't ask these guys to help, they volunteered on their own and I tipped them like $40 afterwards.

    If the drivers had not been so helpful, my basic idea was to rent a U-haul motorcycle trailer and use a come along and pipe rollers to get the machine onto the trailer at the base of the driveway, then hitch the trailer to my truck and back it up the driveway, and unload again with the come along.

    If your driveway is relatively flat then all you really need is to rent a pallet jack, or just ask your neighbor.

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