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Palletized shipping is an entirely different world. I recently bought an Optigan (Itself worthy of a HN discussion) and it was shipped on a pallet. Despite medi

by S_A_P 6y ago

Palletized shipping is an entirely different world. I recently bought an Optigan (Itself worthy of a HN discussion) and it was shipped on a pallet. Despite mediocre 1970s plastic construction it arrived alive. The shipping experience is hardly door to door. I had to drive to an opposite side of Houston in a ramshackle shipping area that could best be described as sketchy. That said, the folks working there while few were great and helped me load it up and get on my way... Point being I could see that UPS doesnt see a big future in that business. There isnt really a good way to last mile stuff like that cheaply.

rjbwork 6y ago
Yeah, I ordered a power rack from Rogue last summer, and it got here a few months ago. We live a ways down a pretty narrow private road and despite talking to the UPS freight manager a couple of times, they kept sending full sized 18 wheelers which would have a hell of a time coming down the road and turning around, not to mention probably damaging the road. After 3 times of them sending a full sized truck over the course of 2 weeks I just rented a UHaul and drove across the damn metro to get it. B2C freight is a bit of a shit show.
- ghaff 6y ago
  I forget exactly what it was because it was ages ago but it was some furniture that wasn't too big or heavy but was apparently (at least at the time) too big or at too expensive to ship by normal delivery. I live at the end of a 500 foot dirt driveway and some big truck pulls up at the end. I'm not sure if they could have got down my driveway and actually gotten back out but they sure didn't want to. Ended up unpacking at the side of the road and I got it down my driveway somehow.
  - hef19898 6y ago
    There are three companies specialized at that kind of stuff in Germany (they also serve other EU countries): a DHL brancha service from Rhenus and Hermes (Otto's logistics arm, Otto is one of the oldest mail order companies in Germany and transitioned rather well to the "internet"). The latter also contracted to Amazon, but is working exclusively in-house for quite a while now. Quite an interesting business, somewhere between standard parcel and LTL.
tyingq 6y ago
Door to door LTL with lift gates is a thing. The shipper has to request that specific service. Basically, you bought from someone that either didn't know how, or didn't care, to do it the right way. Compared to regular UPS/Fedex, the big downside is that someone has to be there when it arrives. They won't just leave it at your door if you're not there. The LTL market is ~$46B/year, and was growing prior to COVID. The COVID hit makes sense, as the big boys don't do a lot of LTL, having enough volume to do full truckloads.
- grogenaut 6y ago
  I've also seen it where the customer doesn't really understand this shipping service. Jarvis desks have multiple warnings about delivering to your house. IIRC if you live in NYC they don't even let you chose that option, you have to pay $150 more for lift gate.
  - duxup 6y ago
    That's really a big issue. Lift gates are expensive, require maintenance. Rando homeowner won't understand why that's 'extra' and such because we're used to things being adapted to hour home ... not a loading dock.
    - tyingq 6y ago
      I believe the NYC case is somewhat unique. Lift gate is extra, but not $150 extra or anything near that for most places. Meaning the extra charge from the actual carrier.
    - jessaustin 6y ago
      Sometimes shippers just say "we assume you have a loading dock" because they can't be arsed to care about it. More than once I've unloaded a pallet a box at a time from the back of the trailer while the driver was pissed he had to tip the boxes over onto my shoulder. If you ever have to hire an excavator for other reasons, it isn't a bad idea to have an outdoor "hump dock" built... the other option is a forklift!
    - 6y ago

by S_A_P 6y ago

rjbwork 6y ago

Yeah, I ordered a power rack from Rogue last summer, and it got here a few months ago. We live a ways down a pretty narrow private road and despite talking to the UPS freight manager a couple of times, they kept sending full sized 18 wheelers which would have a hell of a time coming down the road and turning around, not to mention probably damaging the road. After 3 times of them sending a full sized truck over the course of 2 weeks I just rented a UHaul and drove across the damn metro to get it. B2C freight is a bit of a shit show.

ghaff 6y ago
I forget exactly what it was because it was ages ago but it was some furniture that wasn't too big or heavy but was apparently (at least at the time) too big or at too expensive to ship by normal delivery. I live at the end of a 500 foot dirt driveway and some big truck pulls up at the end. I'm not sure if they could have got down my driveway and actually gotten back out but they sure didn't want to. Ended up unpacking at the side of the road and I got it down my driveway somehow.
- hef19898 6y ago
  There are three companies specialized at that kind of stuff in Germany (they also serve other EU countries): a DHL brancha service from Rhenus and Hermes (Otto's logistics arm, Otto is one of the oldest mail order companies in Germany and transitioned rather well to the "internet"). The latter also contracted to Amazon, but is working exclusively in-house for quite a while now. Quite an interesting business, somewhere between standard parcel and LTL.

tyingq 6y ago

Door to door LTL with lift gates is a thing. The shipper has to request that specific service. Basically, you bought from someone that either didn't know how, or didn't care, to do it the right way. Compared to regular UPS/Fedex, the big downside is that someone has to be there when it arrives. They won't just leave it at your door if you're not there. The LTL market is ~$46B/year, and was growing prior to COVID. The COVID hit makes sense, as the big boys don't do a lot of LTL, having enough volume to do full truckloads.

grogenaut 6y ago
I've also seen it where the customer doesn't really understand this shipping service. Jarvis desks have multiple warnings about delivering to your house. IIRC if you live in NYC they don't even let you chose that option, you have to pay $150 more for lift gate.
- duxup 6y ago
  That's really a big issue. Lift gates are expensive, require maintenance. Rando homeowner won't understand why that's 'extra' and such because we're used to things being adapted to hour home ... not a loading dock.
  - tyingq 6y ago
    I believe the NYC case is somewhat unique. Lift gate is extra, but not $150 extra or anything near that for most places. Meaning the extra charge from the actual carrier.
  - jessaustin 6y ago
    Sometimes shippers just say "we assume you have a loading dock" because they can't be arsed to care about it. More than once I've unloaded a pallet a box at a time from the back of the trailer while the driver was pissed he had to tip the boxes over onto my shoulder. If you ever have to hire an excavator for other reasons, it isn't a bad idea to have an outdoor "hump dock" built... the other option is a forklift!
  - 6y ago