Last week covered limited access charges and how they can affect your price. This week highlights some Pick-Up and Delivery Tips.
Pick-Ups:
- Any pick-up (P/U) entered after 2:30 PM local time should be called into the carrier to insure availability, otherwise the request will roll over to the next day
- Lift Gate P/Us must be called into the carriers because Lift Gates are not readily available at every terminal
- All Container Freight Stations and Airline P/Us require Delivery Order and Entry paperwork (3416 document), these need to be sent 24 hours in advance because drivers will need these documents in hand prior to P/U
- P/Us are not Guaranteed
- All carriers require a 2 hour window for P/Us
- P/Us are done in the afternoon because drivers have to deliver freight before they can start pickups
- If your shipper needs an AM P/U it is best practice to call the carrier to set something up which will most likely incur additional charges
- The shipper must have our system generated BOL to provide to the driver at the time of P/U or our rates will not apply
- This is not something the carrier will have via our P/U requests in BTMS
- If a LTL driver needs to reference a P/U number, it is best practice to put that number on the first line of the shipper name. Please see the example below:
ABC Distribution Co > Ref # 123456
4567 Main Street
Anywhere, NY 10014
Deliveries:
- Transit times and delivery dates are estimations and can be delayed for many reasons
- Add an additional day if a shipment is interlined
- Add 2-3 days if a shipment is traveling by rail
- Stress to your customers, if the shipment must be delivered by a certain date and time, spend the extra money and have a the shipment guaranteed
- If “Guaranteed” is not on the BOL at time of P/U no adjustments can be made to the invoice
- Volume Shipments cannot be Expedited or Guaranteed
- Re-delivery Rates are based on weight and can get very pricey
It is imperative to make sure the consignee is ready to accept the freight so that additional charges are not incurred