Everyone's Thoughts If You Have Had A Delivery From Roadrunner Trucking

I had a 600# Robust wood lathe shipped from Wisconsin to Santa Barbara and delivered by Estes. Lift Gate was too small for the crate, but the driver blocked up his back wheels (with my 4x4s) to level up the truck and maneuvered the pallet jack to make it fit. He ran it up the 100 foot paved driveway and left it by the garage door.
Frankly it scared the wits out of me, but he was confident and clearly knew his job. Crate was dinged at teh corners but was framed with 2x6 and 2x4 and sheathed with 1/2" OSB. Accessory box was nailed and steel strapped to the pallet.
 
friendly and helpfull driver had to wait an extra day for a power lift gate but was able to scheduld delivery to match my work schedule.
 
RR's tracking system is not what I'd call robust, but aside from the delivery guy scaring the crap out of me while working his liftgate, my mill showed up in perfect condition. In fact, the pallet and plywood were in such good shape I made a new workbench out of it. If I ever order that new lathe, I'll be holding my breath. I'd maybe pay double for shipping were it a guarantee of delivered condition, but I can't imagine that ever being the case.
-Ryan
 
Doubleeboy said:
Grizzly uses Fed Ex Freight, there is constant tracking, the local office calls you ahead of time to tell you what day it will arrive and to make arrangements for delivery to you, your rigger or keep at warehouse for pickup. They no doubt are more expensive but they are on the ball. In my experience and the experience of more than a few machine shop owners in this area, is that low ball freight companies are a nightmare. They could give a rip about the customer and his machine. If price is a concern Freightquote is pretty good at finding common carriers at good prices. Message me by PM if you need a contact, I have used them for private party shipments to me with good results.

michael
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When I just ordered my machines from Grizzly they used UPS Freight and I had some issues, nothing major, but the local freight company they handed off to was great.
 
Matt,
I fear it is not so much the trucking company as the luck of the draw on drivers, and dock workers. Bad things will happen even to the most careful workers, but I have seen a lot of guys at these freight docks that just don't know or care.
Mark
 
I suspect it's more the "care" part... :(
 
I have had better luck with UPS than Fedex in my area. Don't usually deal with truck freight companies. The one time I did recently I picked up the items (solar panels and batteries) at their depot.
 
Yeah thats the problem, MOST shipments go well, but sometimes they don't, and it sure is not just one carrier. And with this kind of stuff, its not worth paying double just to get something 2 days faster, when even that is not guaranteed. Seems that they are all about the same.

I thought about re-crating every machine before shipping too with heavy plywood, but that would be at least $100-$200 per machine, and there is no way people will pay for that either. It is hard enough to compete with places like Grizzly on price, because I know for sure that we do pay more from the factories for the machines. And margins are really slim to begin with.
But we are getting what we pay for, they absolutely do a better job during assembly, inspections, etc. But 80% of the people out there just look at a machine, and if another one looks the same but a different color, they buy whichever one is cheaper. Its human nature. But there is a lot more to it than that. And to charge more for something that gets thrown away as soon as you get it anyway is not going to work with most people. And I don't blame them one bit.

So who knows, 99% of shipments are fine, but the few that are not sure give me a headache!
 
qualitymachinetools said:
Yeah thats the problem, MOST shipments go well, but sometimes they don't, and it sure is not just one carrier. And with this kind of stuff, its not worth paying double just to get something 2 days faster, when even that is not guaranteed. Seems that they are all about the same.

I thought about re-crating every machine before shipping too with heavy plywood, but that would be at least $100-$200 per machine, and there is no way people will pay for that either. It is hard enough to compete with places like Grizzly on price, because I know for sure that we do pay more from the factories for the machines. And margins are really slim to begin with.
But we are getting what we pay for, they absolutely do a better job during assembly, inspections, etc. But 80% of the people out there just look at a machine, and if another one looks the same but a different color, they buy whichever one is cheaper. Its human nature. But there is a lot more to it than that. And to charge more for something that gets thrown away as soon as you get it anyway is not going to work with most people. And I don't blame them one bit.

So who knows, 99% of shipments are fine, but the few that are not sure give me a headache!
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One of the reasons I don't pester you about things I can fix myself. As someone here said: It's a tool, not a work of art.

On the human nature thing? I'm not sure I'd use those words to describe it unless I'm trying to be polite. ;)

So I'm probably set for a while, machine-wise, but the next time I order one I'll just throw the dice and hope for the best.
 
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Last year I bought a boiler and it was shipped by RR. It came to my employers address. The person that takes the deliveries signed for it. The damage was so bad that I could not use the thing. Long and short of the story. It was a complete loss to me. No insurance because it was signed for.
 
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