Inside story
Ray Bohman -- Logistics Management, 4/1/2002
As part of their pickup and delivery service, most LTL motor carriers will accept freight tendered for loading or unloading at no additional charge provided that the load is directly accessible to the vehicle or immediately adjacent to a suitable parking space. Their rules usually state that the freight or space shall be deemed to be "immediately adjacent to the vehicle" if separated from it only by an intervening public sidewalk.
There are times, however, when inside pickup or delivery is required—if a load is situated at a manufacturing site on the second floor of a three-story building, for example. In these cases, entirely different rules apply.
To address these situations, most LTL carriers have drafted rules, typically called "Handling Freight at Positions Not Immediately Adjacent to the Vehicle," that set forth conditions under which they will perform such an additional service and the charges they will collect for doing so. These rules generally begin with a statement to the effect that the carriers are under no legal obligation to provide such a service, that "when requested by the consignor or consignee, and the carrier's operating conditions permit, the carrier may move shipments or portions of shipments from or to positions beyond the immediately adjacent truck ..." Many times, if service to floors above or below the level accessible to the vehicle is required, carriers will provide this service only when elevator service is available.
Many carriers assess additional charges for providing this service on a per-100-pound basis, subject to a minimum and maximum extra charge per shipment. One carrier's rule specifies that it will impose an additional charge of $4 per 100 pounds, subject to a minimum charge of $35 per shipment and a maximum charge of $300 per shipment.
That particular carrier maintains a much higher scale of charges on inside pickups or deliveries at points subject to ZIP prefixes 100 to 102 in New York City. In these locales, it charges an extra $9.50 per 100 pounds, subject to a minimum charge of $55 and maximum charge of $760 per shipment.
Note that these particular charges generally do not apply on shipments picked up at or delivered to private residences, apartments, camps (other than military), churches, country clubs, estates, farm, rectories, schools or other locations not generally recognized as commercial locations. A different set of additional charges for pickups and deliveries to such locations applies; these fees are normally spelled out in a rule titled "Pickup or Delivery to Private Residences."
One way to avoid added charges is to use services like UPS Hundredweight or FedEx Ground Multiweight, under which the carrier performs inside pickups and deliveries at no extra charge. Of course, packages must fall within the carriers' size and weight limits and may not be palletized.
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