Drayage or Material Handling
If you are familiar with trade shows, you are all too familiar with material handling or drayage. These two terms, which mean the same thing, often elicit a very strong emotional response from exhibitors.
So what is drayage? Drayage refers to the movement of your trade show booth items from your carrier’s delivery vehicle to your booth space. This service includes:
- Unloading the trade show freight once it has arrived at the receiving dock,
- Transporting the goods to the trade show booth space,
- Removing empty shipping items (such as crates and pallets) from the trade show booth space,
- Ttemporarily storing empty shipping items during the show,
- Returning empty shipping items once the show is over,
- Transferring the freight back to the loading dock, and
- Loading the items into your carrier’s delivery vehicle.
Is it expensive? Yes. Is there a logical reason? No. So, rather than age six months each time you receive your material handling bill, it might make more sense to manage your freight to minimize your bill. Use this drayage calculator to estimate your charges. Note how overtime and special handling will significantly increase what you pay.
If you are not already suicidal about drayage, this blog post from three years ago might be the tipping point. It discusses the rising cost of material handling: You Can’t Fix Stupid — Material Handling.
Helpful Advice: Although shipping to the Advanced Warehouse is more expensive, it’s a better financial decision since you are less likely to pay for waiting time from your carrier, and you have greater control over scheduling the delivery of your exhibit to your booth space during regular straight-time hours.
For an overview of material handling, see this informative infographic by TS Crew, an exhibit-appointed contractor for installation and dismantle.
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Classic Exhibits Inc. designs and manufacturers portable, modular, and custom-hybrid exhibit solutions. Classic Exhibits products are represented by an extensive distributor network in North America and in select International markets. For more information, contact us at 866-652-2100 or www.classicexhibits.com.
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