Delivery planning
How your furniture travels, arrives and is received
Furniture reaches a dining room on a pallet, and the first half hour at the door sets the tone for everything after it. This page follows the freight from the confirmed order to your floor, so whoever signs for it knows what is coming and what to do.
What standard delivery covers
Every order ships as LTL freight, which means less than a truckload: your pallets share a trailer with other shipments. Standard service is delivery to a business address. If the building has a dock, the pallets come off there; if it does not, they come off the tailgate of the truck.
From that point the furniture is yours to handle. Unloading it and moving it inside are the customer's job, so line up enough hands before the truck arrives.
Services that cost extra
Four services can be added, and each must be booked when you submit the order, not later:
- Liftgate, the lowering platform at the rear of the trailer that sets pallets on the ground
- Inside delivery, which brings the pallets through the entrance
- Limited access, for restricted sites such as schools, hospitals, churches and military bases
- Residential, for a home address
All four are charged on top of the freight. A driver will not take freight up or down a staircase, whichever service you book. Unpacking, assembly and debris removal never come with delivery.
Lead time and the calendar
For standard catalog pieces, allow 14 to 21 business days. Custom items are anything beyond the listed options, meaning unlisted upholstery, a special-order stain or finish, or dimensions the standard range omits, and they run as long as about 8 weeks. Transit then gets added to either figure. Treat it as an estimate, because the carrier sets the day.
A big order may travel in two or more loads, each received the way the first one was. If the room opens on a fixed date, put that in the order notes and leave yourself some slack.
Receiving the pallets
Someone should be at the dock or the tailgate, ready to unload inside roughly 30 minutes after the truck pulls in. Then work through the delivery in order:
- Match the pallets and cartons to the bill of lading by counting them
- Look over each carton, and write every damaged or missing one on that bill before your signature goes on it
- If a full check is not possible at the door, sign "subject to inspection"
- Photograph any damage you find
- Report concealed damage, the kind you only see once a carton is open, within 24 hours
- Keep damaged packaging until a claim is settled
We will help you build the carrier claim, and a signature with no exceptions written beside it makes that claim harder. Put shortages and defects in writing within three days after the delivery. Begin the subject line with CLAIM, email sales@restaurantfurniture.online, and see the contact page for what to attach. A defect may also fall under the limited warranty.
Charges a carrier can add
Conditions at the site sometimes change after the freight is booked. When they do, the carrier may bill detention, which is time spent holding the truck, as well as redelivery after a missed attempt, reconsignment if the address changes in transit, storage, or a fixed appointment time. We pass these on at the carrier's rate. Tell us about gates, security desks and receiving hours at the start, which gives the carrier less reason to add them.
Several addresses, Canada and farther away
Every drop-off address gets its own quote, with its own services. If one order goes to several addresses, list each with its services and we price them one at a time. Some buyers prefer to route an order on their own carrier account, and that is fine: name it when you submit.
Canada is served with one difference. The buyer's own customs broker clears the freight. Brokerage, duties and Canadian taxes are costs the buyer carries, apart from the furniture price and the freight quote.
Large orders bound for Alaska, Hawaii or Puerto Rico may be delivered. Write up the project on the specialist form; the route and the price come back to you in writing.
Before the truck comes
Trace the path from the curb to the dining room on foot, with a tape measure. Check the front door, the turn in the corridor and the width of any stair or elevator. Measure the doorway first: a booth that cannot pass through it is a problem for the whole week. Clear a dry place for the pallets, and make sure someone who may sign is on the premises.
Questions about timing or an address go to the same desk as everything else. The ordering guide shows where freight falls in the sequence, and returns explains what happens if a shipment is refused.