Service 07 — Moving
Freight and logistics, because a pallet quote without freight is a guess.
Price a delivered load
Give us the quantity, the size and the ZIP. You'll get a written quote with the grade, the freight and the pickup window — not a sales call.
- Written quotes, usually inside one business day
- Loads from 100 pallets to full 53' trailers
- We buy as readily as we sell — tell us which way it flows
One stack
Fifteen high and square. A stack that leans is a stack somebody has to touch twice.
The maths nobody shows you
Why the cheap quote often is not
A 53-foot dry van holds roughly 330 stacked 48×40 pallets and grosses out long before it cubes out — about 15,000 lb of pallets in a trailer rated for 45,000. That means you are paying for air, and the only way to fix it is to shorten the lane.
A yard 40 miles away quoting $8.50 a unit delivered will almost always beat a yard 300 miles away quoting $7.25. We have lost bids on unit price and won them on delivered cost more times than we can count, which is why we quote delivered by default.
The corollary is that we are honest about our range. If you are in Missouri, we are probably not your best option and we will say so rather than quoting a number that only works on paper.
How we run
Fixed lanes, drop trailers and the backhaul trick.
Our trailers run a repeating weekly pattern out of Columbus. That pattern is the reason we can price collection and delivery the way we do — the truck taking your empties away is frequently the same truck delivering graded stock to the customer twenty miles further on.
For higher-volume sites we drop a trailer and leave it. You load at your own pace, we swap it on a schedule, and nobody waits on a dock door. It is the single most effective thing a busy shipping department can do to make pallet logistics disappear.
- Weekly fixed lanes through central, northern and southwest Ohio
- Regular runs into Indianapolis, Louisville, Detroit, Pittsburgh and Charleston
- Drop trailers for sites generating more than a trailer a fortnight
- Backhaul consolidation — collection and delivery on the same run
- Delivered pricing as standard; FOB yard if you prefer to route it yourself
Load planning
What actually fits on a trailer
| Equipment | Usable deck | 48×40 stacked 2 high | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 53′ dry van | 630″ × 98″ | ≈ 330 units | The default. Stacks of 15, double-banded. |
| 48′ dry van | 570″ × 98″ | ≈ 300 units | Common on older fleets and some city lanes. |
| 40′ container | 474″ × 92″ | ≈ 240 units | Export loads; watch the door height. |
| 20′ container | 232″ × 92″ | ≈ 120 units | Rarely economic for pallets alone. |
| Flatbed | 624″ × 102″ | ≈ 340 units | Tarped. Used for oversize and crate loads. |
Questions
Freight questions
Do you quote delivered or FOB?
Delivered, by default, because that is the number that determines whether the deal makes sense. We will quote FOB our yard if you have your own freight and it beats ours — sometimes it does.
How far will you deliver?
Roughly a 350-mile radius on our own equipment, further on contract carriers. Beyond that, freight starts to dominate and we usually recommend a yard closer to you. See the service area.
Can you hold stock for us?
Yes. For customers on a program we hold an agreed buffer in the yard and release against call-offs, which smooths out the weeks when you need 900 and the weeks you need 200.
What about international export?
We supply ISPM-15 heat-treated stock and load containers, but we are not a freight forwarder. Your forwarder handles the ocean leg; we make sure what goes in the box will not get it held at the border.
The schedule
Our standing lane pattern
| Lane | Day | Frequency | Approx. distance | Typical load |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Franklin County & Columbus metro | Daily | Daily | 0 – 30 mi | Mixed delivery and collection |
| Cincinnati & Northern Kentucky | Tue, Thu | Twice weekly | 107 mi | GMA delivery, core collection |
| Dayton & Springfield | Mon, Thu | Twice weekly | 72 mi | Automotive footprints, GMA |
| Cleveland & Akron–Canton | Wed | Weekly | 142 mi | Drum stock out, repairable cores back |
| Toledo & north-west Ohio | Fri | Weekly | 155 mi | Seasonal agricultural, heavy deck |
| Indianapolis & central Indiana | Tue | Weekly | 175 mi | GMA volume, remanufacturing collections |
| Charleston & Kanawha valley | Thu | Weekly | 160 mi | Drum footprints, segregated returns |
| Pittsburgh & western PA | Wed | Biweekly | 185 mi | Heavy-deck expendable, GMA |
| Detroit & south-east Michigan | Thu | Biweekly | 205 mi | Automotive fleet exchange |
| Louisville & southern Indiana | Mon | Biweekly | 210 mi | Heat-treated export stock, buffer releases |
Getting the best freight price
Four things that move the number, none of them negotiation.
Freight pricing on pallets is arithmetic rather than haggling. The variables are distance, whether the truck was already going, whether it returns empty, and how long it waits at your dock.
You control three of those four, and customers who understand that pay meaningfully less than customers who negotiate hard on the unit price and then hold a driver for two hours.
- Take the scheduled slot. A truck already routed past you costs a fraction of one dispatched for your load.
- Combine delivery and collection. Two movements become one. It does not happen automatically — ask.
- Order in trailer-sized quantities where your storage allows. Partial loads carry full-load overhead.
- Unload promptly, or take a drop trailer. Detention is a real cost and it lands in the next quote.
- Give us a wide receiving window. A two-hour window on a fixed route is the most expensive thing on this list.
Receiving well
What makes a delivery go smoothly
- 01Confirm turning room before the first deliveryA 53-foot trailer needs real space. If you are not sure, send a photograph of the approach and we will tell you what will fit.
- 02Have somebody available to signThe count is agreed on the dock. An unstaffed dock at the delivery window means either a wait or an unverified count, and neither is good.
- 03Know whether you want live unload or a dropLive unload is faster overall for smaller loads. A drop is better for anyone whose dock doors are the constraint.
- 04Check the paperwork before the driver leavesCount sheet, grade certificate, and the Passport if you asked for one. Discrepancies are trivially fixed while the trailer is still there.
- 05Tell us about site rules in advancePPE requirements, check-in procedures, gate codes, restricted hours. Drivers turned away at a gate is the most avoidable cost in this business.
Questions
More freight questions
Do you charge detention?
We do not invoice it separately, and repeated long waits show up in the next quote because they have to. Two hours is generous; four hours means the driver misses the next stop and somebody else's delivery moves.
Can you deliver outside business hours?
Occasionally, by arrangement, and it costs more because it breaks the route. A drop trailer usually solves the same problem for less.
What insurance do you carry?
Standard motor carrier coverage on our own equipment and contractual requirements on contract carriers. Certificates on request — ask through the form and we will send them.
Do you handle export container loading?
We load containers at our yard and we supply compliant stock. We are not a freight forwarder — your forwarder handles the ocean leg, and we make sure what goes into the box will not get it held.
What happens if a delivery is late?
You get told before it is late, not after. Weather, breakdowns and traffic happen; not calling about them is a choice, and we do not make it.
Ask for the delivered number.
Give us the ZIP and the quantity and we will price the pallets and the freight together, which is the only price that means anything.
Keep reading
Freight & Logistics is delivered from our yard at 7240 S Access Rd, Columbus, OH 43217, Monday to Friday 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM and Saturday mornings.