In the midst of a transportation sequence, business owners like you could face unexpected fees. Liftgate fees are some of the most common — and annoying — fees you might encounter if your facilities aren’t appropriate for a carrier’s vehicle.
Today, let’s break down what a liftgate fee is and how you can avoid it going forward.
What Is a Liftgate Fee?
A liftgate fee, in a nutshell, is an additional charge that a shipper or business receives whenever a carrier has to use a mechanical liftgate. A liftgate is an electric or hydraulic lifting and lowering device that enables heavy cargo in a dry van or refrigerated van trailer to be raised or lowered as necessary.
Liftgates are needed if a shipping dock — like a retail store’s receiving dock — isn’t at the same elevation as a truck’s trailer platform. In other words, if a shipping specialist like a carrier has to use their truck’s liftgate to load or unload cargo, you’ll have to pay an extra liftgate fee. The liftgate descends from the back of a truck to the ground level or inside delivery location. Carriers charge extra for this service.
Lift gate service is offered by many freight carriers, but it counts as an additional service on top of standard delivery fees.
How Much Do Liftgate Fees Cost?
Liftgate charges can vary, but most of them are between $100 and $250. Fees can change depending on the carrier you work with, the truck type, and how much cargo has to be loaded or unloaded from the shipping vehicle/dock.
What Is Liftgate Delivery Service?
Liftgate delivery service is an economical, efficient way for LTL or less-than-truckload shippers to load or offload cargo. It involves using a truck that has a liftgate installed to load and unload freight right from the start.
It's essentially delivery service with the expected use of a liftgate — that way, the cost of using the liftgate is factored into the freight charges your business has to pay from the outset.
When Is Liftgate Service Necessary?
Liftgate service can be necessary in a variety of circumstances. For instance, if you have to load or unload cargo that's very heavy from on or off the ground, a liftgate can be very useful and well worth the charges.
In other cases, it may be practically impossible to offload heavy yet fragile cargo from a truck if it’s too low or high for a receiving dock. In those situations, a liftgate is the only way in which you can ensure your ordered cargo is received or delivered in good condition.
How Can You Avoid Liftgate Fees?
Even though liftgate fees are sometimes unavoidable and even necessary, you don’t always have to pay them. In fact, you can avoid liftgate fees adding to your total shipping charges by ensuring that your receiving or loading dock is at an appropriate height for the incoming trucks.
For example, if you know the height of a standard transportation vehicle like a semi-truck, make sure your receiving and loading dock is the same height as the floor of its van/container. That way, shipping carriers can use other tools, like dollies or pallet jacks, to move cargo to and from the vehicle without using the liftgate whatsoever.
What Are the Alternatives to Liftgate Services?
There are several alternatives you can use to liftgate services if the cargo in question isn’t too heavy and if there’s a way to move the cargo by foot.
Shipping Docks
Firstly, you can use adjust your shipping dock. Make sure it’s the right height or make adjustments to its infrastructure, such as by adding a ramp or higher level, to make moving cargo easy and efficient.
This will take some investment on your part, but it could be well worth it in the long run in terms of avoided liftgate fees later on.
Forklifts
Forklifts are portable mechanical vehicles driven by single operators. While you have to have a license to operate a forklift, it can be an effective tool to load and unload cargo from a semi-truck.
If you don’t want to pay a liftgate fee, simply have your dock manager or some other worker maneuver a forklift into the truck and load or unload cargo as necessary. Forklifts do still have to be able to reach the inside of a semi-truck to be used in this way.
If the gap between a semi-truck's floor in your receiving dock is too vast, you won't be able to use a forklift at all.
Pallet Jacks
Then there are pallet jacks. These are manual tools that are perfect for moving pallets to or from a shipping vehicle. Pallet jacks enable dockworkers and supply chain specialists to lift pallets full of goods that would be far too heavy to move only. They use wheels, however, so once more – your shipping dock has to be at a good height to move the pallet jack to and from the shipping container.
As you can see from these alternatives, dock height is the single most important factor when it comes to ensuring smooth cargo loading and offloading. Make sure your receiving dock is ready for semi trucks.
Bottom Line
Liftgate fees are more than avoidable with the right setup and planning ahead of time. Fortunately, when you partner with RPM, we’ll make sure to connect you with carriers who have the right vehicles for your facilities, plus provide you with other logistics resources and intuitive tools.
Contact us today to learn more.
Sources:
LTL Freight Quotes, Packing, Tracking and Shipping | FedEx
Powered Industrial Trucks - Forklifts - Overview | Occupational Safety and Health Administration
How to Operate a Manual Pallet Jack: 6 Steps (with Pictures) | Wikihow
What is supply chain management? | IBM
