Trade Show Logistic Nightmares

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Trade Show Logistic Nightmares
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• Anyone who has exhibited at a trade show knows
  the anxiety of arriving at your booth space only
  to find that your freight has not arrived. You
  call your trucking company and either get lied
  to, or your told they do not know where to find
  your freight.

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• This is a horror story based on a direct show
  site shipment. This article will help you avoid
  this nightmare by using an option provided for by
  the general contractor and show sponsor called
  the advance warehouse.

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• I have been providing services for exhibitors for
  over 30 years. Nearly every tradeshow provides
  for two methods of shipping your exhibit and
  product to the trade show.

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• The first is the direct show site shipment which
  generally requires your truck to arrive at the
  venue on a specific date and time or be accessed
  off-target charges.

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• An off-target charge is a penalty charged the
  exhibitor when their truck shows up to the show
  site venue before or after their assigned
  targeted date and time. The purpose of a targeted
  freight floor plan is to load and unload the show
  floor in an orderly manner so as to avoid blocked
  aisles and more labor intensive freight movement.

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• Generally, the contractors load the floor with
  freight starting with the furthest point from the
  freight doors and work back to the freight doors.
  Therefore, the earliest target dates are booths
  at the front of the hall or furthest from the
  docks.

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• Early target dates have the longest time to
  setup and tear-down and the best opportunity to
  avoid overtime and double-time labor charges.
  Definitely an advantage when selecting a booth
  space.

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• The disadvantage to a direct show site shipment
  is a very small window to get your truck checked
  in or be charged a penalty. Your truck driver
  may have 3 other stops before yours or you may be
  shipping in bad weather or even a truck breakdown
  with no time to spare.

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• You also may have a detention time clause in your
  truckers agreement and you are required to pay
  while the trucker waits to be unloaded at the
  trade show venue. This may cost 50 to 125 per
  hour with average wait times can range from 2 to
  8 hours. You may pay more for the detention time
  than you paid for the shipment.

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• If you get a high detention billing from your
  carrier you should confirm their check-in time
  and the time he was unloaded to verify the cost.
  Some carriers exaggerate the detention time
  because they think the client has no way of
  checking.

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• This is not true, the exhibitor can call the
  general contractor (or go to the service desk)
  and request the marshalling yard check-in ticket
  which is time-stamped and the bill of lading used
  to unload the truck which has the date and time
  the truck was unloaded and by whom. The
  difference between the two times is the detention
  time.

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• It is also important to add that using a carrier
  that is experienced with trade show freight is a
  must to minimize unexpected results. However, the
  2nd and definitely the better option is shipping
  your freight to the advance warehouse.

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• An advance warehouse is a warehouse controlled by
  the general contractor. The advance warehouse
  receives freight for the trade show up to
  approximately one month before the trade show,
  stores it and ships it to the venue for one low
  cost. It is important to understand that the
  contractor does not accept certain items to the
  advance warehouse like heavy machinery or
  equipment, check the exhibitor manual.

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• The advance warehouse is in close proximity to
  the trade show venue and the general contractor
  trucks the freight to the trade show venue on or
  before the exhibitors target date. The
  additional cost for shipping to the advance
  warehouse ranges from 0.00/ctw. to 13.00/ctw.
  (ctw is the cost per 100 pounds).

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• You should check your exhibitor kit to get the
  advance warehouse pricing, dates and location.
  The advance warehouse has approximately a 30-day
  window for deliveries.

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• Shipping to the advance warehouse is generally
  the better option. You will definitely give
  Murphys Law a run for the money. If you use an
  exhibit house for your exhibit, make sure you
  finalize the deal in enough time for them to
  produce your exhibit and ship to the advance
  warehouse. At the end, you will save money on
  shipping, labor and get an early exhibit setup.

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• In summary, if you chose to ship directly to show
  site you risk missing your target date and time,
  high detention costs, off-target charges, late
  freight, overtime labor costs, and even missing
  freight.

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• On the other-hand shipping to the advance
  warehouse gives you a 30-day window at a known
  fixed price and the ability to check to make sure
  all your freight has arrived far in advance.

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• For more update, visit us

http//www.exhibitsystemsinc.com/