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Freight costs for a tradeshow account for about 10% of an average tradeshow budget. There are shipping charges to and from the show, as well as drayage costs within the show itself.
Drayage is a charge for material handling within the tradeshow convention hall. All pieces, if freight, must be unloaded from trucks and transported by forklift to your booth space. General Service Contractors charge a fee by weight per 100 lbs. All of your freight that is shipped to the show is weighed and charged accordingly.
To minimize shipping charges from a location to your tradeshow or event, schedule a round trip pick up, give your carrier plenty of time to deliver the freight on both ends, price shop with several carriers and look into tradeshow carrier dicounts. Another way to decrease shipping costs is to contract a storage facility that wil maintain your freight and ship it for you economically to each of your shows under a contract.
Drayage charges on show site paid to the general service contractor can be minimized by:
- Shipping as many pieces as you can, if not all pieces, as one shipment. Because drayage is based in 100 lb increments with minimums, you can avoid a substantial amount of charges by sending freight as one shipment. Small boxes should be shrink-wrapped to a pallet so they are weighed and charged individually. This will also insure that all of your pieces arrive together.
- Read your Exhibitor Manual Freight Handling Page and/or the charges associated with shipping in freight. Understand your logistical situation for each show. You must analyze each show to decide how you can save.
-- If the show is targeted, know when your target move is scheduled for. Surcharges apply for shipments arriving last as well as early.
-- Surcharges also apply for freight arriving on overtime or double time. If you have control over your set up dates, try to schedule them during the day, on a weekday during straight time.
-- Read carefully the different classes of tradeshow freight. Is your equipment uncrated? Can your crate it? Is your shipment pad wrapped? Does it need to be? Was your shipment delivered by a van line or a company truck? Could you use a common carrier instead? Sometimes you need to change your logistics to fit into a less expensive class.
-- Compare the rates for shipping freight to the advanced warehouse as opposed to shipping directly to show site. If your direct freight is going to move in on overtime, wouldn't it be more cost effective to send it to the advanced warehouse and pay the lesser of two evils? Sending your freight to an advanced warehouse usually saves with labor costs as well because freight will already be in your booth when you arrive to set up.
- Review your freight bill from your general service contractor in detail. Mistakes can be made during this hectic tradeshow experience. If you keep accurate records about your freight, such as, the actual certified weight of your pieces, weight of your crates full and empty. The number of shipments that you had, color and size of freight, tracking numbers, name of carrier, contact numbers for your carriers, customer paperwork for international shipments, then you will be able to make sure you have been charged accordingly for your freight. All of this information will also help you locate lost or stolen freight on show site.
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