Delivery planning
How your furniture arrives: freight, unloading and checking
The truck pulls up on a weekday morning, the driver wants a signature, and pallets are suddenly on your curb. This page is for whoever is standing there. Pass it to your receiving staff ahead of delivery day, since the first half hour settles a lot.
What the standard delivery covers
Everything ships by LTL freight, short for less than a truckload. Your pieces are palletized and wrapped, share a trailer with other shippers' goods, and pass through carrier terminals before a local truck makes the last stop at your business. Standard service stops at a loading dock or at the back of the truck, whichever your site has.
Getting the furniture off the pallets and into the building falls to your crew. Have people ready to empty the truck within about 30 minutes of its arrival.
The freight bill is separate from the furniture prices you see online. We price it for every delivery address, and the number reaches you by email with your order confirmation, ahead of any payment. Prefer to book your own account with a carrier? Mention it as you send the order.
Extras you book when you order
Some sites need more than a curb drop. Four extras are available, and each one adds a charge. Ask for them as you send the order, since the carrier lines up the truck and crew in advance.
- Liftgate: a platform that lowers pallets to street level where there's no dock.
- Inside delivery: the pallets come indoors instead of staying outside.
- Limited access: for a school, a hospital, a church, a military base, or any other site with controlled entry.
- Residential: for a home address.
Nobody on the truck will take freight up or down stairs, whichever extra you pick. Nobody unpacks, assembles, or hauls away cartons as part of freight service, either. Rooftop terrace? The stairwell is the hard part. Plan your own crew for it and describe the building in the order notes.
How long it takes
Two clocks run, one after the other. First comes the lead time: stock pieces need 14 to 21 business days, and anything custom needs up to about 8 weeks. Add transit after that: it depends on the route, and it's only an estimate.
Opening weekend already on the calendar? Leave a cushion, and give us the date when you submit. A big order may be split between trucks, and each load is received and checked the same way. Our ordering timeline counts backward from an opening date.
Before the truck comes
Walk the path from the curb to the room where the furniture will live. Measure the door, look for a tight turn in the hall, and note steps at the entrance or a slope in the sidewalk. Choose a dry place to stage pallets and opened cartons. Decide who signs, and put that person's name, your receiving hours, and any gate code or parking rule in the order notes.
On a build or a refit, check with the contractor so the delivery doesn't land on the floor crew or the painters.
Delivery day checks
Do these in order, and do them before the pen touches the signature line.
- Count pallets and cartons against the paperwork the driver hands you, the bill of lading.
- Look over every carton, and record each damaged or missing one on that paperwork.
- Short on time? Write "subject to inspection" beside your signature.
- Photograph damage before the driver leaves.
Keep damaged packaging until the claim closes. A clean signature makes a claim harder to win, and we help build the carrier claim.
Hidden damage, shortages, and defects
Damage can hide inside a carton that looks fine. Tell us about it within 24 hours of delivery. Missing pieces and defects come to us in writing, and the clock is three days from arrival.
Email sales@restaurantfurniture.store and start the subject line with CLAIM. Give the order reference, say what happened, and attach photos: one of the whole piece, one close to the defect, one of the labels. Defects run through the limited warranty, and a refused truck is handled under the returns terms.
Charges that can show up at the dock
If plans shift on delivery day, the carrier may bill for it: a driver kept waiting (detention), a second trip after a failed delivery (redelivery), an address changed mid-route (reconsignment), storage, or an appointment fixed to a set time. Whatever the carrier charges passes to you at its own rate. Accurate site details at the time of the order are the cheapest protection.
Shipping to several sites
Sending pieces to a downtown room and a lakeside patio? Each address gets its own freight quote and its own extras. Give a ZIP code, a receiving contact, and the access limits for every site. A home can be a delivery point too, using the residential extra, which you book when you order. We deliver across the lower 48 states and into most of Canada.
Canada
Your own customs broker clears a Canadian delivery. Brokerage fees, duties, and Canadian taxes are charged to you, apart from the furniture and the freight. Put FREIGHT at the start of the subject line when you write to us about it.
Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico
Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico sit outside the standard area, but a large order may still be delivered there. Start with the specialist form, describing the order, and we'll answer in writing with the routing and the freight price.