COST CALCULATION
Probable shipping costs are calculated in the on-line system but actual quotations will be obtained from Carriers at the time the Order is validated in the factory - you will be contacted to approve the actual costs involved.
The cost calculation in our system below provides a reasonable approximation. It is not possible to give an absolute reliable cost estimate for delivery costs in advance - there are too many variables:
Number of Cabinets and their weight.
Size of some of the components. - (package sizes under 2000mm are not normally a problem,
those over 2400mm are difficult to off-load unless local forklifts are available).
Local or Interstate delivery - (competition, choice of carriers, ease of packing).
Number of Transhipments involved - (each increases the cost (AND possibility of damage).
Main route or far removed - (there are very large cost differences when comparing shipment to
main centres with those to places off the main transport routes
- competition works to keep prices down!).
"Weekly" changes in freight cost depending on Fuel charges.
PACKING
The components will be packed into a box(s) ready for the freight company to pickup from the factory. After pick-up from the factory, the box many pass through several different depots and even dispatched to other, local carriers. For this reason the packing of the product needs to be in a box, to reduce the risk of possible courier damage. We try to use only 1 box, as this reduces the chance of the courier only supplying part of the order.
If the package is small enough, then it will be bundled and wrapped & shipped as a normal parcel, but given that an average base cabinet weight is around 42kg, this doesn’t happen often. It’s not uncommon for a flat-pack kitchen to weight between 800Kg and just under a tonne. The box itself will weigh between 40 - 80 kg depending on the total Order size.
Below is an example of a flat pack kitchen, ready for dispatch:
ACTUAL DELIVERY
The flat pack comes in one large box and can weight anywhere from 300kg to 1 tonne, depending upon size of the order. In a few cases, the transport companies are unable to deliver the flat-pack box right to your actual home address.
This is because some of the trucks are pantechs or curtain siders and they do not have a rear tail-lift, or a hand fork lift (to move the box from inside the truck to tail lift), or the box is too big to fit normally in the rear of the local delivery truck (over 2000mm in length with an absolute maximum of 2400mm, or the box weights over a tonne.
What happens in this case is that the job will be delivered to their closest depot to your home address and from there you will need to organise your own means of transport to get the create to your home. Many customers either use their trailer or borrow a friends ute and pick it up from there. The freight company will then fork lift the box into your awaiting trailer/ute and you can then get it home for there and un-load it at your leisure. A typical kitchen has 300+ individually stacked parts, plus the hardware, quite a number of individual items.
Many customers opt to have the box delivered to their work address (so long as there is a fork lift available). From there they can ‘strip’ the box at their leisure and transport the parts home, or use a work vehicle, their own trailer, etc to get the job home.
When the box arrives, you will need a battery drill to remove the screws that attach the top to the rest of the box, then manually unload the flat pack items.
INSURANCE:
The Quoted freight cost DOES include up to $800 goods in transit insurance. o:p>
Should you wish to insure more than this, our regular carriers Toll Ipec offer additional insurance packages to cover higher values .
You will need to speak directly with Toll Ipec about this on 02) 6239 9000. o:p>
Whilst we understand that your job value may well exceed this amount, typically what happens (if any of the goods do somehow get damaged) – (and it’s now very rare with our current method of packing) that just some panels or parts get damaged and not the whole job, so we find that the up to $ 800 transit insurance is sufficient.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
Your job will be packaged as best as we can at our end. The box will be supplied undamaged from the factory and the Transport driver will see this as it is loaded onto the truck. If the truck driver notices any damage on the shipment packaging, they will not accept it (as they may be held liable when it reaches the other end). A good way to tell if goods have been mis-handled is by looking at the package when it arrives, to check for anyexternal damage.
Should you wish to organise your own freight transport company, you are more than welcome to, just remember to allow for some freight insurance as they could damage it in transit.
Sub Categories
Customer Controlled
Factory Controlled
