You’ve bought a big-ticket piece of machine tools like a LeBlond manual lathe or K.O. Lee tool & cutter grinder. Then you see the cost for freight to get the equipment shipped to your shop …
Why so much?
Before I answer this question (that we frequently get from customers), I want to recount a recent shopping experience.
Bro, Protect the Investment!
Last week, I ponied up hundreds of dollars for the new iPhone 6S. My previous iPhone was prehistoric and badly in need of an upgrade.
At the store, I picked out the phone and color. I thought I was done until the salesperson asked me about what cover I wanted.
I selected one and discovered that it was $50. Did I even need a cover? I mean, after spending hundreds of dollars, I could save 50 bones!
The salesperson then told me horror stories of people dropping their phones without a cover, getting the glass front of the phone shattered or something worse. He asked me a reasonable question: after spending not a small amount of money, wouldn’t I want to pay a little more to protect that investment?
I got the cover. Likewise, LeBlond Ltd. charges a little bit more extra on freight to protect the investment on your recent machine tools purchase.
LTL Freight is Cheaper, BUT …
There are several kinds of freight when shipping a lathe, mill, grinder or other heavy piece of machine tools. Most companies selling machine tools use LTL or less-than-truckload freight.
This is where the shipping company picks up your machine and ships it to you via a “hub and spoke” system where local terminals are the spokes leading to a primary distribution center or “hub.” The delivery truck picks up your machine, ships it to the main distribution center and then sends it to your shop or factory on the final delivery spoke.
The benefit of LTL freight is that networked delivery makes it less expensive. The downside? Your machine can get transferred as many as five or six times in its route to you. As Wikipedia puts it, “(f)reight sent via LTL carriers must be handled several times during transit, often by different carriers.”
In other words, your intricate and precise investment, costing in the tens of thousands of dollars, can potentially get damaged, getting tossed around like candy during shipping.
Dedicated Shipping Protects Your Valuable Machine Tool
LeBlond Ltd. uses dedicated shipping for freight.
We hire a shipping company and one truck solely for your machine. The truck picks up only your machine from our factory and drives directly to your location to drop off the equipment. No intermediate stops and nothing else in the truck besides your incredibly valuable and precise piece of equipment.
With dedicated shipping, your LeBlond metal lathe or K.O. Lee surface grinder is protected. It might cost a little bit more, but it protects your investment just like that iPhone cover!
If you’re interested in new LeBlond or K.O. Lee equipment, call LeBlond Ltd. at (888) 532-5663 Ext. 200 or email LeBlond Ltd. GM Aaron Juillerat at [email protected]. If you need original OEM parts for LeBlond, K.O. Lee, Standard Modern, Johnson Press, Deka Drill and W.F. & John Barnes equipment, fill out a contact form here.