subject: Can You Send Freight From A Terminal, Or Make A Pickup From A Terminal? [print this page] Terminals are a part of the everyday shipping process. Your Houston courier service will tell you that the farther that you are shipping, the more terminals it is likely that your shipment will pass through on its way to its destination. Sometimes however, people find uses for using the terminals directly as a drop off or pick up point and want to know if there are ways to do this.
Most courier companies that are out there are happy to make arrangements with their customers regarding picking up or have freight sent out from a terminal. Basically, all this does is make their job easier in most cases. It saves them having to use a vehicle to make at least one leg of the total delivery, and any time they can do that they are probably going to be very accommodating. There are a few though that may have policies against this. If you foresee this as a need, be sure you check with the courier before opening any accounts with them.
To make a pickup from a terminal, or to have freight shipped from one, is usually fairly easy. All you should have to do is let your courier know that that is what you want to do and they can usually make it happen. In most situations, a call or an email describing the shipping situation and what you want to occur is all it should take.
Some companies may, through the use of their courier software, make this sort of a situation even easier to arrange. They may have software where you can specify preferences for every shipment, including whether you want to drop it off at the terminal rather than have it picked up. You may also be able to indicate if you want a shipment stopped at a terminal so you can pick it up, or if you have storage at a terminal if you want some goods shipped out.
Having freight stored at a terminal and then shipped out as required can be a great way to get your orders to your customers faster than normal. On the other hand, having your deliveries picked up from terminals by those that prefer to use their own vehicles is also a way to save a little bit of money on your deliveries. Both are options that are well worth exploring if your courier allows you to use the terminal in these ways.
