Avoid Expensive Delivery for Shipping Containers

The cost of having a shipping container delivered, unless it's free/built into the price, can have a big impact on the price of a new or used shipping container. And just as you'd expect, the further the container needs to be moved the more expensive it becomes - this is the primary reason that you should always look to buy a shipping container that's close to you. The ultimate goal is to find a shipping container within 60 miles, or approximately one hour, of the location that it's needed. Even if you find a really cheap shipping container, if it needs to be moved a large distance that savings could quickly go away.

Local Container Delivery: Hourly rate or Distance?

In different parts of the States drivers charge differently for delivering a shipping container. When you start looking for a driver to deliver a container for you, an important question to ask is how you will be billed (along with the type of truck delivering the container). Depending on where you are located, different trucking and delivery companies will charge based on different scales, most commonly time or distance. Florida, for example, normally charges by the hour and has a two or three hour minimum. Depending on local traffic and how busy the depot might be hourly billing can get expensive quickly. Drivers in Colorado, on the other hand, normally charges by the mile. There's limited/predictable traffic Denver and the depots tend to react quickly when a container needs to be pulled, making it easier for the driver to calculate the distance and provide a quote.

Repositioning a Shipping Container / Long Distance Delivery

In some cases finding a local shipping container may not be an option. If you're in a remote part of the county, or distant from any depot or container dealer, you may need to consider having a shipping container trucked to your location. If this is the case, you'll want to investigate the trucking charges and compare them with the container prices in different cities. For example, if you need a container in Northern Michigan a shipping container in Detroit will be closer than Chicago, but a container in Chicago may be less expensive. You'll want to compare the price of the container and delivery charges from both cities and see which deal is the best.

The industry term for moving an empty shipping container is "repositioning" and it's typically something that's avoided whenever possible. If too many containers are returned in one city, Chicago for example, it might make sense to move them to a different location in order to sell them. Of course, the cost of repositioning is then built into the price of the container and the final cost needs to be competitive with the local market. This is why container in Colorado tends to be more expensive than containers in Newark.

ContainerAuction.com sellers can help you find a shipping container no matter where you're located. They regularly work with trucking and logistics companies around the United States and Canada to deliver and reposition shipping containers at competitive, wholesale prices. If you're shopping for a single container, or a dealer looking to restock the inventory at their yard, feel free to contact any of the sellers and ask about the options of having containers delivered to your location. Sellers can be contacted on any listing by using the "Contact" button.