Drayage Charges – Great Comments From a Show Contractor
The other day I fielded some great comments from B.J. Enright, President of TradeShowLogistics, a Show Contractor from the Atlanta market area, that are worth posting here –
I’m sure that you’ll find her comments to bring better understanding to the costs of drayage and some additional solutions.
“From a general contractor’s perspective, the problem is not drayage, but rather that drayage is covering the cost of many other valuable services that a general contractor provides at no charge. Nearly 80% of a general contractor’s profits often come from drayage. This has led to complicated, expensive, and confusing rate structures.
Show Managers need to better understand what costs are being covered through drayage, so that they can have more control over their exhibitors’ drayage rates.
TradeshowLogistics offers our clients a different financial model. We charge a management fee for the general contracting services that we provide. Then we put show management in control of the exhibitor rates. The result is lower, simpler, rate structures with no surprises.
If drayage rates continue to be excessive, confusing, and unpredictable, Exhibitors and their supplier-partners will continue to fight back…shipping less, building lighter displays, utilizing video demonstrations rather than live product demonstrations…etc.
B.J. went on to offer . . .
One trend we are seeing is more Display Builders and Exhibitor Partners are taking on the role of the general contractor. They are coming to us to utilize our online order and processing system, material handling services, and sometimes exhibitor care services to avoid utilizing a typical general contractor, so that they can control the rates and service levels.
One of the values of a tradeshow that cannot be achieved through any online medium, is the ability to touch, feel, and see a product in action and speak to the sales rep at the same time. We need to make sure that our tradeshows and drayage, in particular, are affordable to ensure the long-term survival of our shows.
In my opinion, we should challenge ourselves to make the tradeshow floor more educational, more interactive, and more measureable.”
Thank you BJ - some great information. . .
What are your thoughts. . .
