How Shepard’s All-Inclusive Rate Helps Simplify Your Event Budget
Budget-planning can be an overwhelming task for exhibitors: You meticulously create a budget that includes material handling—only to get a final bill that’s drastically different and filled with surprise fees.
This was the reality in the industry for a long time with the CWT model, where material handling and drayage were calculated by weighing the shipment and rounding the number to the next 100 pounds. Exhibitors would work hard to budget for a certain weight and then were surprised by minimums, overtime and special handling fees, marshalling yard fees, and more—with many based on things far outside your control, like how the freight was packed.
At Shepard, we recognize the headache this caused. After all, we’re passionate about simplifying every step of the process for our customers, which is why we offer our own one-stop solution to get your freight to the right location, on time.
And now, we’ve incorporated our all-inclusive rate, which radically simplifies the material handling process—for both our customers and for us.
How does it work? This process charges per pound, with no rounding and absolutely no hidden fees—which means that if you ship 517 pounds, that’s exactly what you’re paying for. Yes, that means no fees for special handling, marshalling yard, overtime, crated vs. uncrated, warehouse vs. direct shipment, you name it. Shepard’s in-house team personally handles all end-to-end material management, from the truck, to your booth, back to the loading dock and beyond, for this one all-inclusive rate.
For a general service contractor like Shepard, this process requires less paperwork and time on our part. And for our customers who have already implemented this model, the benefits have been even bigger: What they see is exactly what they pay, meaning they can finally budget appropriately and take the stress out of planning and executing their events. Our team is all about financial transparency; we love to work with our customers to break down every single area of the budget and explain exactly how we reached a figure that you’re comfortable with.
Many of our customers already use and trust this all-inclusive model – and our goal is to have all our partners adopt it by 2024. It’s just another way we tailor experiences to each and every customer, and offer that personal, people-centric touch we’re known for. After all, we’ve built a loyal following since 1905 not just for the work we do to produce a show—but for how we treat our customers the other 364 days of the year.
Learn more about our one-stop logistics and material handling services here—and get in touch with a Shepard team member to start planning your next event today!
