The Dangers of shipping parcels direct to trade shows.

In today's economy, using a parcel service to ship your trade show properties can be the most cost effective method available. However, because of their almost completely automated systems, one error can erase all of the savings almost instantly.

The major parcel services in the US are giant companies with airplanes, semi-trucks and delivery vans. All of this comes together as an extremely effective way of moving packages through one of the various automated systems in 'hub' cities. However, once in the system, you are at the mercy of this automation.

I have had more than a few bad experiences. For example, I had (2) packages shipping at the same time. The driver scanned one as ground and the other 2-Day. Unfortunately, the driver got them mixed up, and, by the time we realized the error, our 2-Day package headed to Las Vegas was actually on a truck headed for Joplin, Missouri. The ground shipment arrived at its destination the next day.

Any and all efforts to get the miss-routed package back on track failed. Not because the customer service representative was not sympathetic to our needs, but because the only way to get the package out of the system was to scan it out at the destination. In this case, the destination was Las Vegas and the package was now scheduled to arrive there on the last day of the show.

While we were not required to pay for the shipping, this did little to help the client at their event... the package was their trade show display.

In another nightmare, a package with the client graphics was miss-routed in transit. It could not be located. We placed a claim for the lost package and followed it as best we could. A week or so later the package was found and returned to us. Unfortunately, the package was no longer 'lost' and the parcel service had no obligation to honor the claim for the value of the contents. In this case, the contents were show specific graphics and were of no further use to the client.

Am I recommending that companies cease using parcel services for trade show and event related items? Of course not. I am recommending, however, that exhibiting companies know and understand what can go wrong and plan accordingly.

For example:

- Send packages to the advance warehouse when possible. This give the parcel carriers time to located miss routed items and still get them to the destination on time.

-Track packages from the moment they leave your possession. This will help you get the jump on lost or miss-routed packages.

-For displays, ship to advance warehouse. When this is not possible, use a trucking or logistics company to move the freight for you. While it is going to be more expensive, in many cases freight can be re-routed in transit if necessary. Because of this, LTL (Less Than Trailer-load) carriers have the highest rate of on-schedule deliveries for this industry.


In many cases using one of the major parcel services cannot be avoided. However, being prepared and knowing what can go wrong will help you avoid the headache of lost or miss-routed packages.