Delivering to a Costco Canada depot.

Collect and prepaid decide who books the truck

Each Costco purchase order sets its freight terms, and they can differ from one lane to the next. Costco's routing guide for Canadian vendors uses two terms. On collect freight, "Costco selects carrier and pays freight." On prepaid freight, the "Vendor selects carrier and pays freight" and has to meet the requested arrival date.

On collect freight the vendor still answers for having the load ready and compliant on the pickup date. The routing guide allows two hours to load a full truck, and detention after that is charged back to the vendor. On prepaid freight the vendor answers for the whole trip, up to the right depot on the requested date.

Appointments are booked two business days ahead

The routing guide says all Costco locations require delivery appointments "at least two business days prior to planned delivery." The appointment also has to match the load. A pallet appointment is for a load that is entirely palletised. A floor-load appointment is for loose cartons, or for a mix of pallets and slip-sheets. The guide adds: "Incorrect appointment types will result in load refusals." Our guide to retail DC appointment windows covers appointments more generally.

Costco expects merchandise on pallets. A shipment on slip-sheets, unitised or floor-loaded needs the buyer's authorization before it leaves.

Pallets and load heights follow Costco's packaging specification

Costco's Structural Packaging Specifications set the pallet rules (pallet section revised August 2010). Since January 2011 Costco has accepted iGPS, PECO and CHEP block pallets in North America. Other pallets have to be equal to those and pre-approved, and Costco does not accept pallet exchange deliveries.

• A footprint no larger than 48 by 40 inches, with no overhang (the specification recommends 47.5 by 39.5)
• Dry loads as close to 52 inches high as possible without going over, including the pallet, so they can be double-stacked
• Refrigerated loads no higher than 48 inches, including the pallet
• Display-ready loads no heavier than 2,500 lb and no taller than 58 inches including the pallet, built to double-stack where that saves freight
• Stretch wrap to the bottom of the pallet, at least .79 gauge film wrapped three times, with plastic strapping allowed and metal strapping not

The routing guide warns that shipments on pallets that miss the specification will be refused, and that vendors pay the labour and materials to re-palletise, rework or redeliver the load.

Display-ready pallets are built to be shopped

Product shipped in display-ready corrugated packaging goes onto the warehouse floor as it arrives, so the pallet is the display. The packaging specification asks for layer sheets between the layers of open-top display modules, a cap or layer sheet when the top of the load is exposed, and rigid corner posts on all four corners (plastic corner posts are not allowed). The load is stacked to face the 48-inch side, ideally shoppable from both the 48-inch and 40-inch sides.

This is work that happens between the container and the depot. In Calgary, Rolls Right palletises container freight onto retailer-spec pallets where the routing guide calls for it, builds mixed-SKU pallets and applies labels to the receiver's spec.

Trailers the depots turn away

The routing guide lists the trailer types Costco depots cannot receive. Check the carrier's equipment before the appointment, because a refused trailer means a new appointment and a missed date.

• Trailers that are not dock height
• Trailers with a lift gate
• Trailers carrying another retailer's logo or branding
• Soft-sided or curtain-side trailers
• Moving vans
• Trailers with interior shelving
• Trailers with rollers in the floor, such as air freight trailers
• Flatbed trailers

Stock in the West for Langley and Airdrie

Costco buys by region, and its Western buying office is in Burnaby. When the West picks up an item that is made or stocked in Ontario or the United States, the product has to sit close enough to Langley or Airdrie to make the appointment.

Rolls Right runs warehouses in Vancouver and Calgary and delivers into the Langley and Airdrie depots on its own trucks every week. Its own line haul runs between the two cities six days a week, one to two days in transit, so stock can sit in either city. It delivers to Vaughan and Varennes as well. The trucking side of a Costco program, from the container at the Port of Vancouver to the depot appointment, is covered on rollsright.ca: learn more about Rolls Right for Costco vendors.