Consumers are more sophisticated than they used to be. Most have learned to expect very low-cost, or cost-free, value-added service along with superior products and pricing. Delivery is one of the most fundamental of all value-added services.

But delivery is also an expensive proposition, often requiring a substantial investment in vehicles, payroll, insurance, licenses, fuel, fees and equipment. Rental companies offer delivery not because they want to but because they must, and even those that profit from it tend to view delivery as a necessary evil.

"I pretty much hate delivery all the way around," says Vincent Nett of Advantage Rental Centers in Algonquin, Ill., and director of A.R.A. Region Five. "Our county is one of the fastest growing in the country, which leads to nasty traffic problems. I expect that every delivery we make is a money loser in more ways that one."

Each type of delivery customer comes with his or her own set of potential problems, Nett says. Operating under the illusion that he is the rental center's only customer, the average contractor wants everything right now. He may insist that all personnel drop whatever they're doing in order that his rented skid-steer loader, trencher or roller be immediately dispatched to some remote job site. Homeowners are an even tougher lot, Nett says, and on the patience scale rate several notches below contractors.

"We are at the point where we will no longer bring equipment into a home," he says. "Instead, we unload into a garage or just outside a doorway. It's too bad we're living in such a litigious society. Footprints on the white carpet - 'I'll sue!' Table bumped against into the wall - 'You'll hear from my attorney!' Truck makes a rut in the yard after we get permission to drive on it - 'I'll see you in court!'"

"Delivery is one of the more fluid areas that is chargeable or not chargeable," says Doug Dartnell of Taylor Rental Center in Concord, N.H., A.R.A. director-at-large and RM Trade Talk columnist. "It's really hard to work out a hard and fast rule. In negotiations with customers, delivery is one of the areas that gets hit first. Pretty soon you have no control over the income side of your deliveries, and this affects standardization. The customers are also smart enough to know that lots of guys deliver for free, and will use this against you."

Deliveries present rental centers with many problems, most of them emotional. When a delivery goes wrong (as they often do), it can tax the patience, time and pocketbook of everyone involved. But while horror stories abound, many rental companies have mastered the tricky business of delivery, mostly by organizing around worst-case scenarios.

What do you do, for example, when no one is home to accept an order? "We wait," says Nett. "Or we come back." What if the delivery person shows up with the wrong equipment? Nett says you nip that one in the bud by screening the order at the counter or by bringing the customer into the store to check out the item before it's delivered. What if the customer gives you the wrong directions? "We've been using Mapquest on the Internet, with mostly good results," Nett says.

Because of the high costs and hassles of special licensing, rental companies like Country Corner Rental in Shippensburg, Pa., tend to rely on smaller vehicles to deliver the goods. The company has five different vehicles, but none large enough to mandate special licensing.

"Any vehicle exceeding a gross vehicle weight rating of 26,000 pounds requires a special license," says owner Ron Fink, who's also director of A.R.A. Region Two.

"We have nothing that measures up to that. Special licensing is a pain. Drivers have to attend school to get certified, and once they get a commercial driver's license, they are in demand and expensive to hire."

With few exceptions, most rental centers base delivery fees in whole or in part on mileage. S & M Rentals in Phoenix, for example, charges for delivery on a per-mile basis, regardless of the size of the equipment, the time of day or distance away from the yard, explains Yard Manager Jeremy Lageshulte.

Some companies limit their delivery radius or charge a fee based on minimum mileage and/or the size of the equipment being shipped. Advantage uses both criteria to establish shipping costs. For small equipment shippable by pickup or cargo truck, the charge is $6 per mile with a five-mile minimum. Larger items shipped by trailer go for the same rate with double the minimum mileage.

Pickup is included in both cases.

At some rental stores, drivers are encouraged to sell as well as deliver. This is certainly true at ABC Equipment Rental, in Tulsa, Okla. Delivery manager Wendell Edd says ABC delivery drivers wear many hats. They are well-acquainted with the company's product line and provide customers with on-site instruction on operation and make recommendations when additional materials are clearly needed. ABC's drivers are held to a high standard of professionalism on the road. The company stands behind them in most things, but it won't absorb the costs of speeding and other deliberate violations of established traffic laws.

"Every driver here knows the speed limits," Edd says. "If one breaks the law, he will be expected to pay for his own ticket. While we can't control what our drivers do away from home, we can limit the chance that they will be pulled over because of an overload. We don't have scales to weigh every trailer, but since each has a standard weight capacity, we can usually make a visual estimate by looking at the tires. If the axle is a certain number of inches lower than the tires, we take some of the load off and put it on a second truck. Scales are unnecessary because we also know the individual weights of every item we sell. So far, it's kept us out of trouble."

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