What are White Glove Delivery Services?

“White Glove” delivery is used to describe service provided with excellence, attention, and the utmost care.  White glove delivery services is a method of shipping or receiving products that need more attention than regular parcels due to their size, value or fragility. White glove delivery experts are highly-trained and equipped with the ability to install and assemble your product on-site and use specialized equipment if necessary. White Glove services will uncrate or unpackage your its, and install or assemble the product on-site if required.

White Glove Delivery Installation

How Does White Glove Delivery Service Work?

When you order a white glove delivery service, your white glove shipping company takes extraordinary steps to ensure your products are delivered to your exact specifications. This includes the following steps:

  • Inspections: 

    Some services offer pre and post site inspections before assembling the shipped product, in case special configuration is needed during set up.

  • Protective packaging: 

    White glove delivery services adhere to high standards that protect your package against damage by using premium packing materials like wooden crates, packing peanuts, styrofoam, movers wraps, bubble wrap, glass masks, cardboard and more. Steps are also taken to keep your shipment safe from movement during transport, as well as protection from moisture.

  • Delicate handling:

    Your shipment is treated with top-level care throughout the entire packaging, shipping, delivery and set up process. Packagers and drivers are trained to handle your product’s unique needs and take all special considerations into account.

  • Safe, clean, reliable transportation:

    Companies that provide white glove delivery services dispatch clean, safe shipping vehicles operated by trained professionals.

  • Attentive service: 

    White glove delivery service professionals are trained to deliver your shipment quickly and safely every time. A white glove delivery company is typically available to answer any questions you have throughout your shipment, including feedback afterward.

  • Product assembly or dismantle:

    If you request product assembly or dismantle services, delivery professionals will carry your shipment to the place it needs to be unloaded and then set it up in a safe, timely manner. They will also dismantle and remove the old product you are replacing and remove any debris or garbage.

White Glove Delivery vs. Other Delivery Services

Other delivery services are only required to drop the goods at the delivery site. In some cases, delivery might require proof, such as a signature or a picture of the package at the door of the designated delivery site. White glove delivery, on the other hand, meets the specific requirements of the deliverer, from unique packaging to security and installation to onsite training.

 Who Uses White Glove Delivery Service?

Industries that rely on white glove delivery services deliver the following types of products:

  • Highly fragile items requiring special packaging such as mirrors, glass, and large plants.
  • Heavy or oversized items such as furniture, medical imaging, data storage, office equipment, musical instruments, etc.
  • Luxury goods of any size that require special care and higher security
  • Unassembled items that are complicated to put together, such as gazebos, barbecues, computers, electronics, furniture, etc.
  • Larger shipments include medical equipment for an entire department at a hospital, interior decorating supplies and furnishings for an entire project, extensive setups for conferences or retailers, etc.
  • Replacement services such as home appliances, mattresses, office equipment, etc., requiring old items to be taken away
  • Heavily packaged items with hard-to-dispose-of boxes and protective wraps

Why You Should Use White Glove Delivery Services

For companies dealing with high-value products, coordinating all the logistics elements that are required to safely and securely transport these products can be a daunting task. When extra care and technique is required for packing, handling, and managing a high-value product, you want to have the peace of mind that everything will be done properly in order to ensure that there is no loss or damage in the process. This is where a professional white glove logistics provider delivers the most value.

Reduce the risk of damage, or loss

Many companies attempt to handle complex transportation requirements themselves in an effort to reduce costs and minimize overhead. However, what’s often overlooked is that there is greater potential for error, damage, or loss if the transportation team isn’t adequately trained, or when their equipment isn’t up to the job.

Simplify complex operations

In addition, when dealing with multiple locations or projects national in scope, the complexity of managing all the necessary tasks can overwhelm any business, consuming far more resources than expected. Hiring, training, and equipping a large team of personnel dedicated to dealing with complicated transportation requires a significant capital investment that many companies would rather put into their core business operations.

Access More Storage Space

Adding space to existing facilities or leasing other locations in order to provide the space required for packing, handling, and storing high-value products can also be a costly endeavor. For any organization looking to streamline their supply chain and minimize overhead, increasing facility square footage has the exact opposite effect that they are looking for.

Get Peace of Mind

In these instances, it often makes a great deal of sense to leverage white glove logistics services from an experienced and reputable provider of high-value transportation services. White glove logistics providers such as SCI offer many capabilities that allow companies to simplify their supply chain while simultaneously improving their ability to successfully manage the transportation of high-value products.

Trained Professionals

White glove logistics providers employ highly trained personnel who specialize in handling high-value products, such as technologically advanced machinery, computer systems, and health care equipment.

High Value White Glove Delivery

Products like this require carefully planned security measures and tracking systems in order to ensure that the potential for loss or damage is minimized.

Value Added-Services

White glove logistics services can also include a variety of value added services such as asset tagging, inspections, packing, padding, crating and anything else your specific situation requires.

Extensive Experience

In addition to the essential tasks of proper handling and transportation, reputable white glove logistics providers should also be able to take care of installation, setup, and configuration of a wide array of high-value products and equipment. Some examples of products that fit well with a white glove logistics model are computerized self-service kiosks & instant teller banking machines. These units must be handled with care and be secured during transport, and often require substantial on-site assembly and installation. These types of tasks are not typically part of the services provided by standard transportation companies, requiring additional support from a separate technical services provider in order to be completed. White glove logistics companies deliver a complete, full-service solution for products of this nature.

Coast-to-coast network

National white glove logistics providers will also have a national network of secure locations and facilities at their disposal, which means that you can be confident in their ability to fulfill your needs regardless of the starting point or final destination of your products. By utilizing one logistics company that provides complete services from coast to coast, the processes used for your high-value products will be consistent across all locations. This provides an added layer of assurance that the products will be handled the same way, every time, reducing the opportunities for errors or damage to occur.

Outsource Your Fleet

One of the major advantages of using a white glove logistics company is the fact that you will not need to make any significant investments in transportation fleet ownership. Fleet ownership carries a steep initial price tag, ongoing maintenance, fuel costs, and insurance.

white glove delivery transportation

Whether on a small scale for only a few vehicles, or on a large scale for large fleets, vehicle ownership can be a big liability for many companies. White glove logistics providers remove this liability, further simplifying your operations and streamlining your supply chain for greater efficiencies.

Easily Handle Seasonal Peaks

Seasonal shipping peaks can also be managed more effectively with white glove logistics companies, as they have a substantial pool of vehicles and personnel resources from which to draw. This means that your sales peak season becomes easier to manage, and relieves a common pain point that many companies experience year after year, allowing you to maximize the success of your seasonal shipping peak fulfillment.

Customs Clearance Help

Lastly, white glove logistics providers are a huge benefit to companies that ship internationally and regularly deal with customs clearance as products cross from country to country. The customs experts that white glove logistics providers employ help ensure smooth, problem-free transition of high-value products across international borders, saving time and avoiding costly delays. Customs delays result in confusion and lost revenue, as projects that are dependent on timely delivery of high-value products can be thrown completely off schedule. White glove services help improve customer satisfaction by providing more efficient transportation and greater predictability for international shipments.

The Benefits of White Glove Delivery Services

When you need a customized delivery service to suit your customer’s needs, white glove delivery service offers many benefits, including:

  • Improved customer experience: Customers receive the level of service they desire to ensure they get the most enjoyment out of the products they order.
  • Personalized service and attention to detail: Every detail is considered when making a white glove delivery, right down to special training required for efficient, safe installation or assembly.
  • Increased convenience and flexibility: Items are delivered at a specific time instead of an “estimated delivery window.”
  • Reduced risk of damage or loss of high-value or fragile items: White glove delivery can special packaging, security, and delivery vehicles to ensure fragile items arrive intact and high-value items cannot be stolen.
  • Increased customer satisfaction and loyalty: The exacting considerations included in white glove delivery increase customer satisfaction and build customer loyalty.

Ultimately, white glove logistics providers are equipped to deliver a full, turn-key solution for the warehousing, packing, tracking, staging, configuration, shipping, inside delivery and installation of all types of high-value products. They help simplify your entire supply chain by consolidating a long list of tasks that would otherwise require substantially greater investment in personnel and equipment, or perhaps multiple third-party contractors that would result in significant challenges with the consistency of how your products are handled.

Best Practices Used by SCI White Glove Delivery Service Providers

SCI’s White Glove delivery team goes the extra mile to offer exceptional service to our customers, including:

  • Performance management and business analytics tools to track and measure your white glove transportation using agreed upon service level metrics
  • GPS technology that lets you know where your shipment is and when it will arrive
  • Specialty trucks, delivery equipment, and driver teams for deliveries nationwide
  • Route optimization technology that can reduce miles driven and lowers fuel costs by using real-time data
  • An easy-to-use online booking portal
  • Training for the end users if required.

Conclusion

White glove delivery services offer a comprehensive solution for transporting high-value, fragile, and oversized products with utmost care and attention to detail. By entrusting your logistics needs to experienced white glove providers, you can reduce the risk of damage or loss, simplify your operations, access additional storage space, and enjoy peace of mind knowing that your products are in capable hands. If you want to enhance your customer experience, increase satisfaction, and streamline your supply chain, contact the SCI White Glove transportation team today.