The short answer
Every Pelham shipment follows five steps:
- Enquiry: you share the shipment details.
- Review: Pelham’s customer service and dispatch team matches the load with LTL or FTL capacity.
- Confirmation: price, load details and pickup and receiving arrangements are confirmed.
- Handoff: pickup and receiving are coordinated.
- Follow-up: you receive status updates at each milestone, through to proof of delivery.
Sending a form or applying for an account does not itself book a shipment: it becomes active once the load details, price and pickup date are confirmed.
1. Give the team a usable enquiry
Accurate information avoids billing adjustments later. Share:
- Pickup and receiving ZIP codes, with full business addresses when possible.
- The ready date at pickup.
- Goods and packaging: boxes, crates or drums.
- Pallet count and loaded dimensions, including any overhang.
- Total weight.
- Appointment, liftgate or handling requirements.
Use the freight quote requirements checklist to collect missing details from the supplier or receiver.
2. Discuss capacity and service
- Shared LTL capacity: 1 to 7 pallets that can travel with other commercial freight. Choose Economy (estimated 10 days), Regular (7) or Expedited (3, Homestead–West Palm Beach only).
- Exclusive FTL capacity: a 53’ trailer for 8 pallets or more (volume load or full truckload), heavy freight or cargo that should not share space. It can go directly from pickup to delivery, with one driver or a two-driver team, as you prefer.
If you are unsure, select “Help me choose” instead of selecting a service only by name. The LTL vs. FTL guide explains the difference; the LTL page lists transit estimates and coverage.
3. Confirm before treating the shipment as booked
- Service and load details.
- Quoted amount and included charges, such as the fuel surcharge and handling.
- Pickup and receiving addresses, contacts and hours.
- Required references (PO or BOL) and appointments.
- Expected timing and any unresolved requirement.
Raise questions before dispatch. If a detail changes after the discussion, request confirmation of the revised plan.
4. Coordinate the handoff
- California suppliers: have the cargo packed, labeled and ready on the dock before the agreed pickup window.
- Florida receivers and Miami forwarders: provide the receiving references, such as a warehouse receipt or booking number, for the bill of lading.
Describe any palletizing, transloading or cross-docking needs in advance. For a Miami forwarder, the agreed delivery is domestic; our guide to freight delivery to forwarders in Miami explains how to separate the onward arrangement.
5. Keep the reference for updates
Pelham updates the shipment status at each milestone. It does not offer live GPS tracking (see the freight technology questions worth asking any carrier):
- Freight picked up.
- Arrival at the origin warehouse.
- Departure to Florida.
- Arrival at the destination warehouse.
- Delivery.
- Proof of delivery.
Use the shipment reference whenever you contact the customer service and dispatch team for an update, a schedule change or delivery confirmation. For an existing shipment, contact Pelham with its reference. For a new load, start a freight enquiry. Account application, shipment enquiry and a confirmed transport arrangement are distinct steps.