So, the show is over. Now what? You just pack up and leave, right? Well, not exactly.
Just like your pre-show planning, your post-show planning needs to be organized and the details forwarded to your onsite personnel. But it’s just a large case and I have my own UPS/FedEx label, what else do I need? You will need more than just the label to make sure that your case/box/skid/crate leaves the hall and goes where it needs to go. That is where the planning needs to start.
All general contractors will require that a Material Handling Agreement (MHA) is completed, signed, and returned to the service desk for any shipment going out of the hall. If you are hand-carrying anything out of the hall, this document is NOT required; however, if any of your materials requires that the general contractor handle them, such as delivering to a package room or loading onto your outbound carrier, this document is required.
If you have a carrier, any LTL shipper, coming to the hall, the MHA is the BOL (Bill of Lading) for the carrier.
So, what information is required on this Material Handling Agreement? Several very important pieces of information are required. Keep in mind Where? Who? and How Many?
First, you must know where the shipment is going. This may seem basic, but, surprisingly, many onsite people have no idea where the materials are going. Please let them know!
Secondly, who is the carrier; who will be coming to pick up the materials? Will it be an outside carrier that you or your company arranged to pick up the materials? Will it be UPS/FedExand you have your own labels? Will you be using the general contractor as the carrier? These questions need to be thought about and the information provided to your onsite personnel. Each of these choices changes how the rest of the document is completed.
You need to know who will be billed for the shipment. If you are using an outside carrier or have labels from FedEx/UPS, the billing will be to your company. You made the arrangements/labels, you will be charged for the transportation.
If you use the show carrier, the general contractor will be charged by the carrier, and will, in turn, charge you. Please have patience, it can take up to two to three weeks for the contractor to receive all the bills from the carrier so they can charge you.
Once you figure out the wear and the who, you need to know how many. Please indicate the number of pieces that will be taken out of your booth.
This may seem like an easy thing to do; just take the pieces out of the booth. However, during the teardown, boxes get moved, things are shifted, and trash is left in the booth. If the contractor is looking for three pieces, but only finds two pieces, they will look for the last piece. If you only indicated two, but they found three, the contractor will need to follow up about the last piece.
The contractor does realize the piece count can change. That is the reason the MHA gets turned in once EVERYTHING is packed up. It may seem like a good idea to complete it and turn itin before everything is packed, but if the piece count changes, then there will be confusion about your shipment.
And finally, sign the document. There may be several different locations to sign on the MHA. Double-check with the service desk people about the signatures. Yes, this can seem a bit overwhelming. But if you plan accordingly, and know what will happen once the show closes, AND you pass that information on to your onsite team, the move-out and shipping can go smoothly.
By: Dan Weitendorf
