Grocery, Food & Beverage Logistics

Grocery, Food & Beverage Logistics

At Estes, we understand the unique demands of grocery, food, and beverage logistics and how important it is to your business and your bottom line to meet your consignees’ strict delivery expectations.

That’s why we’ve leveraged over nine decades of LTL freight shipping expertise to build a grocery solution around what matters most: reliable and streamlined service, predictable costs, real-time visibility, and established consignee relationships.

And because our grocery solution is powered by our vast network of 300+ service centers, nearly 7,000 next-day lanes, and extensive resources, you can count on us to meet even the tightest delivery windows with ease.

When you ship your grocery freight with Estes, you’re choosing a carrier with:

  • Preferred Carrier Status: Our trusted partnerships with leading grocery consignees offer advantages like greater familiarity with receiving processes, express or priority doors, and preferred unloading — helping reduce delays, improve compliance, and prevent chargebacks
  • Time Critical Guaranteed: Our best-in-class service provides greater peace of mind by guaranteeing on-time pickups, appointments, deliveries, and damage-free shipments
  • Drop Trailer Agreements: Estes' consistent, high-volume deliveries to grocery consignees enables us to drop trailers when possible, helping streamline receiving, minimize handling, and reduce detention and other accessorial fees
  • All-Inclusive Accessorial Fee: We offer one flat rate that covers common grocery accessorial charges like appointments, detention, storage, lumpers, palletizing, etc. — so you know what to expect
  • Shipment Performance Visibility: From pickup through delivery, My Estes shipping tools make it easy to track your shipment, while our Appointment Research Tool provides the detailed records you need to verify performance and protect your business from chargebacks

Explore the tabs below to learn more about our grocery, food, and beverage logistics service — or contact us today at grocery@estes-express.com.

Time Critical Guaranteed Service

When your consignees want assurance that their shipments will arrive on time and as promised, Estes can provide them the peace of mind they need.

Our Time Critical Guaranteed (TCG) service is designed for deliveries where timing, shipment quality, and delivery execution are critical. It offers 24/7/365 freight monitoring and customer support, robust coverage throughout the U.S. and Canada, and more standard benefits than you’ll find with any other carrier:

  • Guaranteed on-time pickups
  • Guaranteed on-time appointments
  • Guaranteed on-time delivery
  • Guaranteed damage-free shipments

And should you ever incur a qualifying chargeback fee resulting from a missed appointment, our TCG service offers a financial guarantee of up to the total freight charges.

Our 99.4% success rate in meeting all Time Critical guarantees for shipments to grocery warehouses can also help you rest easy knowing that your grocery freight is in safe, reliable hands.

For more information on our TCG service, contact us at timecritical@estes-express.com or 1-800-645-3952.

At Estes, we take the guesswork out of grocery pickup and delivery costs. Our all-inclusive grocery accessorial fee makes it easy to quote with confidence, protect your margins, and keep your inventory moving — without hidden charges or billing surprises.

How it works:

  • Contact your account manager to get our grocery accessorial (GROC) added to your account’s pricing
    • The accessorial fee is $4.50 per 100 lbs. with a $90 minimum and $850 maximum per shipment
  • When requesting a rate quote in My Estes, select the GROC accessorial only
  • Ship your freight to a grocery warehouse
  • Receive an invoice that matches your quote — one flat accessorial fee, no extra charges

What's covered in our GROC accessorial fee:

  • Delivery appointments
  • Evening, weekend, and after-hours deliveries
  • Detention at the consignee or if our truck is delayed
  • Early storage of undelivered freight at the destination terminal
  • Labor or lumper services related to unloading freight
  • Assembly, packing, unpacking, dismantling, inspecting, sorting, and segregating freight

For additional details, please see Item 750-80 in the Estes Rules Tariff.

Take the surprises out of grocery shipping. Contact us today to get started with our all-inclusive grocery accessorial.

When delivery windows are tight, your business can’t afford uncertainty. That’s why we’ve designed our Appointment Research Tool to give you clear, time-stamped visibility into every key milestone of your shipment — from appointment scheduling to delivery — so you can confidently verify performance, reduce costly chargebacks, and protect your business.

Use our Appointment Research Tool to view and access:

  • Appointment milestones: Confirm when your appointment was scheduled and completed
  • Transit milestones: Review pickup, arrival, and delivery timelines
  • Research results: Download key appointment details as a spreadsheet
  • Appointment Research Certificate: Export shipment, appointment, and delivery details as an image
  • Appointment Confirmation: Access documentation from the appointment scheduling process as an image

Check our Appointment Research Tool page to learn more or log into My Estes to get started.