Delivery scheduling- How Does Joe Do It?

With so many customers and such a large delivery area, our delivery schedule changes from day-to-day and from hour-to-hour, based on firm orders placed by customers 24 hours per day.  It is impossible to predict if we will have an open time to deliver to you “this Saturday at 9am” because by the time that you actually place an order with us, the open time may be already filled.  We only schedule deliveries when we have firm orders.  Then (and only then) can we say what delivery days/times are available.  We can give you an idea how open our schedule is at the current time we email you back but as soon as we get another call or email from a customer confirming they want to place an order, the open time can be quickly filled.

At the busiest time of the season (February through July), we will confirm which day you want your delivery when you place an order (we will call you), noting your time preferences.  Then, the evening before (or the morning of) your scheduled delivery day, we will call you and give you a 2-4 hour window of time to expect delivery from us.  We work VERY hard to accommodate your schedule because we understand you may have to work around your job, childcare and other activities that fill up the day.

We have many deliveries every day and a 3-county delivery area to cover, so we have to schedule and determine the most efficient and effective routing for our drivers the day or evening before deliveries.  This translates into cost savings, increased competitiveness and lower prices for our customers.  Yahoo for you!  

When you Place An Order by emailing us, try to give us as much lead time as possible before you need the material and provide us with as many delivery day and time options as possible.  We will call you and come up with a delivery time that works for both of us.  Remember you (or your designee) must be present for delivery.

Our Delivery Schedule

From February through July, our delivery schedule books up very quickly (and up to a week in advance) for deliveries on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  If it is a holiday week or weekend, our schedule books up even more quickly!  

Please don’t wait until the last minute to place an order for your materials.  Sometimes we can deliver to you on the same day that you order but other times we are booked solid for the next 2-3 days. 

The best thing to do is to order early, and be flexible with the delivery time.This is not pizza delivery here!  Our drivers make multiple deliveries daily and have a very large delivery area to navigate through, often with traffic congestion and other incidents that cause delays. 

This is why we typically give you a 2-4 hour window of time that you can expect your delivery. 

We also recommend that you have us deliver your landscaping materials the day before your laborers or other help is scheduled to do the work as our drivers have enough pressure on them without worrying about your help standing around waiting for them to arrive. 

Delivery hours

Delivery hours from February through September:7am-9pm M-F8am-6pm Sat.9am-6pm Sun. 

Delivery hours from October through January:7am-7pm M-F8am-4pm Sat.9am-3pm Sun. 

North King, Eastside & Snohomish County

Deliveries to these areas are generally made any day of the week during the delivery hours listed above. 

South King County and Pierce County

South King County (including Kent, Covington, Auburn, Maple Valley, Burien, Seatac, Des Moines, Federal Way) and Pierce County deliveries are typically made on Friday, Saturday or Sunday.  Other days are possible, depending on our schedule.  When you place an order, we can tell you what days we can deliver to you.  

How About Delivery on the weekend? 

A lot of our customers want a delivery on the weekend because they have the days off from work or have help with moving the material on those days.  For deliveries on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, we will call you the night before (by 9pm) to let you know the approximate time to expect delivery.  If we can deliver to you during the time you request, great.  However, we schedule all deliveries on Friday, Saturday and Sunday to maximize the number of orders we can fill.  This means that you cannot be guaranteed a time you want.  Also, EVERYBODY wants their delivery Saturday morning about 9am.  That is not possible for all a but about 1 customer!  Please schedule your delivery the day BEFORE you have help or laborers planning to move it.

When we call you, we’ll give you a 2-4 hour window of time to expect delivery from us.  This may mean that you get a delivery by 8am that morning or at another time during the day.  The 2-4 hour window of time is not how much time we set aside in the day for your delivery.  It is just our best guess on what time we will arrive at your address.  It is not based on how much we like you, but instead, it is based on the most efficient and effective routing for our dump trucks, given that they have multiple deliveries to make and must cover a 3-county delivery area.  We try to incorporate your desired delivery time as much as possible, also considering how early you placed your order with us.

For a Friday, Saturday or Sunday delivery, we will call you by 9pm the evening before and give you a 2-4 hour window of time to expect our arrival (see the general delivery hours listed above).  

If we are unable to reach you or you do not get ahold of us 9pm, your delivery may be cancelled or rescheduled (there are extra fees associated with this).  

Please call us at 877-563-2275 if you do not hear from us by 9pm the evening before. Click here for our cancellation or rescheduling policy. 

Weekends

Due to availability, some landscaping materials may cost more when delivered on the weekend.  In addition, some materials are only available for delivery Monday through Friday.  Don’t worry though, when you Get A Quote from us by filling out our form, we will inform you of the price and availability of your product on weekends or you can just ask us.  

E-mail Carina, our Quote Specialist directly at: carina@877joebark.com

Ready to Order?

Once you want to Place an Order, just let us know your availability for delivery, giving us as many delivery options (days/times) as possible.   Remember that the more flexible and available you are, the sooner we will be able to deliver your material to you. We will then call you at the phone numbers you have provided to us and set up a date/time for delivery and book you…..and that’s it! 

About the Delivery Dump Trucks

All of our dump trucks require at least 10′ of clearance width and up to 18 feet of height.  The trucks are 20′-25′ long.  Our mirrors and other objects are non-moveable (they do not fold in) so the 10′ width requirement is not negotiable!  We also do not want shrubs, branches and bushes scratching the paint on the truck, or damaging our tarp system.  You will be charged for any damages that occur. 


When the dump boxes are dumped, they extend 14′-18′ in the air (depending on the truck), making wires and tree branches dangerous and damaging obstructions.    Make sure that low hanging branches or wires will not be dangerous, damaging or life threatening by having them clipped, trimmed, cut down (or in the case of low hanging wires find an alternate location for dumping your materials before we arrive).   You should have an alternate location picked out where you know our truck can fit and where we can dump your materials just in case our truck cannot fit into the space you originally planned.


Once we arrive at your address, you will be charged for the products in the truck + delivery, regardless if you have a place to dump them or if we can fit into the space you have provided.Joe’s Landscaping Supplies is not responsible for cracked or broken curbs, sidewalks, driveways, damage to vegetation, grass, fencing, building structures, underground septic systems, sprinklers systems, drainage pipes, or anything for that matter.  Even if  the driver agrees to deliver on private property or inside the curb line, YOU are still responsible for any damages.  This includes damages to our equipment, dump truck, towing expenses, and lost use charges.  See the section “Preparing for a Delivery” below that explains this in more detail or go to the “Terms of Agreement” page on this website. 

“Joemama” the dump truck below, weighs 28,500 lbs empty and when fully loaded (depending on the product) weighs 30,000-56,000lbs.



“Joe Jr.”, the dump truck below, weighs 14,300 lbs empty and when fully loaded (depending on the product) weighs 20,000-40,000lbs.  


  “Babyjoe” and “Baby Josie” (Josie not pictured below), weigh about 10,400 lbs empty and when fully loaded (depending on the product) weighs 12,000-22,000lbs.

 
 

Use of Dump Truck

Deliveries requiring frequent dumps, moves and/or positioning of the delivery dump truck in order to dump the materials may be assessed a $10 charge after 10 minutes at the delivery address.We are glad to help you out and make your life easier by dumping your materials where you want, and how you want, but we only have a limited amount of time to do so.  Thanks for your understanding.

Split Loads

We can put two different materials in the same truck load if you only need up to 2 yards of each.  However, we don’t have any sort of barrier in the truck to prevent them from getting mixed up.  Generally, we recommend against this, but if you want we can do it.  These are the guidelines for a split load:

  • There can be a maximum of 2 different materials in the truck
  • There can be a maximum of 2 yards of each material.  1 yard of each material is preferred in this circumstance.
  • You understand that the two materials can get mixed up a little where they touch in the middle of the truck and in the process of dumping the material out on the ground.
  • We include a $10-35 split load charge to account for the labor and time involved with handling two materials and trying to keep the materials separated as much as possible in the back of the dump truck. 
  • When the two materials are dumped out, they will be in one pile.
  • This does save you an additional delivery charge (if you were to have the materials delivered separately).

Sharing A Load With Your Neighbor

We can bring you bark, topsoil, rock or other materials that we sell and you can share the load with your neighbor.  Just remember:

There is an additional charge of $10-$35 for each dump spot that is not your address

Your neighbor must be on the same block or within 1 block of your delivery address

The total of the bill must be paid by the original customer who ordered (you)

Additional delivery charges apply if your neighbor is farther than 1 block

We cannot guarantee how much material comes out of the dump truck at each location.  For instance, you order 10 yards of bark.  You want 6 yards and your neighbor wants 4 yards.  We can do our best to stop the dumping process when we think 6 yards have fallen out, but the material is gravity dumped and very hard to just cut off immediately. 

Preparing for a Delivery

Dump Truck

If the area is accessible by a large dump truck, we will dump the materials wherever you want.  However, we are not responsible (you are) for any damage or the need for towing of our dump truck as a result of delivering inside the curbline or on private property. Any damage to private property, Joe’s Landscaping supplie’s dump truck or other equipment incurred due to delivery inside the curb line and/or on private property shall be the sole responsibility of the customer. Our dump trucks can weigh 22,000-56,000 lbs. when fully loaded (depending on the material).  Joe’s Landscaping Supplies is not responsible for cracked or broken curbs, sidewalks, driveways, damage to vegetation, grass, fencing, building structures, underground septic systems, sprinklers systems, drainage pipes, or anything for that matter.  Even if the driver agrees to deliver on private property or inside the curb line, YOU are still responsible for any damages.  This includes damages to our equipment, dump truck, towing expenses, and lost use charges. 

Towing or Other Damage

Surprisingly, dump trucks get stuck very easily on soft, wet surfaces and ground that is not level.  You will be liable for all towing charges and damages that result from deliveries within the curbline or on private property. Dump truck towing is expensive.  The tow truck operator will charge you $165/hour beginning from when the tow truck is dispatched until the towing is complete.  We will charge you $90/hour beginning after 10 minutes at your address for the lost use of our truck (maximum $500 per day). Our time is Precious We want to emphasize to you that time is extremely precious to us, both from a business standpoint and the personal standpoint for our drivers.  Customers who are not present at the delivery address when the delivery driver arrives (requiring the driver to wait) or if the driver must wait to receive payment from you, will be assessed an automatic $10 charge. 

After 10 minutes at the delivery address, a $90 per hour standby charge applies..  This charge will be applied directly to the invoice at the time. See below the “Things to do BEFORE the dump truck arrives” to help you to stay under the 10 minute limit.Please be respectful of our time and the time of our other customers.  If you cause a delay, you are delaying deliveries or possibly excluding deliveries to customers scheduled after you.  If we arrive at the delivery address and cannot make contact with you within 15 minutes, the driver will return to our yard where an 85% restocking charge will apply to the materials you ordered.  A $100 delivery charge will also apply.  In addition, if the order is canceled, a $75 cancellation fee will apply.

Things to do BEFORE the dump truck arrives:

Shrubbery can be a deal breaker.  We need at least 10 feet of width or we will end up damaging your shrubs, scratching our truck and damaging our mirrors, all of which we do not want to do!  We will charge you for damages to our truck.  Make sure that low hanging branches or wires will not be dangerous, damaging or life threatening by having them clipped, trimmed, or cut down.  In the case of low hanging wires, find an alternate location that we can dump your materials.  The truck is 10 feet tall and when the dump box is raised, it is 16 feet tall.

Prepare the area where your material will be dumped and/or place tarps down, before we arrive. The space needed will depend on how many yards of material you order or (for 1-Man Rock) how many tons of rock you order.  For most deliveries, you should plan on the material taking up a space about 12′ wide and 8′-10′ long and 3′-4′ high.  This is about the space of a full sized car (but maybe a few feet wider).

Move your vehicles (ask neighbors to move theirs too) out of the way before we arrive.  This includes vehicles that may be parked across the street from you so that the dump truck can back into your driveway or property where you want the materials dumped.

Move garbage cans or other debris and belongings out of the way so the delivery driver has a clear pathway to where your material will be dumped.

If you are paying by check, have it with you and filled out as much as possible (if you do not know the exact amount of the total).  Make checks payable to Joe’s Landscaping Supplies.  For more payment information, see the Payment page.

Be on the lookout for us

Keep an eye out for us.  If you can be outside, flag us down on the street so we can easily find you.  Sometimes, house numbers can be hard to see or find (especially at night) but a friendly customer waiving in front of us is hard to miss!  If it is dark out, turn lots of house lights on and make sure that your house number shows up well. 

Kids

We know that kids LOVE to watch us as we dump material from the truck but please keep them at a safe distance (20-25 feet away at all times) or better yet, inside looking out from a window.  When our drivers are backing up, there is nothing worse than to have kids running around (and not knowing where they are).

Delivery of Rock Products (including 1-Man Rock)

So that you don’t fill out a check based on the amount of the quote that you received, please be aware that delivered amounts may vary +/- .75 yards or +/- 1 ton according to how much is actually loaded into the dump truck.  When you receive the bill from the driver, the bill will reflect the exact amount of yards (or tons for 1-Man Rock) that are in the truck which may be a little different than the amount you ordered.
 
For example, you order 6 yards of 5/8″ Minus Crushed Rock to be delivered from Joe’s Landscaping Supplies.  When we load it into the dump truck, the truck may end up with slighlty more or less than 6 yards due to the large size of our loader bucket and the difficulty to measure exact amounts.  Because of this, you may get exactly 6 yards or 6.4 yards or even 5.8 yards.  At the time of delivery, we will adjust your invoice to reflect the actual and exact amount you received and you will pay for that amount.  We know exactly how much has been loaded into the truck based on the weight of the truck after we have loaded it.