Curbside delivery

A customer’s order is always associated with certain delivery conditions or terms of delivery. This question is important because different events can be defined as to when a delivery is deemed to have taken place and when it is not. Using the example of freight forwarding, it can be said that the so-called “curbside delivery”, in German “frei Bordsteinkante”, is the standard variant. The attribute “frei” means that the recipient does not bear any costs for the shipment – the sender assumes the task or liability. The case would be different if the delivery condition was named “unfrei Bordsteinkante” or “curbside not prepaid”. In this case, the recipient is liable to pay for the delivery.

In practice, this means that the carrier is only obliged to ensure delivery to the point where the sidewalk ends at the respective address or where the goods are unloaded. In the B2B sector, curbside delivery is the rule, whereas in the B2C sector an additional order would have to be placed if the goods are to be delivered to the actual place of use.

Advantages and disadvantages of curbside delivery

Local conditions vary greatly and so does the risk for a freight forwarder of having to spend a lot of time and effort to actually “deliver” goods due to a lack of information. Typically, therefore, curbside delivery is offered as standard and, if, for example, delivery to the front door or to the home is desired, the option of an additional agreement is offered.

The advantages of “curbside delivery”:

• Lower freight and transportation costs for the shipper
• From the seller’s point of view: transfer of risk to the buyer as soon as the goods have been unloaded undamaged

The disadvantages of “curbside delivery”:

• The buyer assumes the risk of damage from the curbside
• Need for the recipient to organize further transport independently
• In the case of voluntary onward transportation: No coverage under the transport insurance

Important: In the B2C segment, the “free delivery” option is the standard in normal business transactions. If curbside delivery is to be agreed, this must be expressly stated in the purchase or delivery contract.