There is a well-known phrase “buy cheap, pay dear” which highlights the risks when you focus solely on the price for any service or activity. In these days where every customer, and every supplier is online, and a whole world of opportunities await, it’s all too tempting to trawl the internet for the cheapest possible prices and bask in the glow and management praise for the money you have saved. However…
There is always a risk that when you cut corners, it will end up costing you more, further down the line. The cost may not always be entirely a financial cost (although this is frequently a large portion of it), the stress and inconvenience when things don’t go to plan are also a ‘cost’ emotionally, which may be hard to qualify in monetary terms, but that does not make them any less of a cost to the individuals involved. Obviously in today’s business climate and with ever increasing costs, keeping an eye on your budget is not only recommended but downright essential, but we believe that this should not be an all-consuming drive for your business – especially when it comes to your events such as exhibitions and conferences.
There follows a story that from some years ago, which hopefully will act as a warning to anyone seeking to reduce cost at all costs!
The DIYer…
We provided a quote for a potential customer for a specialist art delivery and installation, involving some very large, very delicate pieces of art, to a city centre location for a large International Art Fair. On receiving the quote the client informed us that they could “do it themselves for a lot less”…bold words indeed.
The set-up day of the fair arrives, and we are unloading, unpacking and installing numerous other pieces for other customers, all going smoothly. As we are experienced at this, we ensured our driver arrived at the correct time, had the correct equipment for unloading, we already know the venue so knew which pieces would fit into the lifts and any other special arrangements that were needed on the day and so on.
Then we encountered the “DIY” client….they had opted for the ‘cheaper option’ of renting a cheap Transit van by the hour and were going to do the transporting, unloading and installation themselves. They had been up at the crack of dawn, loading their rusty old van since 4am, before the long drive to the city, unfortunately being unfamiliar with the city in question, they had missed their time slot which mean they would have to wait for an available slot to become clear so needed to find somewhere to park the van until then. In an unfamiliar city centre. With a large International Fair just about to begin. This is not the easiest of tasks, as you can imagine.
Eventually they had a 1 hour delivery slot allocated and they were able to unload. Being artists, and not logisticians, they had no equipment to aid unloading or transporting, so they had to manually unload the van. Once empty, one of them had to drive the van away to the holding area which takes a fair amount of time to achieve, leaving one person to move a significant amount of large, heavy art to their stand. With the next delivery already unloading behind them, you can only imagine the amount of stress they are under by now. But their ordeal is still not yet over. Once their artwork is installed, they now are faced with a mountain of packaging that the must remove and store somewhere so they can return it at the end of the show to repack all their artworks. With some assistance from others, including our own team who had completed all their installations, they were eventually set up ready for the show.
But did they save anything in the end? Unlikely, and what of cost to themselves? The biggest exhibition of your life and you are too exhausted to partake fully. On this occasion they were very fortunate that they did not break any items, that there were others around willing to help, that their rusty van didn’t give up the ghost on the Motorway – it could have been so much worse. But they got a good deal on the van though, right?
Our expert team can handle every aspect of your delivery through professional packing, shipping, delivery & unloading, installation, removal and storage of packing materials, repacking at the end of the show and all of the return logistics. Meaning you can simply walk into your completed display, or stand, on the opening day.
Packed, delivered & installed…
What is that kind of peace of mind worth to you? What price would you put on your event running smoothly and to plan with no last-minute panics?
All of the above applies equally to exhibition and conference stands, we can take care of all the delivery charges, specific delivery timings, unpacking, building, installation & connection for services, removal of packaging materials and return it at the end of the show, the breakdown & return shipping.
Contact us today for a quick quote for your next event, whatever it may be, and you can be assured that we will ensure that it runs smoothly, to schedule and you will receive the dedicated assistance from our team of logistics experts.
UK/EUROPE: Tel: +44 203 780 0666 email: info@ebiss.co.uk
USA: Tel: +1 815 516 5084 email: info@ebiss-usa.com
Exhibitions | Conferences | Art Shipping | Freight Forwarding
