5.0 Receive-Ready Trailers
DDC Routing & Shipping Guide
- DDC Home Page
- 0.0 General Information
- 1.0 Best Buy Receive-Ready
- 2.0 Receive-Ready Items (SKUs)
- 3.0 Receive-Ready Cartons
- 4.0 Receive-Ready Pallets/Bundles
- 5.0 Receive-Ready Trailers
- 6.0 Receive-Ready Documents
- 7.0 Receive-Ready Appointment (Scheduling)
- 8.0 Collect Vendor Routing & Shipping
- 9.0 Collect Carrier Tender and Shipping
- 10.0 Terms and Definitions
5.0 Receive-Ready Trailers
5.1 Trailer Requirements – Truckload (TL) and Less‐than‐Truckload (LTL)
- Applicable to Truckload and LTL.
- Truckload (TL) = A loaded, over-the-road (or intermodal) trailer that retains an intact shipper-applied seal all the way through arrival inspection at the Best Buy Guard House.
- Less-than-truckload (LTL) = Mode of transport that runs on a “hub and spoke” operational network of interconnected of terminals (as well as long-and-short haul trailers) meant to transport small freight.
- Only Best Buy compliant trailers will be accepted. Trailers must be either Dry Vans or Containers of standard length. Refrigerated, Lowboy, Flatbed, Conestoga, Lift-Gate, or any other trailer types are not compliant and will be refused.
- For both TL and LTL, trailers must be in good structural condition and meet the following qualifications:
- Swing doors or Rollup doors (No lift-gates)
- ICC Bumper Bar
- Trailer cannot contain a pintle hook (also known as a tow or pintle hitch), or anything that will obstruct dock locks from appropriately engaging the ICC bumper.
- Inside trailer height must be at least 100 inches
- Trailer bed floor must be:
- Between 46-to-52 inches high (from the ground).
- Free of debris, damage, and no protruding nails.
- Other than product classified as ORM-D, no hazardous material should be on a delivering trailer.
5.2 "Receive-Ready" Trailer-Loading
- Do not ship loose floor-loaded product.
- Shipping configuration must be either palletized or approved bundles. [Reference 4.0]
5.2.1 Product Order
- At the tail-end of the trailer, destination (and if multi-stop delivery order) specific product must be immediately accessible for unload. If other product breaks up the continuous (destination-specific) product order, any nonaccessible product (discontinuous in order, or non-like destination top-stacking) is present, Best Buy may consider the remainder of the trailer’s contents unfit for receiving, potentially resulting in documented shortage.
- Avoid stacking non-like-PO product on top of each other.
- From the tail-end and up through the nose-end of the trailer, product adjacencies need to be in-order grouped:
- First by Like-Logistical Unit (Pallets vs. Floor-loaded Bundles). If trailer is to be loaded with a mix of logistical units, load palletized product in the nose-end of the trailer and afterwards load floor-loaded bundles.
- Next by Like-PO (Purchase Order) Number.
- Lastly by Like-Model/UPC.
- The two trailer-loading examples below have proper product adjacencies.
5.2.2 On-Trailer Location of Documents
- When building Truckload trailers, and if packing slips are not at the pallet-level, Packing Slips (and applicable
documentation) must be immediately visible at the tail-end of the trailer, with the following trailer-loading
methodology:
- When shipping via LTL, vendors/shippers should position all Packing Slips, at least one of the Shipping Labels, and any applicable “Mixed Pallet” placards along one of the short (40”) sides of each pallet.
- When building LTL trailers, the (pallet-level) Packing Slips side of each pallet should face towards the tail-end of the
trailer, with the following trailer-loading methodology:
5.2.3 Product Orientation & Spacing
- On each pallet (or individual floor-loaded logistical unit), at least one shipping label must face towards the tail-end.
- For floor-loaded and/or bundled product:
- Immediate no-touch/quick-clamp product orientation needs to exist all throughout the trailer.
- Wall-to-wall (left-to-right, and through the entire length of the trailer) loaded product must have a minimum of 3 inches of space. Without required space, undue risk of product damage and excessive labor/detention can result.
- For palletized product:
- Without need of repositioning, pallet-orientation must allow immediate forklift access for ease of offloading.
- Without this, safety risk to BBY employees (manual repositioning) and undue risk of product damage is incurred.
- Shipments may not be separated vertically by dividers.
- Securement (such as load straps, airbags, etc.) should be made with considerations to mode of transit, navigating high-altitudes (ex: appropriateness of airbags), and specific product handling requirements. Nailing securement into the floor of a trailer is not permitted. Of note, Best Buy is not liable to return trailer securement back to vendors.
- Required vertical trailer clearance between the product and the top of the trailer:
- Swing Door Trailers = At least 4 inches of clearance. TVs shipments require 8 inches of clearance.
- Roll Door Trailers = At least 10 inches of clearance.
5.2.4 Prone versus Pistol Loading
- “Prone” loading is reserved only for refrigerators and should take place only when attempting to maximize trailer cube by top-stacking units. When doing so, proneloaded units must rest on the unit’s BACK-side and be perpendicular to the (long) length of the trailer (ex: BLUE units).
- “Pistol” loading, where units are parallel to the (long) length of the trailer is not allowed under any circumstance (ex: ORANGE units).
- Units resting directly on the surface of the trailer must remain upright and on the unit’s intended base.