Depot Collection

Some customers would rather drive to the depot.

For a pallet of tiles, a squat rack or a three-seater lounge, home delivery is the expensive option — and sometimes the impossible one. Fare Freight adds depot collection as a third delivery type at checkout, priced live alongside residential and business delivery, with the customer’s nearest depot named on the option itself.

14-day free trial · 1:1 setup included · Depot collection is currently supported on NFM connections

Delivery options at checkout
SYD → 6725
Residential Address
$148.20
Direct delivery to the door, during business hours.
Business Address (with forklift)
$96.40
Lower rate where there’s a dock or a forklift on site.
Depot Collection
$61.75
MINYIRR · 6725 · 104.85 km from the delivery address. Collect when it suits.
One 93.7 kg item. The depot option is quoted live, like the other two.

The customer knows the suburb, the postcode and the drive before they decide — not after they’ve paid.

Delivery types at checkout

Residential AddressBusiness Address (with forklift)
Business Address (without forklift)Depot Collection

Why it mattersDoor delivery isn’t always the one they want.

Home delivery is the dear one

Residential delivery of something large costs more than the same freight moving between depots. When door delivery is the only choice on the page, that is the number every customer is asked to accept.

Sometimes the truck simply can’t

A narrow street, a steep drive, nobody home during business hours, or an item one person cannot take off the back of a truck. The customer works that out at checkout and closes the tab.

Pickup usually happens by email

Plenty of merchants will arrange a depot pickup if you ring and ask. Almost none of them offer it at the checkout, with a price, at the moment the customer is deciding.

How it worksThree things to set up, then it sits at checkout like any other option.

01 Add your depots

The app has full depot management. Create each depot with its name, company, full street address, contact person, email, phone and depot code — so the location is a proper record, not a note typed into an order.

02 Turn it on and write what the customer reads

Depot Collection is one of the rate options in Settings, next to residential and business address. Both the rate name and the customer-facing description are yours to edit. The description it ships with is: “Enjoy the flexibility of picking up your item from the nearest depot at a time that suits you best. Pickup details will be provided after your order is placed.”

03 The customer sees their depot, not a vague promise

The option shows the depot suburb, its postcode and how far away it is. The customer knows where they’d be driving before they choose it, and the rate they see is quoted live for that option.

The option, as it comes through
live order data
Depot Collection (Flexible Pickup) (MINYIRR, 6725, 104.85 km)
OptionDepot Collection
Depot suburbMINYIRR
Postcode6725
Distance104.85 km
Suburb, postcode and distance are carried on the option itself, so the customer never chooses it blind.

Pickup arrangements are confirmed after the order is placed — which is exactly what the shipped description tells the customer.

At the checkoutThree ways to receive the same freight.

Each option is switched on or off in Settings, each has an “always show” setting, and each carries the name and description you wrote for it.

What the customer sees What they get
Residential Address (Direct Delivery) Delivered to the door during standard business hours, with someone there to take it.
Business Address (With Forklift) (Cost-Effective) The economical option where there’s a dock or a forklift on site to take it off the truck.
Depot Collection (Flexible Pickup) Their nearest depot — named, with the postcode and the distance — collected at a time that suits them.

The detailsA real address type, not a discount code.

It sits alongside the others

Depot collection is a delivery type in its own right, next to Residential Address and Business Address with or without a forklift. It isn’t a coupon, a note in the cart or a line in your shipping policy.

Your checkout says what you want it to say

Rate names and descriptions are editable across every option. If your customers call it a depot, a terminal or a freight yard, the checkout can call it that too.

The depot record carries the contact details

When somebody rings to arrange a collection time, the details are already in the system rather than in someone’s inbox.

Name · Company · Street address · Contact person · Email · Phone · Depot code

It follows the order through to shipping

Depot is one of the per-order toggles on the bulk shipping screen, next to authority to leave, residential, tailgate and hand unload — so the way the order was quoted is the way it gets consigned.

Worth saying plainly

Depot collection is currently supported on NFM connections. You bring your own carrier and broker accounts and connect them through one screen; new carrier connections are added on request, and custom carrier integration is available.

Who it’s forStores where the freight is the hard part.

Heavy, bulky or palletised goods

Furniture, gym equipment, building materials, 4×4 parts, appliances, spas, generators. The bigger the item, the wider the gap between depot and door — and the more often the customer would happily take the drive.

Selling beyond your own city

Regional and interstate orders are where door delivery gets awkward and dear. Offering a nearby depot keeps those orders alive instead of ending them at the shipping step.

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Common questionsThe fair questions.

If yours isn’t here, ask it on a call. Fifteen minutes, no prep needed.

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Does everyone have to collect from a depot now?

No. It is an extra option, not a replacement. Residential and business delivery keep working exactly as they do, and the customer picks whichever suits them at checkout. If you would rather not offer it at all, leave it switched off.

How does the customer find out where to go and when?

The option itself names the depot suburb, postcode and distance, so nobody chooses it blind. The pickup arrangements are confirmed after the order is placed — that is what the default description tells them — and the depot’s contact person, phone and email are already stored against the depot record.

Can I change the wording?

Yes. The rate name and the description a customer reads at checkout are both editable in Settings, for depot collection and for every other delivery option.

Which carrier does the depot part?

Depot collection is currently supported on NFM connections. Carriers here are connections rather than a fixed list — you bring the accounts you already hold, and new ones are added on request. If depot collection is the reason you’re looking, say so on the call and we’ll tell you straight whether your setup can do it.

What does it take to set up?

1:1 setup is included on every plan. Add the depots, switch the option on, edit the description if you want different words, and run one of your own heavy orders through it before a customer ever sees the rate.

See it on your own productsBring the postcode you dread.

Fifteen minutes. Bring a heavy item and a destination you struggle to deliver to, and we’ll show you what the checkout would offer — depot included.

14-day free trial · 1:1 setup included · Rated 5.0 on the Shopify App Store