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IBC TotesSan Francisco
Services · Getting it there

Four flatbeds, one liftgate truck, 250 miles of range

Containers are bulky, awkward and heavy, and freight is where most orders go wrong. We run our own trucks inside the Bay Area precisely so that the part most likely to fail is the part we control.
Flat $120 inside SFOwn fleet in the Bay AreaLiftgate availableBackhaul collection
Quote request

Book freight & local delivery

No phone tag — email only

One written channel for everything: quotes, bookings, freight and questions. A person reads every one of these.

Letters, spaces, hyphens and apostrophes only.
Letters, spaces, hyphens and apostrophes only.
We reply here, so it has to be an inbox you read. Disposable addresses are rejected.
US and Canada only — 10 digits. Extensions go in the message.
Filled in automatically from your postal code.
US ZIP (94124) or Canadian postal code (M5V 2T6).
Whole containers. No minimum order.

We only use these details to quote your job. No lists, no resale, no robocalls — we do not even own a phone line.

Delivery inside San Francisco is a flat $120 yard fee for up to eight totes. The wider nine-county Bay Area runs $180–$320 depending on distance and drop count, two to three days out. Beyond that we broker flatbed or LTL freight across California, Nevada and Oregon, typically two to five days. Liftgate service is available where you have no forklift.

Interior of a warehouse with IBC totes racked on shelving and stored on the floor in a range of colours and conditions
08Covered storage — food-grade stock never sits outside
The Bancroft Avenue reconditioning yard packed with IBC totes, with the Bay Bridge and the San Francisco skyline behind it
05The yard on a clear morning, with the city it supplies behind it
A wide view of an outdoor container yard with dozens of stacked IBC totes, trees and blue sky behind
04Stock is stacked by grade, not by arrival date
Pricing & detail

Freight guide

A 53 ft flatbed carries 40 totes single-stacked or 80 double-stacked empty. Full loads always beat per-unit pricing.
DestinationMethodLead timeTypical costNotes
San FranciscoOur flatbedNext business day$120 flat, up to 8 totesLiftgate +$60 if no forklift
Oakland, Berkeley, AlamedaOur flatbed1–2 days$180Bridge tolls included
San Jose, Fremont, HaywardOur flatbed2–3 days$240Scheduled twice weekly
Napa, Sonoma, PetalumaOur flatbed2–3 days$285Harvest season books out early
Sacramento, Stockton, ModestoOur flatbed2–4 days$320Weekly run, collection on return
Rest of CaliforniaBrokered flatbed / LTL3–5 daysQuotedPalletised and stretch-wrapped
Nevada & OregonBrokered flatbed4–7 daysQuotedFull-load pricing at 40+ units
Will-call at the yardYou collectSame dayFreeMon–Fri 7:00–4:30, Sat by appointment
Worth knowing

Before you book

Tell us about the dock

The single most common delivery failure is arriving to find no forklift and no liftgate booked. A 275 gallon tote weighs 125 lb empty and does not come off a flatbed by hand.

Stacking rules

Empty totes stack four high in transit. Full totes stack two high in transit and three static, and only on matched pallet types. We will not double-stack mixed pallets — it is how bottles get crushed.

Backhaul your empties

Roughly 71% of our outbound flatbed miles come back loaded with collected empties. Mention it when ordering and the round trip costs less than the one-way.
Before we start

What we need from you

Five answers. Supply them with the first email and the job is quoted and scheduled without a single round trip.

  1. The unloading arrangement

    Forklift, liftgate, or neither. This is the single most common avoidable failure and it is a one-line answer.

  2. Whether a 53 ft flatbed can reach you

    Turning radius, gate width, street width, overhead wires. San Francisco in particular has defeated experienced drivers.

  3. The delivery window, if there is one

    Shared docks in mixed-use developments frequently enforce them. Waiting time beyond thirty minutes is chargeable and neither of us enjoys it.

  4. Whether you have empties

    Mention them in the first email. Roughly 71% of our outbound miles come back loaded, and a round trip usually prices below a one-way.

  5. The liquid, if it ships filled

    Gross weight determines the vehicle and, at 2,418 lb per water-filled 275 gallon container, how many fit before we run out of legal weight rather than deck.

In scope

What is included

  • Our own flatbeds inside the nine Bay Area counties
  • Weekly own-fleet runs to Sacramento, Stockton, Modesto, Napa and Santa Rosa
  • Brokered flatbed and LTL beyond, booked and tracked by us rather than handed over
  • Straps over the cage top rail with edge protection, never over the bottle
  • Double-stacking of empties as standard, quad where the destination has clearance
  • Backhaul collection of empties on the return leg wherever the schedule allows
Not in scope

What we will not do

  • Guessing about your dock
  • Double-stacking mixed pallet types, at any price
  • Promising a lead time on a brokered lane that we cannot control

If it is not listed, ask

This is the standard scope, not a limit on what we will discuss. Most of the interesting work that leaves this yard started as somebody asking whether we could do something adjacent.
What you can hold us to

Turnaround, price and process

Indicative 2026 figures. Where a lane or a service level genuinely varies, the range is the range rather than the flattering end of it.

A 53 ft flatbed carries 40 empties single-stacked or 80 double-stacked. Full, weight limits you at 18–20 units depending on the liquid, long before deck space does.
DestinationMethodLead timeFreightNotes
San FranciscoOwn flatbedNext business day$120 flat, up to 8 totesLiftgate +$60; same-day +$95 before 10:00
Daly City, South SF, BrisbaneOwn flatbedNext business day$140Effectively the San Francisco schedule
Oakland, Berkeley, AlamedaOwn flatbed1–2 days$180Bridge tolls included, never itemised later
Richmond, San PabloOwn flatbed1–2 days$195Site inductions need a week for a first delivery
Hayward, San LeandroOwn flatbed, weekly2–3 days$210Combined loop with Fremont
San Jose, Fremont, San MateoOwn flatbed, twice weekly2–3 days$180 – $240Tuesday and Friday as standard
Napa, Sonoma, Santa RosaOwn flatbed, weekly2–3 days$285 – $300Harvest season books out by June
Sacramento, Stockton, ModestoOwn flatbed, weekly2–4 days$320 – $345Round trip; collection on the return leg
Rest of California, NV, ORBrokered flatbed / LTL3–7 daysQuotedFull-load pricing at 40+ units
Will-call at the yardYou collectSame dayFreeMon–Fri 7:00–4:30, Sat by appointment
Why people call

The problems this actually solves

"The truck arrived and we had no forklift"

The most expensive avoidable mistake in this business. Liftgate service is $60 and handles up to four containers at a time onto a level surface. We ask at quote time, every time, precisely because this is what goes wrong.

"Freight cost more than the containers"

On a small order at distance, it can. Three fixes: consolidate into one larger order, take a corridor window rather than a date, and give us empties to collect on the return leg. The third one frequently turns the freight line negative.

"Our last delivery arrived damaged"

LTL freight is handled at terminals — unloaded, sorted, reloaded, sometimes several times. Every touch is a chance for a tine to find a bottle. Above about forty units a dedicated flatbed is loaded once here and unloaded once with you, and it is usually cheaper as well as safer.
Paperwork

What you end up holding

Reused containers live or die on documentation. This is everything that leaves here with the job, and how long we keep our copy.

Any of these can be reissued free at any point inside the retention period. Several customers rely on us as their record of last resort, which is not what we designed it for but is a perfectly good use of it.
DocumentIssuedWe retainWhat it is for
Delivery note with unit numbersEvery delivery5 yearsReconciling what arrived against what was quoted
Bill of ladingBrokered freight5 yearsCarrier claims and tracking
Certificate of insuranceOn requestAnnualSite access and procurement onboarding
Collection noteBackhaul pickups5 yearsCredit against your account
Damage report with photographsIf anything arrives damaged5 yearsReplacement or credit within 48 hours
Rows of used caged IBC totes stacked two high on a concrete pad under an overcast sky
Stacked empties on the receiving pad, four high is the limit
Close view of IBC totes strapped in two tiers on a flatbed trailer, showing 275 gallon labels and ratchet straps
Two tiers of empties, ratcheted and edge-protected
Mixed-condition IBC totes in an outdoor yard under a blue sky, including one heavily stained amber unit
What arrives looks like this: clean, stained and finished, all on one pallet run
A blue tractor unit with a flatbed trailer loaded with strapped IBC totes beside a warehouse roller door
A flatbed loading out — strapped over the cage rail, never over the bottle
Questions

Freight & Local Delivery: FAQ

Do I need a forklift?

For a flatbed delivery, yes — or you book liftgate service for an extra $60, which handles up to four totes at a time on a hydraulic tail. Tell us at quote time. Arriving with a flatbed and no way to unload is the most expensive avoidable mistake in this business.

How many totes fit on a truck?

A 53 ft flatbed carries 40 empty totes single-stacked or 80 double-stacked. Full, you are limited by weight rather than space: 40 totes at 2,400 lb gross is 96,000 lb, so full loads ship at 18 to 20 units depending on the liquid.

Can you deliver to a residential address?

Yes, with liftgate service and a clear, level place to set the container down. Tell us about stairs, gates, narrow driveways and overhead wires in advance. San Francisco streets in particular have made fools of drivers who did not ask.

What about rush orders?

Same-day inside San Francisco is possible if the request lands before 10:00 AM and the stock is on the ground. It carries a $95 expedite fee. We will tell you honestly whether it is achievable rather than accepting and missing.

Why is a corridor window cheaper than a date?

Because a delivery that joins a scheduled run costs us a stop; one that requires its own trip costs us a truck and a driver for a day. We pass that difference on rather than averaging it across everybody. On a Sacramento or North Bay lane the gap is roughly $180.

How many containers fit on a truck?

A 53 ft flatbed carries 40 empty totes single-stacked or 80 double-stacked. Full, weight limits you first: at 2,418 lb gross for water you reach an 80,000 lb GVW around 18 to 20 units. This is why almost everybody ships empty and fills on site.

Can you deliver to a residential address?

Yes, with liftgate service and a clear, level place to set the container down. Tell us about stairs, gates, narrow driveways, driveway grade and overhead wires in advance. San Francisco and peninsula driveways in particular are frequently steeper than they photograph.

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