An industrial sewing machine from Supra Sewing ships assembled and tested, on a wooden pallet, with liftgate service included for homes and businesses. Freight is free with no minimum to 35 states and DC, and a flat $150 to the West, Maine and Puerto Rico. Here is what happens between your order and your curb.
The whole process in two minutes and ten seconds: watch the video.
The problem
Why do some stores add a liftgate fee at checkout?
An industrial machine does not travel by parcel. It travels as LTL freight, which means it shares a truck with other shipments and is billed by the freight carrier, not by the post office. Freight carriers price the basic trip from dock to dock, and everything beyond that is an extra service on its own line. A truck that has to lower the pallet with a hydraulic lift is one extra. A delivery to a home instead of a business is another. That is why a machine listed at a good price can come out much higher at the last step of checkout: the extras were always there, they were just not in the listing. Some sellers add one more surprise and ship the head, the table and the stand as separate boxes for you to put together. The rest of this guide is how we handle each of those, and what you should expect at your curb.
Step 1
The machine is built before it ships
Machines arrive from the factory in boxes: a head in one, a table top in another, the stand and motor in a third. We do not forward that kit to you. Our assembly team builds the complete machine, with the stand bolted up, the table mounted, the motor fitted and wired, and the head set in place, exactly the way it will sit in your shop. If you ordered an accessory with it, such as a speed reducer, it is installed and adjusted at the same time rather than packed loose in the box. The point is simple. The first time the machine is assembled should not be on your floor, with a manual in one hand and a wrench in the other, and with no way to tell whether a problem came from the factory or from the assembly.
Step 2
Inspected, sew-tested and set up for your work
Once it is built, the machine goes to our technicians. They inspect it, lubricate it, adjust it and sew with it before it leaves the warehouse, so a timing or tension problem is found in Miami and not in your shop. There is one more thing worth knowing at this stage: tell us what you will be sewing. A machine that will spend its life on heavy leather for bags and belts is set up differently from one that will sew canvas or vinyl. If you mention it in your order notes or on the phone, the technicians set the machine up for that work instead of for a generic test fabric. It costs nothing and it is the single easiest way to get a machine that sews well on day one.
Step 3
Why a wooden pallet instead of a box?
A cardboard box is handled like a parcel. It gets tossed, stacked and dropped, and a machine inside it shows up dented or knocked out of adjustment. Our packing team secures the assembled machine to a wooden pallet instead, which a forklift moves and which keeps the machine upright the whole way. On our basic models, the head comes off and is packed separately on the same pallet, so nothing gets knocked out of place in transit. Putting it back is a short job, and we send you a video of the final setup so you can see exactly how it goes. Higher models travel fully assembled. Either way, you receive one pallet, not a stack of boxes to sort through.
Step 4
Do I pay for liftgate delivery?
No. An LTL freight carrier brings the pallet to your address, and liftgate service is included at no charge. For a home, the driver lowers the pallet to ground level at your curb. For a business without a loading dock, liftgate is included too; mention that you have no dock in your order notes or by phone so we book the right truck. A business with a dock receives the pallet at the dock. There is no residential fee either. Two things are worth knowing in advance. Freight delivery is curbside, so the carrier is not obliged to bring the pallet inside, up stairs or into a garage. And residential deliveries are booked by appointment: the carrier calls you to set a delivery window, and someone needs to be there to receive it. The full details are in our shipping policy.
The lookup
How much does freight cost to my state?
To most of the country, freight on an industrial machine is free on every order, with no minimum. The West, Maine and Puerto Rico are our longest and most expensive routes, so they carry a flat rate, and that rate disappears once the order reaches three thousand dollars. Find your state below.
| Where | States | Freight to your curb |
|---|---|---|
| Most of the U.S. | AL, AR, CT, DE, DC, FL, GA, IL, IN, IA, KS, KY, LA, MD, MA, MI, MN, MS, MO, NE, NH, NJ, NM, NY, NC, OH, OK, PA, RI, SC, TN, TX, VT, VA, WV, WI | Free on every order, no minimum |
| West, Maine, Puerto Rico | AZ, CA, CO, ID, ME, MT, NV, ND, OR, PR, SD, UT, WA, WY | Flat $150; free on orders of 3,000 USD or more |
| Alaska, Hawaii | AK, HI | Quoted by phone: (954) 681-3894 |
| Florida | FL | Free; for many orders our own team delivers it assembled, right inside |
Florida is the one exception to curbside delivery. For many orders there, from the Keys to Orlando, our own team brings the machine fully assembled and places it inside, on the ground floor, instead of leaving a pallet at the curb.
Common mistake: signing first, checking later
The driver hands you the Bill of Lading (BOL) and it is tempting to sign it straight away and open everything once the truck has gone. Do it the other way round. Inspect the pallet before you sign. If you see damage, write it on the BOL and take photos while the driver is still there. A clean signature tells the carrier the shipment arrived in good condition, and that makes any later claim much harder to support.
After delivery
What happens once the machine arrives?
If your model shipped with the head packed separately, start with the setup video we sent and put it back first. Then thread it, plug it in and sew a few test seams on the material you told us about. If anything feels off, you are not on your own: real technicians are a phone call or a WhatsApp message away, and the same team gives free advice before you buy, which is the best time to ask which machine actually fits your work. Keeping the machine sewing well from there is mostly routine oiling and cleaning; our maintenance schedule lays out what to do daily, weekly and yearly.
Talk to a specialist
Shipping to Alaska or Hawaii, to a second-floor shop, or down a street a truck cannot easily reach? Tell us where the machine is going and we will tell you exactly how it will arrive. Write to contact@suprasewing.com or call (954) 681-3894.