Your supplier just called. The pallet is ready. The job site needs it by 2 p.m. tomorrow.

LTL freight can take several days on a run like that. Parcel carriers have size and weight limits that a pallet blows right past.

A pallet courier service fills the gap. A driver picks up your pallet in a truck with a power tailgate and drives it straight to the delivery address. It doesn’t stop at a terminal on the way.

City Wide Courier has been moving freight around Calgary and across Alberta since 1986. Here’s how a pallet job works from the first call to the signature at the door. You’ll also see what it costs in 2026 and how to book one without paying for extras you don’t need.

What pallet courier delivery is

A pallet courier service picks up one or more palletized shipments and delivers them straight to the receiver by road. Most jobs use a vehicle that carries only your load. You book by phone or online form and the driver is dispatched on your schedule.

Traditional freight works differently. Your pallet goes to a terminal and onto a long haul trailer. It passes through another terminal before a delivery truck brings it out. Every handoff adds time. Every handoff also gives a forklift another chance to find the corner of your shrink wrap.

A courier cuts those handoffs out. One driver and one truck, door to door.

Pallet courier vs LTL freight

For a lot of Alberta jobs the choice comes down to a courier or LTL. This table shows where each one fits.

Feature	Pallet courier	LTL freight
Handling	Same vehicle from pickup to delivery	Terminals and several trucks
Typical speed	Same day, next day or scheduled	Several days on most lanes
Best for	Local or urgent loads, 1 to 8 pallets	Long distance, non-urgent shipments
Pricing basis	Distance, vehicle and timing	Freight class, weight and distance
Damage risk	Fewer touches	More touches

LTL carriers price by freight class, which depends on density and commodity type. Couriers usually quote on distance, vehicle and timing instead. You skip the classification paperwork and the risk of a reclassification fee after pickup.

LTL wins on price when your freight is moving 1,000 km and nobody is waiting on it. A courier wins on anything local or urgent. I’d also pick a courier for awkward loads that a busy terminal forklift would struggle with.

Pallet courier vs parcel delivery

Parcel carriers cap weight and size. A pallet passes those caps fast.

If you’re shipping a few boxes, our parcel delivery service in Calgary costs less. If you have 10 boxes going to the same address, stacking them on one pallet usually cuts the handling and sometimes the price.

How a pallet courier service works, step by step

Every job follows the same path. Speed and distance change the details.

Tell us what you’re moving. Give us the pickup and delivery addresses, the number of pallets, the weight and the height. Mention whether either site has a loading dock.
Get a quote and confirm the vehicle. We pick the truck or van based on size and weight. The quote shows the price and the time window.
Dispatch. A driver gets assigned. On same-day jobs pickup usually happens within 30 to 60 minutes of your call.
Pickup and loading. The driver checks the pallet count, the wrap and the labels. The load then goes on the truck, using the power tailgate when there’s no dock.
Direct transit. The driver heads to the delivery address with your load only. If traffic or weather shifts the timing, dispatch lets you know.
Delivery and signature. The receiver signs and you get confirmation.

You don’t need an account for any of this. One-time customers pay by cash, Visa or Mastercard.

How long each option takes

Service	Pickup	Delivery
Same day	Usually 30 to 60 minutes after booking	Typically 2 to 3 hours, depending on distance
Next day	Scheduled for the same day	By the next morning
Hot shot	As soon as a dedicated vehicle is free	Straight to the destination with no other stops

Traffic and weather can move these numbers. Good dispatchers tell you when they do.

Speed options for pallet delivery

Speed is the biggest lever on price. Three options cover almost every job.

Same-day pallet delivery

Same-day suits job site parts and urgent customer orders. It also suits anything with a deadline today. Book before 3 p.m. when you can. Earlier bookings give dispatch room to match the right vehicle.

Our same-day courier service in Calgary covers the whole city and the surrounding communities.

Next-day and scheduled runs

If tomorrow works, tomorrow is cheaper. Scheduled runs also suit regular routes, like a weekly pallet from your warehouse to a retail location. Regular senders can ask about repeat pricing.

Hot shot pallet delivery

Hot shot means a dedicated vehicle carries only your pallets. It makes no other stops and shares no space. It’s the fastest option and the most expensive.

It’s also how pallets get from Calgary to Edmonton or Red Deer on a tight clock. Our hot shot delivery page covers the long runs. If you’re torn between hot shot and same-day, this breakdown of hot shot vs same-day delivery lays out the difference.

How much does pallet delivery cost?

Couriers rarely post pallet rates. We don’t either, because the same pallet can cost $90 on one route and $400 on another. These ranges are typical 2026 market prices for one standard pallet. Treat them as ballparks and get a real quote for your job.

Route	Typical price per pallet (before GST)
Within Calgary, next day or scheduled	$65 to $150
Within Calgary, same day	$90 to $220
Calgary to Airdrie, Cochrane or Chestermere	$140 to $300
Calgary to Okotoks, High River or Strathmore	$180 to $400
Calgary to Red Deer (about 150 km)	$300 to $550
Calgary to Edmonton (about 300 km)	$500 to $1,300

Extra pallets on the same trip usually cost much less than the first one. The truck and the driver are already there.

What moves the price

Vehicle. A cargo van costs less than a 5-ton truck. If you aren’t sure which one you need, the courier van size guide walks through it.
Distance and time. Short city runs often use zone pricing. Longer or dedicated runs use a per kilometre or hourly rate. Vans commonly land around $1.50 to $3 per km. Trucks cost more.
Weight and size. A 1,800 lb pallet is a different job than a 300 lb one. Tall loads can force a bigger vehicle.
Unloading method. A dock delivery is quick. A tailgate drop with nobody to help at the other end takes longer. Inside delivery takes longer still.
Waiting and extra stops. Drivers get a short grace period. After that, wait time is billed.
Fuel surcharges. Some national carriers posted fuel surcharges between 36 and 39 percent this fall. Local couriers vary. Some fold fuel into the rate while others list it as a line item, so ask which you’re getting.
After-hours work. Evenings, weekends and holidays often add 25 to 50 percent.

Our same day courier cost Calgary price guide goes deeper on surcharges and wait time. The same logic applies to pallets.

A worked example

Say a Calgary print shop sends 2 pallets of finished brochures from the northeast to a client in the southeast. The base price comes to $190 with fuel included. GST at 5 percent adds $9.50. The total is $199.50.

That’s an illustration and not a quote. Ask for the all-in number before you say yes.

GST on pallet delivery

Alberta has no provincial sales tax. Courier services carry 5 percent federal GST. If your business is GST registered you can usually claim it back as an input tax credit.

Pallet sizes, weights and what a courier can carry

The standard pallet in North America measures 48 by 40 inches. Most couriers and carriers build their loading around it. You’ll also see 42 by 42 inch pallets in paint and telecom. Euro pallets (1200 by 800 mm) turn up mostly in import freight.

A skid looks similar but has no bottom deck boards. Couriers move both. Pallets are easier for a pallet jack or forklift to handle.

Many freight carriers cap a single pallet somewhere between 1,500 and 2,500 lb. For a courier the real limit is the vehicle and the tailgate rating. Tell us the weight and height up front and we’ll match the right truck.

Choosing the right vehicle

The vehicle sets your base price before distance enters the picture. Here’s a rough guide.

Vehicle	Roughly how many standard pallets	Best for
Cargo van	1 to 3	Single pallets and sites with tight access
5-ton truck with power tailgate	6 to 10	Heavy loads, multiple pallets and sites with no dock

Capacity shifts with pallet height and box length. Confirm your count with dispatch.

A power lift tailgate is a hydraulic platform on the back of the truck. It lowers the pallet to the ground. That matters because plenty of Calgary job sites and small shops have no loading dock. Without a tailgate you’d be unloading by hand.

How to prepare a pallet for pickup

A well built pallet gets picked up faster and arrives in better shape. Six checks cover it.

Use a sound pallet. Skip any pallet with broken boards or nails sticking out.
Stack heavy items at the bottom. Keep everything inside the pallet edges. Overhang gets crushed against the truck wall.
Wrap from the base up. Use stretch film and wrap around the pallet itself so the load and the pallet act as one unit. Add straps on heavy loads.
Label two sides. Include the delivery address, a contact name and phone number, and the piece count. Remove old labels.
Weigh and measure it. Guessing is the fastest way to get a quote that changes at pickup.
Confirm access. Tell us about the dock, gate codes, stairs and who will meet the driver.

Drivers have rules to follow too. Alberta applies the National Safety Code cargo securement standard to commercial vehicles registered for or weighing more than 4,500 kg. A pallet that’s wrapped tight and stacked square makes that job easier.

Check the list of items you can’t send by courier before you book. Hazardous goods are the usual problem.

Where we deliver pallets in Alberta

We cover all four quadrants of Calgary plus Airdrie, Cochrane, Chestermere and Okotoks. Communities like Balzac, Crossfield, Beiseker and High River sit inside the same service area. Hot shot runs reach Edmonton, Red Deer, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat and Grande Prairie.

A few local timing tips help:

Avoid booking pickups into rush hour on Deerfoot Trail or Macleod Trail when you can.
Allow extra time during Stampede week and after a heavy snowfall.
Foothills and Balzac industrial sites often have dock access. Many smaller shops and job sites don’t.

When pallet courier is the right call

It fits when time or location rules out traditional freight. Typical users include:

Construction and trades crews who can’t afford to wait on a missing part or a pallet of materials.
Print and marketing shops sending finished jobs to clients on deadlines that don’t move.
Retailers and online stores restocking a second location or sending bulk orders.
Manufacturers and wholesalers shipping customer orders in small local batches.
Event and trade show teams that need booth materials in place before doors open.

If you send to many addresses, our local delivery service in Calgary guide shows what works for businesses of different sizes.

Pros and cons

Pros	Cons
Direct delivery with fewer touches	Costs more than LTL on long non-urgent lanes
Same-day and next-day options	Vehicle size limits very large shipments
No account needed	Rates vary by distance and vehicle
Power tailgate for sites with no dock	After-hours work costs extra

Mistakes that raise the bill

Guessing the weight. A pallet quoted at 400 lb that weighs 1,200 needs a different vehicle.
Leaving out the height. Tall loads can rule out a van.
Assuming there’s a dock. If there isn’t one, the driver needs the tailgate truck. Say so when you book.
Having no contact at the other end. A failed delivery still costs driver time.
Booking at 4:30 p.m. Late requests squeeze dispatch.
Comparing headline prices only. One quote includes signature confirmation and tracking while another charges extra for both.

Before you accept any quote, check that it shows the total with GST and fuel. It should also name the vehicle type, the pickup and delivery window, the unloading method and the wait time rules.

Pallet delivery FAQs

Do I need an account to book a pallet delivery?

No. Call (403) 246-8349 or use the online quote form. You can pay by cash, Visa or Mastercard. Regular shippers can set up an online account later.

Can you pick up or deliver a pallet where there’s no loading dock?

Yes. We use a truck with a power tailgate for those jobs. Tell us at booking so the right vehicle shows up.

What’s the maximum weight and height for one pallet?

It depends on the vehicle. Vans have tighter limits than trucks. Give us the weight and height when you request a quote and we’ll match the vehicle to the load.

Is my pallet insured?

Our drivers are licensed and insured. If your freight has high value, ask about declared value when you book so you know exactly how it’s covered.

Can you deliver a pallet from Calgary to Edmonton or Red Deer?

Yes. Those runs normally go hot shot with a dedicated vehicle. Pricing is quote based because it depends on distance and the truck required.

Do you deliver pallets on weekends?

Our regular hours are Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. After-hours emergency deliveries are available by phone. Expect an after-hours premium.

Final thoughts

A pallet courier service makes the most sense when your pallet is heading somewhere local or has to arrive fast. Price comes down to vehicle, distance, speed and unloading. Weigh and measure the pallet. Wrap it well. Give dispatch complete addresses and a contact name. Those habits save more money than any discount.

Not sure whether to book a courier or freight? Ask. We’ll tell you honestly if a cheaper option fits.

Ready for a price? Tell the City Wide Courier where the pallet is going and how fast it has to get there. You’ll hear back within the hour during business hours.

Get a pallet quote or call (403) 246-8349.

Pallet courier service: how it works, what it costs and how to book