FAQ
Straight answers, before you have to ask.
The questions that come up on every first call. If yours is not here, write to us and it probably will be.
What Loadout is
What does Loadout actually do?
We hold the portable inventory behind your event program, keep a record of every item with photos and condition history, then pull it, check it, prep it, pack it, and ship it when an event comes up. It comes back to us rather than to your office. We inspect it, document any damage, reconcile the counts, and put it back on the shelf ready for the next one.
How is this different from a storage unit?
A storage unit holds things. It does not know what is inside it, what condition any of it is in, or that you are down to forty brochures. Storage is the easy part of what we do and the least valuable. The work is the record, the prep, the shipping, and the inspection on return.
How is this different from a freight broker?
A broker moves a shipment you have already packed and already know the contents of. We are the part before and after that: what you own, where it is, what shape it came back in, and what is going out next week. We coordinate the freight as one step inside that, rather than as the whole service.
Where our lane ends
Do you set up the booth at the show?
No. Setup labor, staffing, drayage, electrical, rigging, and AV belong to the general contractor and the venue. We get everything there, packed correctly and on time, and we handle the return. The show floor itself is somebody else’s lane and they are good in it.
Do you handle drayage, electrical, or rigging?
No. We do not order or handle show services. Those go through the show's general contractor. We work alongside them on every event and we never mark up their work.
Can you take our crated modular booth?
No, and we would tell you not to move it. Custom builds stay with the agency that made them, and crated modular stays with the exhibit house that owns it. Everything portable comes to us: pop-up displays, banner stands, tabletops, counters, literature, samples, swag, tablecloths, and the cable bin.
Your inventory, and what happens to it
What happens if something comes back damaged?
You find out from us, with pictures, as part of the return inspection. Every return is inspected and logged before anything goes back on the shelf. The point is that you never open a case on a show floor and discover something you could have known about eleven weeks earlier.
How many events do we need to be running?
About six a year, and more to the point, a program that repeats. Your monthly is the same whether you run four events or forty, because it pays for keeping your inventory accurate and ready rather than for the events themselves. Under six, a storage unit and a couple of Saturdays costs you less, and we would rather say so now than in month nine.
Money and terms
What does it cost?
Five things. Your monthly, which covers the storage your inventory occupies and the work of keeping your program ready. A fee each time we run an event. A fee each time we ship something between events. The freight itself. And Service Requests, for hourly warehouse work that is neither of those. Every rate is published, and the calculator will work out a real number for a program your size.
What is actually on the invoice?
Everything that happened on your account that month, itemized, and nothing else. It builds as the month goes and you can open it any day rather than meeting it on the first. Every number on it was approved by you before the work started.
How does billing work?
Invoiced monthly on the 1st, Net 15. Your invoice builds live, so you can look at it any day of the month rather than finding out when it lands. Every deployment, shipment, and Service Request is quoted and approved before it starts.
What if we need something on short notice?
We will usually do it. A rush applies under five business days notice, when a request displaces work that was already scheduled. It is disclosed up front like everything else, and you approve it before we start.
Are we locked into a contract?
Never. We all know what it is like to pay a gym for twenty years and go twice. Reserving a founding slot costs nothing and commits you to nothing, and nothing gets signed until we open in 2027.
Where are you, and do you only work with Orlando companies?
We are in Orlando, Florida, which puts us next to the second largest convention facility in the country. We ship nationwide, and most of the work does not care where your office is. Your inventory lives with us and goes wherever the event is.
Still deciding
Still have one?
Ask it now rather than finding out in month nine. Ten founding slots, we build your inventory for free, opening 2027.