Long distance
Delivery dates and the delivery spread
Set when a long-distance shipment is picked up and delivered — the pickup spread, delivery days, the first available delivery date, the estimated delivery, and the truck block with its driving-hours suggestion.
- 4 min read
- Checked against MoveBoard
- For sales, dispatchers
On this page
On a long-distance order you promise the customer a window of days for the pickup and for the delivery. MoveBoard keeps those promises on the order, shows them to the customer, and checks the trip against them.
Before you start
Open the order and switch the Move card to Delivery (the Pickup | Delivery switch on its title line). Everything below waits in your draft until you press SAVE.
Pickup by and Delivery by
The first two rows ask who does each half — each Local crew or Trip Planner:
- Pickup by — Local crew picks it up on your daily schedule; Trip Planner means your long-distance truck picks it up on its trip (no local truck or crew). With Trip Planner, Delivery by is set to Trip Planner too and stays there.
- Delivery by — Trip Planner: the delivery is planned on a trip, its truck, driver and dates set on the trip, so the truck rows below are hidden. Local crew: your own crew delivers from your Dispatch board; you set the arrival window, crew and truck block here.
When your local crew picks up and the Trip Planner delivers, the trip loads the shipment at your warehouse. Tick Loaded straight into the trip truck when your crew loads it into the trip truck at the house instead: the trip keeps its pickup stop there.
Switching back and forth never clears what you typed. See The Trip Planner.
The pickup spread
The grey box shows Pickup spread — the days the customer agreed the shipment can be picked up. Until you set it, it is just the move date — or, when Pickup by is Trip Planner, the days Settings › Long distance › Pickup spread gives from the move date (for example Oct 14 – Oct 16; nothing set there: the move date). Press Change, pick the first and last day (the move date must sit inside), and press Save. The Trip Planner checks each planned pickup against it.
The customer sees it on the estimate and the order for service (the ORDER_LD_PICKUP_SPREAD variable, Oct 14 – Oct 16), the long-distance bill of lading and the client portal.
When the delivery is on the Trip Planner, the same box shows the trip the order is on (press it to open the trip), or that it waits on the Trip Planner's Pickups to plan (Pickup by: Trip Planner) or Deliveries to plan list.
Delivery days and dates
- Delivery Days — how many business days the delivery may take. 0 (Guaranteed days) means a fixed delivery date; 3 (Business days) means within three business days. Saturdays and Sundays don't count.
- First Available Delivery Date (or Delivery Date when the days are 0) — the first day the customer can take delivery. Beside it, the spread appears, for example → 10/12 – 10/15/2026.
- Estimated Delivery Date — your best guess inside the spread. It shows in red until you set it.
Local crew deliveries
- Arrival Time Window — the arrival from and to times the customer sees.
- Delivery Crew — how many movers deliver.
- Delivery Block Dates — the days the truck is held for the delivery. The calendar marks the estimated delivery, the delivery window and a Suggested hold.
- Truck Leave Time and Truck Return Time.
- Then pick the truck — press a truck, or drag the delivery onto its lane.
The Suggested line (for example Sat Oct 3 – Wed Oct 7 (2 days out, 2 back)) splits the drive out and back into days of at most 11 hours of driving around the estimated delivery. Press Use to make it the block. Set the estimated delivery date first, or the calendar says Set the estimated delivery date for a suggested hold.
What the customer sees
The delivery spread and dates show on the customer's quote and in the long-distance summary on the Quote card. If the delivery date has to move, record it as a delay — see Record a delay.
If something goes wrong
- Truck Return Time adjusted to … — it has to be after Truck Leave Time on a single day delivery block. — MoveBoard moved the return time for you.
- A single day delivery block cannot start at … — the truck has to return the same day. — pick an earlier leave time, or make the block two days.
- Pick the first and last pickup day. — in the pickup spread pop-up.
- The first pickup day is after the last one.
- The move date (…) has to be inside the pickup spread. — widen the spread, or change the move date first.
Related guides
- Long distanceA long-distance orderWhat is different in the order window when a move is long distance — the Pickup and Delivery halves, the tariff rows, the Linehaul Charge and its step-by-step pop-up, and the long-distance summary on the quote.
- Long distanceRecord a delayWhen a long-distance delivery can't make the promised spread, record the delay on the trip — the new date, the reason and how the customer was told — and keep the record federal rules ask for.
- Long distanceThe Trip PlannerWhere long-distance trips are planned, followed on the road and closed — the board, Needs Attention, and the pickups and deliveries waiting for a trip.
- Moving industry know-howDelivery spreads and delay notices (375.605)Why long-distance moves promise a window of days instead of a date, what "reasonable dispatch" means, and what a mover must do when a delivery will be late.
- Dispatch & schedulingAssign trucks and crewBuild the day's crews on the Crew Schedule, then put a crew on each job — by dragging it onto the board or picking people in Assign Personnel.
Still stuck? A person will help.
Open a ticket from Support inside MoveBoard, or email us — we usually reply within one business day.