A sofa. A suitcase. A pair of sunglasses. These items differ wildly when it comes to their delivery needs, especially the amount of space they require. Sometimes it also means extra costs and hassle; that sofa will not only incur oversize surcharges from most carriers but also takes longer to deliver as well. That’s why Roadie — with its flat rates, ultrafast delivery and no packaging requirements — is the smart choice, no matter what size item you’re sending.
Roadie works hard to make your deliveries as simple as possible, without getting hung up in dimensional weights, packaging or many of the other hoops carriers make you jump through when you’re using their networks.
But having a rough idea of the size of the item you want to send is key to ensuring your driver has the right amount of space for the job. To make it as easy as possible, Roadie offers five size options.
Our five sizes
Keep this cheat sheet handy to match your items to the amount of space you’ll need. 
Most of us see or use vehicles every day, so it’s helpful to think of the size of your item in terms of where it might fit in a typical car, SUV or truck. For example, your new flatscreen will make it into the back of many cars, but you’re probably not getting a kitchen table or bicycle in there. And a pickup would be overkill if you’re just sending a forgotten passport.
Roadie uses Gig size selection in its matching algorithm that takes many variables into account before pairing a driver with a Gig. Some vehicle sizes are more readily available than others. And some drivers have extra equipment or trailers, so knowing the scale of what they’ll be moving ensures they are prepared for each delivery.
Need more detail? Here’s a chart with the maximum dimensions for each of Roadie’s five vehicle sizes:
*Above sizing applicable to business senders contracted with Roadie. Consumer senders are not allowed to send items that, individually or collectively, weigh more than 200 pounds and/or exceed 12 feet in any dimension. See https://support.roadie.com/support/s/article/Prohibited-Items-on-the-Roadie-Platform
*Above sizing applicable to business senders contracted with Roadie. For more information on driver gig sizing, see https://support.roadie.com/support/s/article/A-Comprehensive-Guide-to-Gig-Sizing
Leveraging bulk uploads
To make it even easier to whisk your items off to your customers, give Bulk Uploads a try.
With the Bulk Upload feature on the Roadie platform, you can enter as many as 300 deliveries at once, cutting down on data entry. You can use this feature for consistent, ongoing repeat deliveries or just to get through a surge in order volume.
Bulk Upload enables you to download a CSV template spreadsheet and fill in the necessary details for your upcoming deliveries — including the vehicle size that will work best for each item. Next time you send that item, you can copy and paste that information to save time.
With all fields filled in, you just need to save the file as a CSV and upload it into the Bulk Upload portal. Roadie will take it from there, ensuring each delivery has the right vehicle for the job. You can get more information about Bulk Uploads here.
Why vehicle size matters
Vehicle size is one of the many factors Roadie takes into account to match your delivery with a driver. Your Gig request sets off a complex process behind the scenes to get you exactly what you’re looking for.
The matching algorithm considers not just the vehicle size, but also the time of day, past delivery preferences and which drivers are currently delivering.
In real-time, Roadie crunches this information against driver data and existing orders happening across the Roadie network to operate a more efficient, flexible delivery system. That allows Roadie to make your Gig available to the largest number of drivers possible.
If your item is small, odds are there are a lot of passenger vehicles to whisk it away, while a big SUV is put to better use moving a large item across town.
Determining what size vehicle you need goes a long way to making sure your items get where they need to go, quickly, safely and efficiently.
