What is tailgate delivery?

If a skid is being delivered to a location without a dock, tailgate service is the difference between a completed delivery and a truck that has to turn around. Here’s how it works and when to ask for it.

How a tailgate works

A tailgate is a hydraulic steel platform mounted on the rear of a straight truck. At delivery, the driver:

1. Rolls the skid onto the platform at deck height using a pallet jack.
2. Lowers the platform — with the skid on it — to ground level.
3. Rolls the skid off and positions it at the delivery point.

The same process runs in reverse at pickup: the platform lifts freight from the ground up to the truck deck. No forklift or dock is needed at either end.

When you need one

Ask for a tailgate any time either end of the shipment lacks both a dock and a forklift. Common cases in the GTA and Southern Ontario:

• Storefronts and retail plazas receiving palletized stock
• Clinics and offices taking equipment deliveries
• Small workshops without receiving infrastructure
• Job sites where the freight grounds at street level
• Newer units where the dock is not yet operational

The critical part is timing: request the tailgate when you book, not when the driver arrives. Only some trucks carry one. If a standard dock-height truck shows up to a no-dock delivery, the skid physically cannot be grounded, and the shipment has to be re-run on the right equipment.

Practical limits

Tailgates are rated equipment, and very heavy or oversized loads can exceed them:

• Weight — a heavy machinery skid may exceed the platform’s safe working load even when the truck itself could carry it.
• Footprint — a skid longer or wider than the platform can’t be lowered safely.
• Ground conditions — the delivery point needs firm, reasonably level ground for the pallet jack.

Flag anything unusually heavy or oversized when you request a quote so the carrier assigns equipment that can actually handle it. At Sonic Transport, tailgate service is available at either end of a shipment on our 26-foot box trucks — it’s part of the skid and pallet service that makes up roughly 60% of what we move.

How it fits a typical shipment

A common pattern for B2B freight: pickup happens at a warehouse with a dock, and delivery goes to a customer location without one. The skid loads normally at origin, rides direct, and grounds by tailgate at the destination. You only need the equipment at the end that lacks infrastructure — but it needs to be on the truck from the start, which is why it’s a booking detail rather than a delivery-day detail. For the full picture of moving palletized freight, see our guide on how to ship a skid across the GTA.