Isnt it normal in the US for local delivery trucks to be fitted with Hyab or Palfinger type hydraulic cranes when delivering heavy equipment ?
No one in Australia would expect to deliver a couple of tons of equipment without a crane to lift it off the truck with !.......
That's very interesting to hear the customs around the world. As others have said, In the US, it's standard practice that the reciever is responsible for unloading the freight. (except in certain circumstances) Usually, that means you need a loading dock, and pallet jack, or forklift, etc... If you choose to dissasemble the package and remove it from the truck piece-by-piece with a few friends as someone mentioned, the driver is going to be rather ticked-off, and you may find an extra charge on your freight bill, unless you complete it within 1/2 hour, which is a standard allowable removal time. Time is money, and the driver is expected to make a certain number of deliveries in a day, and be at certain places at certain times. The driver is not required nor expected to help unload. If they're nice, and maybe are interested in cars or something, they might be inclined to help or bend the rules regarding unloading time, but don't expect them to.
In the US, commercial truck deliveries are mostly to businesses with loading docks. Around here, virtually all businesses that recieve deliveries larger than UPS/Fed-Ex/DHL sized packages are pretty much expected to have a loading dock available to them. A commercial truck delivery to a home address is fairly rare, as most people don't need to recieve anything that heavy at a residence. Many freight companies do have a "home-delivery" service, in which case the freight is transfered to a smaller truck, with a lift-gate, but be prepared to pay extra for this service. Again, this is a "non-standard" delivery. Standard deliveries are dock-to-dock.
The only "normal" exceptions to the dock-to-dock rule are companies that specalize in local delivery to residences, like lumberyards, and such. They either come with a built-in crane on the truck, or a portable forklift. THis is really for local deliveries though, the long-haul trucks don't carry this equipment. The trucks don't want to carry the weight of loading/unloading equipment across the country, because that means less capacity is available for paying cargo. Besides, as per local custom, their customers can all handle loading/unloading, so they have little incentive to accomidate the unusual situation.
I have no idea how far the shipment was going, but that price for shipping an item that heavy and large sounds quite reasonable. At that price, the trucking company is dealing in volume. They're definitely not going to do anything out-of-the-ordinary for that price.
Don't get me wrong, i'm not defending the lift sales company. If they expect to regularly sell to the general public, they really should have made standard freight delivery practice clear to you, and asked you if it was going to a residence. If you said yes, they should have reccomended a delivery company that offered lift-gate service to your area.
