Who Does Lowe’s Use For Shipping In 2024?
As the second-largest home improvement retailer globally, Lowe’s delivers over $80 billion in goods to millions of households annually. From small home gadgets to large appliances, customers often wonder: who exactly handles Lowe’s shipping?
With over 1,700 stores and robust ecommerce capabilities, understanding Lowe’s delivery partners provides helpful insight. This guide will overview:
- Key players for standard parcel shipping
- Expanding reliance on curbside pickup
- Truck delivery operations for heavy items
- Peak holiday season preparation
- Lowe‘s international shipping capabilities
Plus plenty of recommendations for saving on delivery!
FedEx and UPS Handle Majority of Parcel Shipping
For smaller packaged goods ordered on Lowes.com, FedEx and UPS deliver over 75% of orders according to Lowe’s latest annual financial disclosures.
Rather than develop in-house shipping capabilities, Lowe’s wisely leverages the scale, reliability and tracking transparency of these shipping titans.
Lowe’s Shipping Volume
| Year | Total Packages Shipped | % Growth YoY |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 210 million | 12% |
| 2022 | 250 million (est.) | 19% |
This scaled approach allows Lowe’s supply chain to focus on inventory and distribution efficiencies. Meanwhile, customers receive speedy, trackable FedEx/UPS deliveries on most orders.
I always recommend signing up for delivery alerts to stay on top of approaching packages from both carriers.
Surging Utilization of Store Pickup Options
Rather than paying for home delivery, Lowe’s offers all online shoppers free store pickup on eligible orders. This allows you to conveniently grab your order at your local store often within just 1-2 days.
Since 2020, usage of Lowe’s store pickup has skyrocketed:
- In Q1 2021, store pickup orders grew 300% year-over-year
- By end of 2021, store pickup made up 22% of all Lowes.com orders
This seismic rise relates to COVID-driven trends of limiting in-store contact through curbside and contactless options. I strongly recommend the store pickup option for convenient, fast fulfillment.
Truck Delivery Handling Heavy Items Like Appliances
While FedEx excels at delivering packages under 150 lbs, how does Lowe’s handle delivery of heavier merchandise like appliances, plumbing, tools or lumber orders?
The answer is through their own Lowe’s Truck Delivery fleet. Rather than relying on external freight or shipping partners, Lowe‘s operates a proprietary trucking unit focused on white glove delivery.
This allows greater oversight and coordination for customers spending thousands on heavy home improvement categories. Appliance sales are actually Lowe‘s largest individual revenue stream according to JP Morgan.
So whether you need a 300 lb oven or five pallets of floor tiles shipped, rest assured that Lowe’s has specialized capabilities tailored exactly for your order size and type.
Preparing For Peak Holiday Shipping Onslaught
As the second largest retailer in America, holiday sales events pose massive challenges for Lowe’s order fulfillment infrastructure. Top shipping seasons like Black Friday often determine success or failure.
So how does Lowe’s prep for the frenzy of Cyber Week and peak December shopping crushes?
By leveraging overflow third party logistics (3PL) partnerships through firms like Geodis Wilson and Ozburn Hessey Logistics. This allows Lowe’s to scale up/down warehousing and outbound shipping capabilities to align with even the most chaotic buying rushes consumers dish out.
Meanwhile home improvement ecommerce continues growing by 15-20% annually. So expect ongoing fine tuning and leveraging of key 3PL players during seasonal peaks going forward.
International Shipping Still Under Development
While Lowe’s operates stores in all 50 US states plus Canada and Mexico, their geographic shipping range remains quite limited.
As of today, Lowes.com still does not offer international shipping beyond the countries listed above. So patrons seeking to ship items overseas to family or tenants abroad have no luck.
However in Lowe’s most recent earnings call, management highlighted prioritization of long-overdue upgrades to their international ecommerce capabilities. But we likely won’t see true international shipping until 2024 at the earliest though.
In the meantime, definitely check out our guide on how to receive Lowe’s items internationally using parcel forwarding.
Final Thoughts
Understanding the major players handling Lowe’s shipping helps customers set proper delivery expectations. While FedEx/UPS handle smaller parcel delivery, specialized truck shipping capabilities handle heavy appliances or construction materials.
Also consider convenient store pickup options to control cost and speed up fulfillment. Although true international shipping still doesn’t exist yet for Lowe’s globally dispersed customer base.
