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Container Glossary

Roll-off delivery

Also called Hook-Lift Delivery

Definition

Roll-off delivery is a container drop method that uses a hook-lift or roll-off style truck, the kind more familiar from dumpster delivery, to winch a container up a set of rails onto the truck bed and then reverse the process to lower it into place on a cable. Containers Delivered does not run roll-off trucks; every delivery here goes out on a tilt-bed rig instead.

Category
Delivery equipment
How it works
Cable winch pulls the box up rails, then lowers it
Used by Containers Delivered
No, we run tilt-bed trucks only
Where it's common
Short-haul and dumpster-style hauling
What we use instead
Tilt-bed truck, see that entry

The question this term usually hides

People rarely land on the term roll-off delivery because they're comparing brands of trucks. They land on it while trying to figure out one plain thing: what kind of truck is going to show up at my site, and what does that truck need from me. If you've called Containers Delivered, that part is already settled: tilt-bed, every time.

So the decision left in front of you isn't roll-off versus tilt-bed. It's whether your access suits the truck that's actually coming, and that's a tilt-bed's rules, not a roll-off truck's.

How a roll-off drop differs from a tilt-bed slide-off

A roll-off truck carries a hydraulic arm and a cable winch. It pulls the container up a pair of angled rails onto the truck bed to load it, and reverses the motion, lowering the box down the rails on the cable, to set it down. A tilt-bed does the opposite: the whole bed tips into a ramp and the box slides off under its own weight as the truck pulls forward, no winch involved.

Because a roll-off truck controls the drop with a cable rather than gravity and forward motion, it can sometimes work a shorter, steeper approach than a tilt-bed needs. That's the appeal in parts of the industry that use it.

Why the difference matters for your driveway, not your container

None of that changes what shows up for a Containers Delivered order, since we don't operate roll-off trucks. What it does explain is why a friend's delivery from a different company might have looked different from yours, backed in tighter, angled steeper, and still worked fine. Different truck, different rules.

For your own site, plan around the rig we actually run: a straight, clear pull-in of about 65 feet for a 20-ft container or about 95 feet for a 40-ft, plus 10 to 12 feet of width.

What actually shows up on delivery day

A tilt-bed truck, straight truck or tractor-trailer depending on your terrain, backing toward the spot and tilting its bed to slide the box into place. Our crew sets it on blocks and levels it before the truck leaves, at no charge within 75 road miles of Woodlawn.

Sometimes, in general industry terms, since the cable-and-rail method can work a steeper approach. It doesn't apply to a Containers Delivered order, since our trucks are tilt-bed, not roll-off.
No, we don't operate roll-off equipment. Every delivery here goes out on a tilt-bed truck.
Ready to book a delivery

Tell us about your access and we'll match the rig

Straight truck or tractor-trailer, we'll figure out what fits your driveway before the truck ever leaves the yard.

or (276) 237-6144