Drop yard

Buy, rent, or lease open land that suits ypur specific needs

 

I will, hesitantly, answer this, but I do not own a drop lot, and every community is different.

Your first step should probably be getting in touch with a real estate lawyer, and consulting with them. If they cannot help you, they can direct you to someone who can.

That said, some things to think about:

You need to make sure that it is zoned properly for a drop yard.

Is there more than one truck route into and out of the area? If there is only one legal route, if the locals get irritated with you, they can close you down by simply making your approach route illegal for truck traffic.

Ideally, you will want an access road that is a federal or state road, with no residential areas on approaches. Those are harder to get closed to truck traffic.

Verify the clearances of the approaches. 13'6" as a minimum, obviously, but 14' would be better.

Do you have a customer base? Do nearby truck stops have parking issues due to drop trailers, or is there another nearby drop yard that is constantly full?

Do you plan on adding other services? Overnight truck parking, trailer washout, tire services? Those things might require more permits and infrastructure.

Go to fueling locations and truck stops near your potential drop lot. Watch who stops there. Contact those companies, and ask them if they are interested in access to a drop lot in the area, and, if so, what they would be willing to pay per trailer per day. If there are other drop yards in the area, try to find out what they charge per trailer per day.

You will need some degree of security, even if it is just a fence with a padlock and a few cameras recording the lot 24/7.