Shipping a Tradeshow Booth to Canadian Shows: What to Know

Most North American convention venues offer two shipping options: advance warehouse (the show's general contractor receives your booth 1–4 weeks before show, stores it, and delivers to your booth space on setup day) or direct-to-show (your booth arrives at the venue loading dock during a specific window before show open). Advance warehouse costs more upfront but is dramatically less stressful — your booth is guaranteed at the venue when you arrive. Direct-to-show is cheaper but introduces meaningful timing risk. We recommend advance warehouse for any booth that absolutely needs to be at the show.

Drayage is the union-handled service of moving your booth from the loading dock to your booth space, and back at show end. It's priced by hundred-weight (CWT) and runs $80–$140 per hundred pounds at most major venues. A 10×10 pop-up booth in cases (roughly 200 lb) runs $160–$280 in drayage. A 20×20 island in heavy cases (1,500–2,000 lb) runs $1,200–$2,800. Drayage is invoiced separately from booth purchase and from venue space rental — first-time exhibitors often miss this expense entirely.

Canadian booths exhibiting at US shows need a customs broker to handle the temporary import documentation (a carnet or temporary import bond) that allows the booth to enter the US for the show duration and return to Canada without paying duty. We coordinate this for any Canadian booth heading to a US show — typically a $300–$800 customs brokerage fee on top of normal shipping costs. Allow extra time for border crossing — booths sometimes wait at the border for additional inspection that adds 1–2 days to shipping time.