White Glove Furniture Delivery: What It Is, Benefits, And If It's Worth Doing

So you're about to buy a new sofa, and you're wondering whether stores like Costco deliver bulky furniture to your front door. They do. In fact, most retailers take customer service a few steps further by carrying your purchase into your home, assembling it, and removing the boxes and padding. This is typically called white glove delivery, an umbrella term for premium delivery services that take all the tedious, strenuous tasks off customers' hands. These specialized teams are meant to be exceedingly careful with both the furniture and your home, though accidents still happen. There's also sometimes a cost associated with this service. Whether white glove service is the right choice for you depends on both your budget and your priorities.

Vendors like West Elm, IKEA, Article, Pottery Barn, Wayfair, Costco, and Crate and Barrel all offer a white glove delivery option, sometimes called "in-home" or "full-service delivery." In most cases, it costs extra, but there are instances where white-glove delivery is included with the furniture's price. Whether that additional expense is worth it is up to the shopper. There are certain situations and products, though, where taking the risk can become far more costly than the supplemental fee retailers charge for premium delivery. As the saying goes, you can't put a price on peace of mind.

Spending extra on white glove delivery may not make sense for small furniture or shabby secondhand pieces. However, if the pieces need special attention, if you have mobility problems, or if not even all of the tips for a fast and easy IKEA furniture assembly can save you from ruining your new items, it may be wise to familiarize yourself with this service's possibilities, as well as its limitations.

Some white-glove delivery services include specialized solutions, such as temperature-controlled transport for precious antiques and CCTV surveillance for valuable furniture. Still, the most common package in the furniture business pertains to the aforementioned room-of-choice delivery, followed by assembly, and packaging disposal. With that said, this service doesn't usually include installation, meaning any intervention that could change your home, such as drilling into walls or interfering with electrical or plumbing systems. 

With white glove delivery service, customers are expected to remove any obstacles to transportation and assembly, including the old furniture piece that the new item will replace. However, some stores, like IKEA, do take care of old pieces for you — for an added fee. Additionally, because deliveries must be signed off on and couriers need to be let into the house and supervised, all white glove deliveries must be scheduled for a day and time you'll be present. While some delivery options provide customers a wide delivery window, in-home services tend to be more precise and communication clearer and more frequent.

When it comes to the drawbacks of white glove delivery services, cost is the most significant. Looking at the rates practiced by popular furniture vendors helps paint a picture of how much you can expect to pay for all these perks. Both Pottery Barn and West Elm, for instance, combine the proximity of the destination address to the store and the order price to determine the white glove delivery fees. Their price ranges start at $159 for local deliveries of orders under $999 and top out at $429 for deliveries of 200 or more miles away for orders over $999.

Shipping and delivery at IKEA, on the other hand, come with friendlier price options. Pricing for express in-home delivery starts at $69 for IKEA Family members in most states. If you don't mind waiting a little longer for your delivery, that number drops down to just $59, though. At Article Furniture, white glove service costs at least $199. In turn, Costco and Wayfair offer the service for free on expensive items. More affordable furniture can still be professionally assembled, provided customers pay an additional fee that corresponds to the item's price.

These fees can be a significant investment, and even exclusionary, for some. What's more, occasionally poor experiences occur with white glove delivery. Some buyers report that staff weren't as attentive or as careful with the item as promised. This may turn shoppers off from spending money on a service they could replicate with a friend's help. As you can see, while white glove delivery can be exceptionally convenient, it may not always make sense given each customer's priorities.