About
A Chicago device supplier, not a marketplace
DROP/SHIP sells iPads in volume to organisations across Chicago and Illinois, configures them before they ship, and handles the procurement paperwork that comes with buying hardware at scale.
What we actually do
Three things, in order of how much of our week they take up. We source iPads in volume and quote them as a landed per-unit price. We configure them before dispatch — Apple Business Manager enrolment, MDM profiles, asset tags, cases fitted. And we deliver them, ourselves, across the Chicago metro.
What we do not do is rent devices, resell MDM software, or take commission from POS platforms. That matters because it means when we recommend a configuration, there is no second revenue line quietly shaping the advice.
Why the Chicago focus
Search for bulk iPads in Chicago and you will find rental companies, national wholesalers, and Apple. What is missing is a local supplier who will sell you fifty devices, put your asset tags on them, and drive them to three of your offices on a Tuesday.
Our hub is on N Elston Ave in 60641, on the Northwest Side. From there most of the city and the inner suburbs are a short run, which is why our standard Chicago metro window is 48 hours from order confirmation rather than a week of freight.
How we price
Four volume tiers set by unit count, identical for every buyer type. A nonprofit taking 200 units and a restaurant group taking 200 units get the same bracket. What moves the number inside a bracket is the model, storage, connectivity and whether the units are new or certified refurbished.
We quote rather than publish a price list, because a published list would either be wrong within a month or padded enough to survive one. Quotes come back within one business day and state clearly what is inside the number and what is not.
What we will tell you not to buy
A few things we turn away regularly, because getting this wrong wastes more of your money than a bad unit price:
- Orders under ten units. Below that, the per-device handling overhead cancels the volume saving. Retail is genuinely better and we will say so.
- iPads for a Toast POS deployment. Toast runs its own Android hardware. An iPad fleet will not work with it — see the restaurant page.
- Short-term needs. If you need forty devices for a three-day conference, rent them. Our buy versus rent guide explains where the line falls, and Chicago's rental market is well served.
- Over-specified storage. The most common invisible overspend in fleet buying. A POS terminal does not need 256GB.
The affiliate bit, stated plainly
Some accessory links on this site go to Amazon and earn us a commission if you buy through them. That is a small part of what we do and it does not affect what we recommend — the case we link to is the one we put in fleet quotes, which is the actual reason it is on the site. Full terms on the affiliate disclosure page.