Shipping Guy here!
So last time, I went on a minor tirade regarding shipping addresses. Not long afterwards, someone placed an order with yet another new and creative way to enter their address. Go figure.
Now, what happens with your order though? Once your order is placed and in our system, it gets sent to me and the fun begins. Now, I say our “system” but we actually have several platforms we work with. The first is the shop which holds your order information and is mainly the realm of our courageous souls who work customer service. The second realm is the one I preside over. The realm of shipping.
Your order information is imported into our shipping platform where it may be eligible to receive several very colorful status tags ranging from ‘backorder’ to ‘customer wants medical sticker’. This allows me to see what’s going on with outstanding orders at a glance and work out what needs to happen before your order can ship. There are also some notes that are imported with your order so if you leave a note with special instructions or just feedback, I will be able to see those.
While much of this is automated it’s still a very human process. Backorder status on products can change on a moment’s notice at any time and some of my status tags might be out of date for some products so we’re always trying to stay on top. Indeed, I often think that backorders are the bain of my shipping existence.
As much as I would like to think of myself as the white knight of our little shipping world I am often besieged by the vile specter of the human condition, last minute changes, manufacturer backorders and of course, Mondays. Roughly translated, even I make mistakes from time to time for which customer service will apologize.
Probably the one error that drives me up the wall the most is not realizing a backorder and processing an order anyway. Thankfully, I don’t do that very often. Anyway, moving on.
By now your order has been reviewed, issues have been resolved to the best our knowledge and ability and it’s time to ship. I will assign your order to a ‘batch’ to be processed. That batch is, well, processed which means labels are created, the shop’s information has been updated and the shop sends you a shipping notice.
The processed batch is then printed which includes packing slips, labels and a collective pick list of all products in the batch. All of the orders are laid out on the table and I summon one of the other staff to double check each order before the orders are packed.
Now your order is ready to head out the door. Which is another adventure entirely.