Manifests are a crucial document that groups all your orders for a carrier together into a single document, ready for pickup and delivery. Shippit automatically generates a manifest for every order once it's booked, taking into account the delivery destination, speed, and selected carrier service.
This article discusses what manifests are, and some best practices for manifesting that can help you avoid issues. For specific information about avoiding late manifest fees, see the unmanifested freight charges article.
What is a manifest?
The primary purpose of a manifest is to provide a comprehensive summary of your order information to the chosen carrier. This streamlines the process for carriers, making it easier for them to track consignments accurately and invoice retailers correctly. It functions as a detailed packing list for the carrier, ensuring they have all the necessary information for the parcels they are picking up.
Key details typically found on a manifest include:
Consignment number
Order number
Destination details
Product information
Package sizes
Label information
Manifesting best practices
To ensure smooth operations and avoid potential issues, follow these best practices when producing your manifests:
If you have arranged regular pickups with your carrier, ensure all orders are manifested together half an hour before the driver is due.
If you have irregular or ad-hoc pickups with your carrier, manifest orders immediately after they have been labeled and the label is affixed to the package.
Before your carrier arrives, conduct a thorough check of your freight staging area to make sure that all packages are manifested and labels are applied, and that everything is ready for pickup.
Make sure that all of your orders are manifested before your Shippit invoice is produced. We recommend you do a sweep of all your orders on a regular basis to ensure that any outstanding orders are manifested.
You might also get charged for late or unmanifested freight. For specific information about avoiding late manifest fees, see the unmanifested freight charges article.