Pickup best practices

Ensuring your carrier pick-ups run smoothly and quickly is key to efficient shipping.

This article outlines critical things to consider to help you optimise your dispatch operations and avoid common issues with carrier pickups. For more information about how pickups work, see the understanding pickups article.

Providing precise address details is crucial for carriers to locate you easily. Different pickup locations require specific information.

For stand-alone storefronts, include the full street address, shop number, and any specific entry instructions.

For office buildings or residential addresses provide the building name, floor or level, suite number, and clear instructions for access. For example, "buzz unit 5" or "deliver to reception".

For warehouses and 3PLs, include the specific bay number, loading dock details, and any required security procedures or contact names and phone numbers. Full pickup address including a valid dock or unit no, street no, suburb, and postcode.

If you are shipping from store, and your stores are within a shopping centre, make sure you provide the name of the shopping centre, the store number, and the preferred entry point for the carrier. For example, the "use loading dock via Smith St," or "front entrance after 9am".

Manifesting your orders promptly is vital for a seamless process. This ensures that the carrier gets all the information they need to process your order accurately. When the carrier has this information, you and your customers receive timely updates, reliable tracking data, and it helps you avoid surcharges and misdeclaration fees. For more information about surcharges, see the misdeclaration article.

It is often best to manifest your orders in Shippit before you label them, or within thirty minutes of applying the labels to your packages. For more information about labelling, see the labelling article.

Make sure you package your goods securely. This is especially important if you are shipping dangerous goods, fragile items, or bulky items. For more information on packaging guidelines, see the packaging article.

If you are shipping dangerous, fragile, or bulky goods, make sure you have approval from Shippit before you book with the carrier. For more information about shipping different freight types, see the freight collection.

Make sure you have a designated staging area for all your outgoing packages, so that you are ready and organised when the carrier comes to collect.

If you use multiple carriers, seperate your freight by carrier. This helps the drivers quickly identify and collect the packages they need, without errors.

Make sure all your packages are correctly labelled and easily accessible when the driver arrives.

Shippit supports different pickup models to suit your volume and needs.

Scheduled collections are ideal for high-volume dispatchers or for shipping specialised freight. These are pre-arranged, recurring pickups that provide consistency. Our support team can help you set this up. Scheduled collections could be:

Ad-hoc collections are arranged as needed, and are best for lower volumes. Be mindful of pickup cut-off times for these services to manage expectations.