Online orders have been the go-to option for companies nowadays to get the necessary supplies for their products or services due to the great convenience that they provide. However, problems may still arise from time to time, especially if you’ve placed an order for one large item or a huge number of items, which can cause delays in your operation if you don’t plan well. If you want to avoid any complications from your purchase, follow these pointers:
Prepare the Receiving Area
Whatever the size or the quantity of the items may be, you need to make sure that the receiving area is ready for their arrival. Normally, if the items are not going to take up that much space, a bit of cleaning and some preparation will do just fine. However, if you’re ordering goods that are great in size or number, then the area must be cleared of any clutter that may make the unloading and receiving of the items difficult. You also have to make sure that the lanes are cleared so that storage will be easy and won’t disrupt anyone’s work.
Create Various Teams
If you’re ordering items to be delivered to multiple different locations, then setting up teams to help you out in managing these items will help smoothen out the process. The number of people that you need per team will depend on certain factors such as the items themselves and the frequency of deliveries. However, in general, you need two to four. Make it a point that the people you will hire for the job are both skilled and willing to work for extended hours because delivery times may vary, even going past normal working hours.
Communicate and Coordinate
Communication is important in accomplishing tasks, especially those that involve items that require proper handling. Couriers are quite stringent with their delivery policies, so you have to make sure that you talk to them about how the process will go and about any details that you’re unsure of. You need to make sure that everyone involved has the contact details of everybody else so that they can communicate with each other whenever the need arises. Talk to your front desk and tell them that you’re expecting a delivery to arrive at the date specified so that they can let you know when it does.
Store the Items Properly
You won’t be using all of the items that have arrived immediately, so you need to have the excess stored away fast and efficiently. To do this, you can designate specific areas where new arrivals are supposed to go for easier tracking and safekeeping. Then, move them to other areas once older goods have been removed to make way for newer items. Set up a distribution plan to make the flow of restocking and removal less stressful for you and your staff. Having a warehouse with good pallet racking will definitely help matters.
Deliveries aren’t supposed to be complicated, but even the slightest hint of neglect can cause huge complications that will take time to fix. Spare no efforts in ensuring that every aspect will go according to plan. Make a plan B just in case. Your attention is better spent elsewhere, so make your burdens lighter tomorrow by preparing everything today.
