When do you mark an order as shipped ?

nita_rae

When you generate the shipping label, when you drop it off at the post office / put it in your mailbox, or when you know the tracking number has been scanned for acceptance ?

What is the common best practice for this ?

NorthernBrickSupply

I usually mark it as shipped once it has been dropped off at the post office. In the past I have marked it as shipped just when the label was made, but I feel like that is deceptive to the customer, because it isn't actually shipped.

White Horse Bricks

When its in the postbox. Sometimes not marked off till the evening or next morning depending on what time I get back from work.

nita_rae

I'm still unsure about this ... There are four post offices in my area. None are especially close, and vary in distance between 7 and 13 miles (one way). Sometimes (like today) I put the packages in my mailbox with the flag up, for the rural carrier to collect. I do this fairly early in the morning, and the carrier comes by 3-5 hours later. They are 'out the door', but not yet 'in possession of USPS'. So when should those be marked shipped ?

Jay37

I post at the post office and get a certificate of posting. Usually mark as shipped as soon as I get home, but if I have other errands it might not be until later in the day.

smekel

In your specific situation, seems like once the flag on your mailbox is down indicating the postal worker has collected the item, it would be reasonable to mark the item as shipped. I've heard some people have postal workers who are able to scan the packages upon picking them up from their residence, perhaps you could ask your postal worker to do that as it could reduce the amount of time for the item to change to "in possession of USPS".

Unfortunately, even when dropping off packages at the post office in their "outgoing parcels" pile, I've noticed it can take many hours or even over a day for the status to change

Based on hearing about too many stories regarding lost packages, I have been making a point to go to the post office and getting a receipt after the postal worker has scanned the package, even if it means waiting in line for a while. I realize not everyone can do this, and I'm envious of people who's post office has the self-service scanning station, but it has the double benefit of making me feel good about marking the item as shipped since it is literally in the hands of USPS, and I also have confidence that outside of some scanning/software bug, I will the ability to start a claim with USPS if anything happens.

Previously I would just drop it off in the pile of packages at the post office without waiting for a scan and/or drop it off in a postal box while walking our dog etc. In those cases, I would mark the item as shipped after it's out of my hands/off my property.

Papa Pearson

I defer in opinion on this one. I mark as shipped as soon as I have it packed and the shipping label is on the box/envelope. Because as far as I'm concerned, since it's ready to go, it's shipped. In saying that, my orders are packed up in the evening, mostly after 8 pm. Most buyers are aware of how the mail runs. I would bet they know the carrier does not actually have the package in their hands 5 minutes after I mark it as shipped. 1000+ orders over the 2 sites. No one has complained.

Calibrick

We operate similarly to Papa; generally USPS is picking it up within a few hours of label printing and we've placed the packages for pickup in a special area for USPS (kind of hidden from the street, an agreement we have with our local USPS), so we feel it's out of our hands at that point and shipped. Similarly, no complaints here...

Malnaborg

Sounds like we are more or less even in this.
But to talk about my shop. I mark it as shipped, when i have either put it in the mail box, or post office.

nita_rae

So, currently I watch the tracking to see when the carrier scans it as Accepted. The carriers have cell-enabled scanners, so the web page will show it within 5-10 minutes of it actually happening.

My mailbox is only so big, and there are (every now and then) packages that will not fit into it. If I must ship it, and I can't make the trip to the post office for some reason, I have a larger package box, which is reasonably close to the mailbox, but not obvious from the highway. In that case, I put a little card notice in the mailbox and raise the flag. The carrier has been pretty good about responding to that. To do so, USPS refers to it as a 'dismount'. USPS has a regulation that says no dismounts after sundown (and I can understand the reasons for that). During the summer of 2020 (pandemic year 1), twice I needed to ship large packages on a Saturday, so I followed the above procedure. In both cases, the carrier did not pass my mailbox until after 2030 in the evening, and did not dismount and collect the packages. So they sat until Monday rolled around. It was an exceptional moment in time, and lots of things were going wrong.

For now, I'm going to continue marking them as Shipped when I see that the carrier has accepted them, via tracking.

Thanks for all the responses !

Pikka

We ship from the post office, always with a full tracking service and with signature on delivery. From that moment on the packages are in the Czech Post system. Back home we fill in tracking numbers and only then mark the orders as shipped. That way the buyer receives a shipment confirmation that already includes the tracking number.

Mrs Swoop

I do it after I've handed it over to the post office, when I've done everything I need to and it's no longer in my possession/control.

Calibrick

@nita_rae, does your area offer the pickup request from USPS during regular scheduled delivery (which is free)? I fill that out each time I want a special pickup, as we live in an HOA, which has those shared mailboxes with a teeny slot that nothing fits in beyond a letter. https://tools.usps.com/schedule-pickup-steps.htm

nita_rae

@Calibrick They do ! But, there's a catch ... USPS says the requests must be entered no later than ~2 AM EST. I generally turn in about 9 PM. If I get up in the morning, and see an order that won't fit in the mailbox, I can't do the pickup request for same day, because the cutoff has already gone by. So that means, I have to either drive it to a post office, or try the 'little sign in the mailbox', and hope they are willing to back up 10 feet and swing into the driveway.

Calibrick

Nita, yes that is true - our pickup is so early in the a.m., I can only use if for orders received the day prior vs. same-day shipping. I rarely ship the same day though (though if I have a new order and they haven't picked up yet, I do add on to what is already waiting for pickup). :-)

ladyiolanthe

I mark them as shipped after I've taken them to the post office.

nita_rae

So, this is going to be my policy going forward, I will mark an order shipped when one of the following has happened: USPS tracking shows the package has ‘Acceptance’, the package has been in my mailbox with the flag up for at least four hours, 12 noon has passed. On a normal day, the carrier picks up between 1000 and 1400.

All of the above has to do with the unpredictability of exactly when my mail carrier shows up at the mailbox, and scans the package. In the case of a few substitute mail carriers, the package has not been scanned until it got back to the post office. I observed one instance (a few weeks back) when I put the package into the mail box at 0700, and it was finally picked up between 1800 -1830. The sub carrier was running that far behind.

Generally, I can turn orders around in 4 or 5 hours (sometimes much less). With the slowness of orders, and the increased cost of fuel, I’m only going to the post office when the package is physically large or there are too many to fit in the mailbox. But it seems that the delay in getting the Acceptance is being reflected back to BrickOwl. A few weeks back the system scolded me for not meeting my stated time.