The worker’s loading record and shortages

Overview

The quantity that leaves inventory when a shipment closes is decided by the loading record: what the worker says went on the truck, line by line, with the seal. The supervisor doesn’t enter quantities when closing; they only confirm the seal and the actual ship-out date. That’s why the record is where shortages and damage get noted.

Before you start

The shipment is linked to a pickup or load dock job, and that job is assigned to the worker.
The warehouse has the shipping module. Without it the panel doesn’t appear.
The shipment is reserved (or confirmed in a warehouse without inventory).
The worker signs in to Operations › My Work and starts the job. See The worker app.

How loading gets recorded

The worker records the loading from My Work, in the Loading record panel of their pickup job: they check each line that went on, lower the quantity if something was short, enter the seal and click Save loading. If the supervisor finishes the job from the dock board, the same capture shows in the Loading record window with the Finish loading button. The panel, the loading verification checklist and the photos are explained step by step in Loading record and verification.

The quantity is pre-filled with what was already recorded, or the reserved amount, or the ordered amount if nothing is reserved. Next to each line the worker sees which locations to pull it from, which are the shipment’s reservation (see How stock gets reserved).

What gets stored on the shipment

Picked: each checked line gets its loaded quantity in the picked column of the shipment screen, and is marked verified.
Seal: copied to every shipment linked to the job that doesn’t have one yet.
Status: when the job finishes, the timeline shows Loading complete.
Summary: the quantity becomes the loaded one and the discrepancy counter counts lines with less than ordered.

Nothing leaves inventory yet: that only happens when the supervisor closes. See Close a shipment.

Shortages: what happens to what didn’t go on

On close only the recorded quantity leaves inventory. If a line had several reserved locations, the loaded quantity is taken from them in reservation order.
Everything reserved and not loaded is released and stays in its location, available again.
In the pull list, a reservation that didn’t ship in full shows as Short.
The customer email shows ordered and shipped for each line.
The Short lines, Complete and on time and fill-rate KPIs reflect it.
Handling is billed only for what was loaded. See Where each charge comes from.

The shortage isn’t kept pending anywhere: if the customer wants it shipped later, enter another shipment.

Damage during loading

If a case breaks during handling, record it as not loaded. On close it becomes available again in its location, so afterwards change it to damaged with Change inventory status so no other shipment reserves it. If the customer pays for handling the damage, capture an accessorial.

Example

Northern Trading Co.’s shipment has 40 cases of NT-1001 reserved (25 in A-01-02 and 15 in A-03-01) and 12 of NT-2040. Carlos Ruiz loads 40 and 11, because one case of NT-2040 was crushed. He checks both lines, changes 12 to 11, enters seal 483920 and saves. On close 40 and 11 ship; the crushed case stays available in its location and Luis marks it damaged.

Check before closing

Important: today the close treats the reserved quantity as loaded in two cases: when a line was left unchecked and when the worker recorded it as zero. In both, that line ships in full from inventory even though nothing went on. And a line with nothing reserved is recorded for the ordered quantity. Before clicking Close Shipment, compare each line’s picked column with what the worker told you. If a line didn’t go on at all, follow the steps in the next section.

Fixing a wrong record

The supervisor can’t change quantities in the close panel. To correct what was loaded on a shipment that isn’t closed yet:

On the dock job card of the shipment screen, click Unlink. The shipment goes back to Reserved with its reservation intact.
Click Edit, type the reason (e.g. “11 of 12 loaded, one case damaged”) and set each line to the quantity that really went on. Remove the lines that didn’t go on.
Save: the system releases and reserves exactly those quantities.
Check the pull list and click Close Shipment. The reserved quantity ships.

If the shipment is already closed with a wrong quantity, it can’t be undone: correct inventory with an adjustment and, if needed, fix the line on the invoice. See Edit and correct invoices.

Messages the worker may see

“Check at least one line to save the loading.”

Save loading was clicked with nothing checked. Check what went on.

“Could not save the loading record.”

The connection or the server failed. Wait a few seconds and save again; what was entered stays on screen.

On finishing: a notice to complete the loading verification, listing what’s missing.

The warehouse has required checklist items. Tick and photograph what it asks for. See Documents, photos and the dock link.

On finishing: a reminder to save the loading record.

It’s only a reminder. If you didn’t save, do it before finishing.

Best practices

Record at the dock, not from memory at the end of the shift.
Check every line that went on, even when the quantity is the suggested one.
Tell the supervisor right away if a line didn’t go on at all.
Always enter the seal: it prints on the BOL and in the customer email.
Take a photo of the loaded trailer with the seal visible.

FAQ

Can more than was reserved be recorded?

No. If the line has a reservation, any higher quantity is saved as the reserved amount, without warning. If the customer wants more, edit the shipment so more gets reserved.

Can I save the loading several times?

Yes. Each save replaces the quantity of the checked lines. The seal is only copied to shipments that didn’t have one yet.