Despatch

Once an order is packed it still has to leave. It gets its carrier label, goes into the right collection lane or cage, is handed over when the courier arrives, and the system is told it has gone, which is what triggers the customer's notification. That last step is called despatch, also spelled dispatch.

Most despatch errors are small ones: a parcel in the wrong carrier's lane, a label that does not match the parcel, or a handover nobody recorded. A scan at the point of handover, parcel by parcel or as a whole manifest, closes that gap and gives you proof of what left and when.

Despatch is the end of the warehouse's job and the start of the carrier's. Keep the handover record: when a customer says it never arrived, it is the first thing you will look at.