Your order pickup process

[Warmoth]

Hey everyone,
I'm really curious as to what the "correct" process is for handling an order pickup. Ours seems to be a complete disaster most of the time. I'm not in charge of it, but I'd like to persuade the one who is, to change it to something more logical. How do you do it?

Here's what I'm dealing with.
In our shop, when an order is complete, it's placed on a labeled shelf in our pickup room (if it's small enough, otherwise it waits in the warehouse), and the workorder is placed in a "Finished orders" bin, with the order location noted.
When the time is right, invoices are made. 3 copies are printed. 1 for the customer to take, 1 for us to ultimately file away alphabetically by customer name, and the last one to be filed numerically by invoice number.
We have two filing boxes in the pickup office for open invoices, "Our Copies", and "Customer Copy". The 3 invoices are distributed into these boxes, to wait until the order is picked up.

Pickup scenario 1 (pay by CC)

Customer comes in to pick up. Says he's with "Cool Name" company.
We search the C's in both boxes, and find the proper invoices.
The invoice states the order location "Shelf A". We get the order off the shelf.
He wants to pay by CC. We enter the amount into our CC machine. He's prompted to pay on the customer terminal. He does.
2 CC receipts are printed. Customer copy, merchant copy. We staple one to his invoice, the other to one of ours.
Customer is given their copy, and our copies are moved to yet another filing box, to sit until the end of the week, at which time they are transferred to our file room, their final resting place.

Pickup scenario 2 (credit account, signature required)

Customer comes in to pick up. Says he's with "Cool Name" company.
We search the C's in both boxes, and find the proper invoices.
The invoice states the order location "Shelf A". We get the order off the shelf.
Signature required, as indicated by a Red stamp on our Copy. He signs for it .
Customer is given their copy, and our copies return to the open invoice box "Our Copies", to wait until payment is eventually made by the company, at which time they are transferred to our file room, their final resting place.

Problems arise when the customer doesn't know what they're picking up, what company name, or persons name it's filed under. Or for some reason the order isn't in the right location. On occasion we'll find the customer copy, but not our copy. Because they weren't both filed correctly.

I don't know, to me it's not professional. Our volume of orders is too much to be doing it this way. And it's embarrassing at times, trying to solve the puzzle while the customer looks on.
"Where's this order?!", "Do you know what name this is under?", "I checked the company, I checked his last name.... It's under his first name??", etc.

Every other Friday, the person who normally handles the pickups isn't here. And on those days it's a complete mess just trying to get people out the door. Help!

 

[netsol]

there is no system that can correct for customers coming in NOT KNOWING company name or person who placed the order. kind of beyond the scope of the system.

you can't release orders for open account customers if the identification process is YOU suggest customer names, until They shout THAT'S THE ONE!

get those 3 copies stapled together (printed on NCR paper) until,a signature is gathered & errors, shortages & irregularities are noted on everyones copy. END OF DAY or early the next, scan company copy into a searchable database

 

[CanuckSigns]

Our system is this:
The work order is marked if the job is to be paid on pickup, or if it's for a client with established credit, whe the job is done, the person completing will give the work order to the bookeeper, she will contact the client that the job is ready for pickup and include an invoice, noting it needs to be paid on pickup, or if the customer has terms, she will just let them know it's ready for pickup.

The bookeeper will print 2 invoices for clients paying COD and stick it on the pick up shelves with the order, or print a packing slip and stick it with the order is they have terms.

When the client comes in, most of the time they are good about telling us what company they are from. If they pay with card we staple a receipt to both copies of the invoice, one for us, one for them, ours go in a pile at the front desk and the bookeeper enters them in quickbooks once or twice a week.

Why do you need 2 copies of invoices sorted by 2 different parameters? Do you not use an accounting software like quickbooks?

 

[Warmoth]

there is no system that can correct for customers coming in NOT KNOWING company name or person who placed the order. kind of beyond the scope of the system.

Sometimes it can be a company has multiple divisions with different billing information. Or the company was bought out or merged, so they have a completely new name... Maybe it's unofficial and they're still using the old name for billing, but the driver picking up doesn't know that. Or maybe "I'm picking up for John at company A", but John actually ordered something for personal, not his company at all. Little monkey wrenches like that. The person who made the invoice should know these things, and she usually does. But when someone else has to handle the pickup, and they aren't privy, it can be frustrating for both the customer, and us.

CanuckSigns, that doesn't seem too dissimilar from how we do it. We do use QuickBooks, but for some reason she's super paranoid. "If we get audited, I'm not giving my computer to anyone!"
I always thought we should put the customer copy with the order as well. I see no reason not to.

Maybe I'm making a mountain out of a mole hill. It's worked for 30 years. But I really think it sucks, lol.

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

I can see them not knowing who ordered it... but how do they not know the company name?

 

[JBurton]

Confirmation numbers! File everything by that, or at least a cross reference between account numbers and this list.
Am I the only one confused by the need to file one copy alphabetically and one by invoice number? Now you have the same info in two different places. File everything one way or the other, and a simple database to cross reference for the other.
This is coming from a company that has timecards dating back to the 60's, ya know, in case a customer complains about an invoice and we need proof of time logged. (Nobody cares that your guy actually punched in, "he's probably a liar, your company is full of liars." Any real issues of this sort are either solved amicably, never paid, or discounted, even the largest payouts we've zeroed out didn't justify the waste of time that is small claims court, followed by a bankruptcy.)

 

[netsol]

Our system is this:
The work order is marked if the job is to be paid on pickup, or if it's for a client with established credit, whe the job is done, the person completing will give the work order to the bookeeper, she will contact the client that the job is ready for pickup and include an invoice, noting it needs to be paid on pickup, or if the customer has terms, she will just let them know it's ready for pickup.

The bookeeper will print 2 invoices for clients paying COD and stick it on the pick up shelves with the order, or print a packing slip and stick it with the order is they have terms.

When the client comes in, most of the time they are good about telling us what company they are from. If they pay with card we staple a receipt to both copies of the invoice, one for us, one for them, ours go in a pile at the front desk and the bookeeper enters them in quickbooks once or twice a week.

Why do you need 2 copies of invoices sorted by 2 different parameters? Do you not use an accounting software like quickbooks?

Confirmation numbers! File everything by that, or at least a cross reference between account numbers and this list.
Am I the only one confused by the need to file one copy alphabetically and one by invoice number? Now you have the same info in two different places. File everything one way or the other, and a simple database to cross reference for the other.
This is coming from a company that has timecards dating back to the 60's, ya know, in case a customer complains about an invoice and we need proof of time logged. (Nobody cares that your guy actually punched in, "he's probably a liar, your company is full of liars." Any real issues of this sort are either solved amicably, never paid, or discounted, even the largest payouts we've zeroed out didn't justify the waste of time that is small claims court, followed by a bankruptcy.)

 

[Stacey K]

You made me cringe at "three copies are printed".

I never keep paper copies of invoices. That's what I have accounting software for. If I would get audited I'd rather pull an all nighter with a box of paper and printer ink than store 20 years of paper invoices "just in case".

I very often send electronic invoices and have them pay online - it's much easier and faster for small orders and I require it for many orders, specifically so I don't have to take cards and cash and sit and chat for 15 minutes. You might consider suggesting that for orders under $100 or something like that. It's a real waste of time shuffling with credit cards, cash and having to talk about the weather to 5 customers a day for small one-off orders.

You will never change a woman's mind about paper filing if she's over 50. Been there twice replacing two retiring ladies - it will not happen.

If you both go into a room with the boss, she will win the argument every time because she will tire him/her down with reasons you still need paper copies. It is not worth the effort IMO and I'm a woman LOL

 

[Gino]

You make it sound like any chinese or pizza take out place. They're all over the place, flailing their arms around asking each other...... where's the order ?? Meanwhile, your food is getting cold.

 

[White Haus]

Yeah the 3 invoice and different copies sorted different ways seems crazy & redundant.

For a majority of our customers w/ payment terms:
Customer is emailed that their order is ready. Invoice is emailed to their A/P department.
We print 1 copy of invoice, gets filed with all job-related paperwork in the filing cabinet. (A-Z folders and individual customer folders for larger ones)
Packing slip gets printed and put in a pouch on the order. Customer shows up, they get their order. (I don't care about signatures, I'm not UPS)

Small minority of customers that pay when picking up:
Customer is emailed a copy of the invoice and notified that the order is ready. We print 2 copies of invoice - 1 for them, 1 for us.
Packing slip gets printed and put in a pouch on the order. Customer shows up, pays by card, they get a receipt stapled to their invoice and maybe I even staple our receipt to our copy of the invoice, maybe not.

99% of our orders fit in our "shipping" area so location is pretty obvious for us.

If tracking down the completed orders is a concern, it might be worth designating a dedicated shipping area that all orders are stored in.

Regarding customers that don't know who they work for, maybe you could refer to the invoice number when contacting them and make sure to mention "remember this number when picking up your order"?

 

[Notarealsignguy]

 

[Warmoth]

You made me cringe at "three copies are printed".

I never keep paper copies of invoices. That's what I have accounting software for. If I would get audited I'd rather pull an all nighter with a box of paper and printer ink than store 20 years of paper invoices "just in case".

I very often send electronic invoices and have them pay online - it's much easier and faster for small orders and I require it for many orders, specifically so I don't have to take cards and cash and sit and chat for 15 minutes. You might consider suggesting that for orders under $100 or something like that. It's a real waste of time shuffling with credit cards, cash and having to talk about the weather to 5 customers a day for small one-off orders.

You will never change a woman's mind about paper filing if she's over 50. Been there twice replacing two retiring ladies - it will not happen.

If you both go into a room with the boss, she will win the argument every time because she will tire him/her down with reasons you still need paper copies. It is not worth the effort IMO and I'm a woman LOL

lol about the paper filing. She'll definitely win the argument, she's one of the bosses.
Get ready to cringe again, we do email invoices of course, but we don't currently have an online payment option.

You make it sound like any chinese or pizza take out place. They're all over the place, flailing their arms around asking each other...... where's the order ?? Meanwhile, your food is getting cold.

lol. Once or twice a week the stars align and it briefly becomes just that.

 

[netsol]

You made me cringe at "three copies are printed".

I never keep paper copies of invoices. That's what I have accounting software for. If I would get audited I'd rather pull an all nighter with a box of paper and printer ink than store 20 years of paper invoices "just in case".

I very often send electronic invoices and have them pay online - it's much easier and faster for small orders and I require it for many orders, specifically so I don't have to take cards and cash and sit and chat for 15 minutes. You might consider suggesting that for orders under $100 or something like that. It's a real waste of time shuffling with credit cards, cash and having to talk about the weather to 5 customers a day for small one-off orders.

You will never change a woman's mind about paper filing if she's over 50. Been there twice replacing two retiring ladies - it will not happen.

If you both go into a room with the boss, she will win the argument every time because she will tire him/her down with reasons you still need paper copies. It is not worth the effort IMO and I'm a woman LOL

3 copies are printed because 3 COPIES ARE NEEDED.
the 3 part ncr form goes out, intact, so that EVERYONE'S COPY HAS ANY SHORTAGES, IRREGULARITIES OR CORRECTIONS NOTED, WHEN THE RECEIVING PERSON SIGNS

this is a company that ships approx 600 orders a day (over $1M per day) and has to reconcile orders with potentially hundreds of items.
after 80 years of doing this, they pretty much know what they require