Share this
When Dock Appointment Scheduling Gives You a Case of the Mondays…
by jpallmerine
Monday. The toughest day of the week. Coming back from a two-day work hiatus and trying to find that workday groove.
It’s hard for most industries, but Monday can be especially tough for warehouses.
We have many Opendock clients operating their facilities on a Monday to Friday schedule. This means no warehouse operations on Saturday and Sunday, which has the potential to create a backlog of trucks picking up or delivering products.
“One of the biggest challenges we had was our business operates only five days a week and our suppliers that are shipping us goods operate seven days a week, 24 hours a day. So we would have to cram 72 hours worth of work into one day on Monday. We have so many trucks show up all at once they would literally shut down our business as well as shut down our neighbor’s businesses too.” - Opendock Client, Beverage Distribution
The crazy Monday morning scenario is common in first come first serve facilities because shipments are typically traveling throughout the week and weekend. If a warehouse is closed, trucks arriving after Friday close, Saturday, and Sunday will stay on-site to have their product unloaded as quickly as possible on Monday morning so they can proceed to their next shipment.
Warehouse teams will not have any visibility of this backlog of trucks until they arrive Monday morning. Imagine being an outbound warehouse supervisor and driving into the facility first thing Monday and seeing an endless parade of trucks. Drivers who have been waiting upwards of 40 hours to ensure they can get unloaded as quickly as possible. The warehouse outbound team often see their workload for the day physically lined up around the facility.
Mondays are already tough, but coming into a situation like this feels insurmountable. The warehouse team knows they will not have a moment to catch their breath all day, and the unloading teams will be working quickly to make up the backlog which can result in unsafe practices, disorganization, or damaged product. Drivers will become frustrated as they planned to be unloaded first thing in the morning and are now late to their next shipment while missing a large chunk of their hours of service. Similarly to the warehouse team, drivers may try to compensate for being late by making up lost time with potentially unsafe driving practices.
If you have ever been on-site during this scenario, you can feel the tension throughout the warehouse. Creating a productive and positive work environment in the situation is difficult at best.
Luckily, this is completely avoidable with minor changes including a dock appointment scheduling tool. Implementing an appointment based pickup and delivery system allows warehouses to get a consistent flow of traffic without creating bottlenecks at a single point in time like Monday mornings.
”Opendock has enabled us to balance that work out over the whole week. Have consistent deliveries every day within specified times so we know what’s going to happen. Carrier feedback has been very positive. Truckers know when to arrive, how long it’s going to take to get unloaded and when they’ll be done and ready for the next job.” - Opendock Client, Beverage Distribution
Let us know if you have a case of the Mondays! Your next cup of coffee is on us and we can show you how Opendock appointment scheduling makes things easier for your warehouse team and your carriers. Schedule a demo today!
Share this
- Blog (87)
- Market Trends (83)
- Shipper (83)
- Enterprise Shipper (68)
- Carrier (66)
- News (56)
- Data Insights (50)
- Thought Leadership (43)
- SMB Shipper (38)
- Our Partners (34)
- Product Updates (29)
- Warehouse (28)
- Mode Optimization (25)
- ShipperGuide TMS (22)
- Mid-Market Shipper (17)
- Opendock (14)
- Case Study (11)
- Loadsmart (11)
- Brokerage Services (10)
- Managed Transportation (7)
- Video (7)
- FreightIntel AI (5)
- Instant Execution (4)
- Asset (3)
- Award (3)
- Food and Beverage (3)
- Freight Management (3)
- eBook (3)
- Podcast (2)
- Logistics Solutions (1)
- Paper Packaging (1)
- Retail (1)
- Transportation Management System (1)
- October 2024 (3)
- September 2024 (11)
- August 2024 (5)
- July 2024 (5)
- June 2024 (9)
- May 2024 (7)
- April 2024 (6)
- March 2024 (2)
- February 2024 (2)
- January 2024 (5)
- December 2023 (6)
- November 2023 (2)
- October 2023 (12)
- September 2023 (5)
- August 2023 (3)
- July 2023 (4)
- June 2023 (10)
- May 2023 (5)
- April 2023 (5)
- March 2023 (7)
- February 2023 (5)
- January 2023 (7)
- December 2022 (4)
- November 2022 (13)
- October 2022 (4)
- September 2022 (7)
- August 2022 (11)
- July 2022 (6)
- June 2022 (5)
- May 2022 (2)
- April 2022 (4)
- March 2022 (6)
- February 2022 (7)
- January 2022 (9)
- December 2021 (3)
- November 2021 (5)
- October 2021 (7)
- September 2021 (2)
- August 2021 (2)
- July 2021 (4)
- June 2021 (6)
- May 2021 (6)
- April 2021 (5)
- March 2021 (8)
- February 2021 (3)
- January 2021 (3)
- December 2020 (7)
- November 2020 (9)
- October 2020 (7)
- September 2020 (6)
- August 2020 (10)
- July 2020 (8)
- June 2020 (3)
- May 2020 (1)
- April 2020 (2)
- March 2020 (2)
- February 2020 (1)
- January 2020 (1)
- November 2019 (2)
- October 2019 (1)
- September 2019 (2)
- August 2019 (3)
- July 2019 (2)
- June 2019 (2)
- May 2019 (3)
- March 2019 (1)
- February 2019 (3)
- December 2018 (1)
- November 2018 (2)
- October 2018 (1)
- September 2018 (2)
- August 2018 (1)
- July 2018 (1)
- June 2018 (3)
- May 2018 (4)
- April 2018 (1)
- February 2018 (1)
- January 2018 (4)
- November 2017 (1)
- October 2017 (2)
- June 2017 (1)
- May 2017 (2)
- April 2017 (1)
- February 2017 (1)
- January 2017 (2)
- October 2016 (1)
- August 2016 (1)
- July 2016 (2)
- June 2016 (1)
- March 2016 (1)
- January 2016 (1)
- December 2015 (3)
- November 2015 (2)
- October 2015 (6)
- July 2015 (1)
- June 2015 (1)
- April 2015 (2)
- March 2015 (13)
- February 2015 (17)
- January 2015 (15)
- December 2014 (35)
- November 2014 (26)
- October 2014 (60)
- September 2014 (2)