When Dock Appointment Scheduling Gives You a Case of the Mondays…

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!