Receiving a wholesale delivery: the first 24 hours

A wholesale delivery is cheapest to fix in the first 24 hours. The driver is still at the door, the cartons are still sealed, and the pick ticket still describes the stack in front of you. After that, a shortage starts to look like a miscount in your stockroom — and a crushed carton looks like something that happened on your own floor.

None of it is slow, but it has to happen in order: the door, the pallet if there is one, the count, the photos, the claim, the shelf.

Before you sign

Count the cartons before you pick up the pen. The number on the carrier's delivery receipt — or in the tracking email we send at dispatch, one UPS tracking number per carton — should match the number on your floor. If it doesn't, the difference goes on the receipt.

Then walk the stack and look for three things:

• Crushed corners and caved-in tops.
• Wet or stained cartons. A damp patch on the outside is often a leaking bottle on the inside.
• Re-taped or slit seals. Tape over tape means the carton was opened somewhere after it was packed.

If anything is off, write it on the carrier's receipt before you sign, and write it specifically: "2 of 5 cartons crushed, one corner open" or "1 carton wet, bottom seam." A generic "subject to inspection" is not an exception — most carriers treat it as a clean signature.

Sign for what is on your floor, not for what is on the paperwork.

If the driver takes your signature on a handheld with no room for notes, tell the driver what you see, photograph the damaged carton where it sits, and note the time. For one bad carton, accept the delivery and claim it. A refused shipment rides back to our Mountain West fulfillment center before anything can be reshipped, and your shelf stays empty for the round trip.

LTL freight: inspect the pallet with the driver

Orders of 12 cartons or more ship by LTL freight with a delivery appointment. That appointment is the one time a driver will reliably wait while you look — so staff it and use it.

With the driver still there:

1. Count the pallets against the delivery receipt.
2. Check the shrink-wrap. It should be tight and unbroken. Torn, patched or re-wrapped film means the pallet was opened in transit.
3. Look at the bottom tier and the corners: crushed cartons, forklift punctures, a pallet that leans.
4. If the wrap is broken, count that pallet's cartons before you sign.

Write exceptions with pallet and carton numbers — "Pallet 1 of 2: wrap torn, 3 cartons crushed, bottom tier" — and make sure the driver sees the note before anyone signs.

The first hours: count against the pick ticket

Once the cartons are inside, open them one at a time and finish each before you start the next. Two cartons emptied into one pile is how a correct delivery turns into a shortage.

Every SKU on the pick ticket carries its line letter — H hair care, S skin care, B body & bath, C color, N nails & lashes, T tools — and the same letter is on the carton label. Sort by letter as you unpack, then count by inner pack, not by unit. Most SKUs ship in inner packs of 6 or 12, so the arithmetic is short: 24 units of UB-B305, Palmer's Cocoa Butter Formula Lotion, is two sealed 12-packs.

Then check the product against the paperwork:

• Lot codes. We record the lot code on every pick ticket, so the lot printed on the unit should match the lot on the paper.
• Expiry dates. Skin and body care ships with at least 12 months to expiry. A unit with less than that left on the ship date is below our standard — note the lot and put it in your claim.
• Damage. Set damaged units aside in their original packaging — not on the shelf, not in the bin — and keep the outer carton.
• Mis-picks. Usually a near miss: right brand, wrong size, or the wrong shade on line C. Keep them sealed.

Photos that settle a claim

A claim moves as fast as its photos. Three cover almost every case:

1. The carton label — the whole label, readable, not cropped.
2. The damage, close up — the crushed corner, the wet seam, the cracked jar.
3. The pick-ticket number — the top of the pick ticket, in focus.

If a carton arrived damaged, add one wide shot before you cut the tape. Phone photos are fine; if you can't read the label on your own screen, neither can we.

Filing a claim with Urbanbuy

Claims go to accounts@urbanbuycommerce.com within 14 days of delivery. The window covers damage, shortage and mis-picks — including concealed damage you only find once a carton is open, after you've signed.

Send one email per delivery: the pick-ticket number in the subject line, each affected SKU by code and quantity, the photos, and whether you want a credit or a reship. Once the claim is confirmed we credit the invoice or reship, whichever you asked for — usually the same day.

File on the day you count. Fourteen days is the limit, not a target — by the second week the carton is broken down and the damaged units have drifted back onto the shelf.

Shelve first-expired, first-out

FEFO — first-expired, first-out — is FIFO with the date doing the sorting. The unit that expires first goes to the front, whichever delivery it came in on. Pull existing stock forward, set the new delivery behind it, and check the back of each peg for an older lot pushed out of sight.

It matters most on lines S and B, where the 12-month dating standard applies. Write the expiry month and year on the shelf tag or the inner pack in marker — nobody reads a lot code at the shelf. The counts you just made feed the next order — the two-week reorder rule picks up from here.

The receiving checklist

Print it and keep it by the back door.