What You Need to Prepare Before the Container Arrives
Receiving starts long before the truck shows up at the dock. Advance notice matters most. Fulfyld needs your container details (expected arrival date, carrier, and a copy of the packing list or commercial invoice) at least a few business days ahead, so dock space and labor can be scheduled.
Make sure every SKU on the shipment already exists in the warehouse management system (WMS). New SKUs need to be set up before the container lands. Trying to receive products without prior SKU setup is one of the most common causes of receiving delays.
If the container is floor-loaded (cartons stacked directly on the container floor rather than palletized), flag this in advance. Floor-loaded containers take longer to unload and may carry additional labor charges, since each carton has to be hand-stacked onto pallets before it can move into the warehouse.
How Fulfyld Receives the Container
Step 1: Dock Scheduling and Unloading
Once the container arrives, it’s assigned a dock door and unloaded either by pallet jack/forklift for palletized freight or carton-by-carton for floor-loaded freight. Each pallet or carton is staged in the receiving area before anything moves into storage.
Step 2: Count and Verification Against the Packing List
The receiving team checks the physical count of cartons and units against your packing list or purchase order in the warehouse management system. Any discrepancy, short shipments, overages, or wrong SKUs, gets flagged and logged immediately rather than guessed at.
Step 3: Condition Inspection
Cartons are inspected for visible damage as they come off the container. Anything compromised is set aside and follows Fulfyld’s standard damaged goods process, separate from the rest of the count.
Step 4: System Check-In
Once counts are verified, inventory is checked into the WMS against the relevant SKUs. This is the point where stock officially becomes visible and available for sale across your connected sales channels.
Step 5: Putaway
Verified inventory is moved from the receiving area into its assigned storage location. Putaway speed depends on volume, a 40-foot container of palletized goods moves faster than the same volume floor-loaded.
How Long Does Container Receiving Take?
Turnaround depends on container size, whether it’s palletized or floor-loaded, and how many SKUs are involved. A standard palletized container with a handful of SKUs can often be received within 1–2 business days of arrival.
Floor-loaded containers, mixed-SKU shipments, or anything arriving during peak season typically take longer, since labor has to be allocated carton by carton.
If your shipment is time-sensitive, say, tied to a launch date, flag this when you submit the advance notice so it can be prioritized accordingly.
Still Have Questions?
For questions about packing instructions for a specific SKU, contact your dedicated account manager directly, or reach the Fulfyld team at hey@fulfyld.com or (256) 716-8241.