PACKAGE SHIPPING POST # 2

Small Package Shipping efficiency and Bon Trade Intl.

In the first blog post about small package shipping to the ABC Islands I talked about the bar codes.

In this post I want to explain how our system operates so you can understand what makes your goods ship fast.

How does the Bon Trade system work and how does it aid efficiency of Small Package Shipping?

Before we receive any packages or cargo, and enter them into our cargo system, it is necessary that our customers be part of our system.  So we need to create an account for each person or company that makes use of our cargo service. That is why we ask everyone to Register with us before using our service.  This accomplishes several things:

Registration Benefits:

• It allows our receiving department to enter arriving cargo under the name of the correct owner of the cargo and avoid shipping mistakes.
  Note: Registering with our system is especially important because we ship to several Caribbean destinations. Shipping to the Wrong Destination causes major delays and is Very Costly.
• To notify you when orders arrive register in our system with an email address. If you are not in the system we have to wait for you to claim the cargo and then register your information in our system.
  Note: This is the Biggest reason why cargo is delayed and why we ask everyone to Register with our service before sending cargo to our address.
• Once registered in our system you get your own account and receive a login (username and password).  This gives you access to your cargo activity and all documents that arrive with the cargo.  With this login you can see if you have cargo without invoices even if you have not seen our emails.  This counts for all the cargo we handle!

So How do you register with us for service for Small Package Shipping?

To confirm: In order for the system to work correctly you need to register.  The easiest way to accomplish this is by going to our website (bontrade.com) and choosing the registration tab.  The screen will display a form with all the information we need to open your account.

Note: To register you can also click on this URL: https://bontrade.com/about-us/registration/ to go directly to the form.

You will receive your own login to see what you have in our warehouse and your historical data.  In your account there is much more information, but everyone really wants to know where their cargo is, which you can easily see in your account.
Note: It will tell you
1. If we received your order,
2. Whether the cargo is missing an invoice,
3. If it is on the way to you, or
4. Waiting at our agent’s warehouse for you to pickup.

 

When everything goes right the most you have to do is send us an invoice.

If your goods arrive with an invoice at our Doral warehouse you will find out from our agent that your order(s) are ready for pickup about a week to 10 days later.  But there are some things that can cause delays and I will explain the most common ones here, and they are easy to prevent.

Possible issues to bear in mind:

1. It is very common for items you order to come from different warehouses.  This is normal in the U.S.  However, sometimes the items will arrive without your name on them.  In which case your order will be entered as unknown till you contact us to claim it.
2. Sometimes the mistake is made of putting Bon Trade Intl. on the shipping label without mentioning the name of the buyer.  This way we cannot identify who the items belong to and we have the same problem.
   NOTE: See our FAQ’s for clarification and recommendations.
3. When orders are received in multiple deliveries it often happens that an invoice is sent that covers many more items than are in the delivery. The customer, not realizing this, will have items sitting in our warehouse without an invoice and cannot ship.
   

   This also causes duties to be paid twice since these items will have to be declared again!

4. Sometimes an account holder will change their email address without notifying us.  We send them arrival notifications, but they are no longer receiving them.  The result is that cargo does not ship because we do not have an invoice and this can cause long delays.
   

   Always notify us of email changes to make sure you continue receiving our notifications.

5. If for any reason your order arrives with another name on it that is not in our system it will end up in the Unknown category.
   

   So we highly suggest using one name for all your orders.

When these issues occur how do we solve them?

The way to locate your orders and correct these issues is always the same: ‘THE TRACKING NUMBER.”  The tracking number, as mentioned in the previous blog post,  is the identification of your cargo when all else fails.

If you provide us with the transport company (UPS, etc.)and the tracking number we can find your order in our system and put your name on the cargo  We then request the invoice and manifest the order to be shipped.

Once you understand the importance of Registering with our service and of the Tracking Number the whole process will be easier to manage.

We do count on your cooperation and do our best to keep you informed of the status of your orders.  This will help keep our service Fast and Economical. So Please Register with us AND Maintain your account by sending email updates, address changes, etc.

In the next post I will look at Small Package Shipping coming from outside the country and what makes them more complex.

Thanks for reading the post and see you in the next one……