This fulfillment metric tracks the duration between a customer placing an order and the parcel receiving its first physical scan by the shipping service. It measures warehouse efficiency strictly before transit begins. High automation and optimized slotting reduce this window, while custom packaging or backorders inflate it and risk missing carrier cut-off schedules.
We need to drop our handling time to under four hours if we want to qualify for the new expedited seller tier.
Also heard as
- processing time
Related terms
Detention time
The hours a truck driver spends waiting at a facility beyond the scheduled loading or unloading window.
Clearance time
The duration required for an intersection or road segment to empty of traffic before conflicting movements begin.
Shrinkage
The loss of physical inventory between the point of manufacture and the point of sale.