Of the two copies of the back order, one goes to the shipping clerk, while the other is kept in the office. The office copy is used to follow up the shipment of the order. It is necessary for the shipping clerk to know immediately when goods required to fill back orders are received. When a separate receiving clerk is employed, the back order is sometimes made in triplicate, one copy for the receiving clerk, who notifies the shipping clerk when the goods arrive.
Fig. 7. Back-Order Blank
When a back order is filled, the shipping clerk returns his copy to the office. Invoices are made in duplicate, one copy being filed as a sales sheet. The two copies of the order are filed with the corresponding copies of the original order. A most satisfactory plan is to file one copy numerically and one alphabetically, making a cross-index. A simple form of back-order blank is shown in Fig. 7.
CHECKING SHIPMENTS
One of the vitally important problems in connection with shipping is the proper checking of items in each shipment. To receive complaints of shortages is very annoying to the shipper—especially so when he is not in position to prove that the items claimed to be short were shipped—but, rather than take the chance of losing a customer, he usually pockets the loss.
Fig. 8. Order Blank with Column for Shipper's Check
Shipments should be checked at every stage in the process of filing the order, by everyone who handles the goods. The stock man should check his part of the order as he assembles the goods, and again before he forwards them to the shipping room, or the next floor. When received in the shipping room, the goods should be checked against the shipping clerk's order, and again just before they are packed.
It should be a positive rule that all goods shall be checked when they are placed in the cases. The items should be called off by the packer as he handles them, and checked on the order by a checker. This is a safer plan than calling off the items from the order, as it insures a positive check on the items actually packed—not what should have been packed. All order blanks should be provided with a separate column in which to check the items actually shipped, and quantities should be entered in this column even if the order is shipped in full. The checking column on the order blank is shown in Fig. 8. If the system of entering orders includes a copy to be used as an invoice, the items are entered in this column after the shipping order is returned to the office.