Operations
How to manage shipment exceptions without losing orders
2 min readUpdated 18 January 2026PostVery product team
Most shipments are fine. The few that are not will consume your support time, damage reviews and trigger refunds if nobody owns them. Exception handling is a process problem before it is a software problem.
Four queues that cover almost everything
- 1No movement: booked but no scan within your threshold, typically 48–72 hours.
- 2Attempt failed: delivery attempted and unsuccessful.
- 3Return in progress: parcel heading back to you.
- 4Delivered but unreconciled: COD delivered with no matching credit yet.
Reason codes
Free-text notes are unusable in aggregate. A short, fixed list makes patterns visible after a month.
- Address incomplete
- Recipient unavailable
- Phone unreachable
- Refused at delivery
- Destination not serviceable
- Damaged in transit
- Lost / untraceable
Give each queue an internal response time
| Queue | Suggested first action | Within |
|---|---|---|
| No movement | Check with booking office, notify customer | 1 working day |
| Attempt failed | Call customer, confirm address, request redelivery | Same day |
| Return in progress | Hold refund, prepare restock | On receipt |
| Unreconciled COD | Check settlement statement | Weekly |
The weekly review
Export the week's exceptions and look at them by reason code and destination. If address quality is the top reason, fix the checkout form. If a destination repeatedly fails, consider a different service for that region.