We release goods to the owner or to a person the owner has authorised. The authorisation comes from the goods owner in advance: it names the collector, the scope of the release and how identity will be confirmed. At collection we check the details against the instruction and take a signature. Without authorisation nothing is released, however obvious the circumstances.
Why this is not a formality
Because a release is irreversible. A pallet handed to the wrong person does not come back on its own, and recovering it requires proceedings nobody wants to run abroad. In practice the common risk scenarios are mundane: a driver sent by a subcontractor of the receiver with no paperwork, an end customer convinced that having paid entitles them to drive over, and a trading partner collecting for a company the owner stopped working with a week earlier. The procedure protects the goods owner above all.
How to authorise a collection
A release instruction sent from an agreed address by a person named in the agreement is enough. It should carry: identification of the goods, the exact scope of the release, the collector details and the verification method at collection. If a carrier is collecting, the simplest route is a vehicle registration and the haulier name. If collection is in person, we need a name and a way of confirming identity. Authorisation can be one-off or standing, for a defined set of collectors.
What we check when releasing to a third party
Three things. Whether the instruction exists and comes from the right source. Whether the person or vehicle details match it. Whether the scope matches unit by unit, because most discrepancies concern pallet counts rather than identity. At release we take a receipt signature, and a copy reaches the goods owner the same day. Documentation practice at collection is covered more widely in delivery documents and POD clausing.
Releasing part of a pallet
Possible, but it needs an instruction broken down to units and consent to open the load unit. After picking we recount the remainder, secure the pallet again and record the new position, so the stock report still reconciles. It is worth costing in advance, because partial releases are dearer than full-pallet ones, as set out in pallet-in and pallet-out billing. Companies releasing often and in small amounts usually move to grouped releases within a quarter.
What happens when somebody arrives without authorisation
We do not release, and we call the goods owner. This is not distrust of the person who turned up but the only course that can be defended later. If the owner confirms the release by phone, we ask for the same in writing from the agreed address, and then we release. Without that the goods stay and the collector leaves empty. We know it is inconvenient, but the alternative is worse for everyone involved.
The warehouse as a release point for several receivers
This is one of the most common ways Polish companies use the Milton Keynes warehouse: the goods stand in one place and receivers collect their batches with their own transport. The model works well provided instructions are predictable and the set of authorised collectors is agreed upfront. What such a point solves and what it does not is covered in the warehouse as a UK operating address.
Three things worth settling at the start
First: who on your side may issue release instructions, and from which address. Second: whether releases are full-pallet or partial, because that changes both cost and how records are kept. Third: whether there is a standing set of collectors who can be registered once instead of confirmed at every collection. Those settle in one conversation when the service starts and remove most of the later phone calls from the ramp. The receipt and release procedure is described in pallet receipt and release.
When it pays to narrow the authorised set
The broader the list, the less it is worth. An authorisation covering company representatives in general cannot be verified at the ramp and in practice means no authorisation at all. A named list, or a list of hauliers with vehicle registrations refreshed from time to time, works better. If your receivers change carriers often, releasing against one-off instructions is usually simpler than maintaining a standing list.
Want to use the warehouse as a release point for UK receivers? Describe the model through the quote form. The service scope is on the Milton Keynes warehouse page.
