Inbound Package Tracking Chargebacks
Now that the holidays are approaching, many organizations’ mailroom and central receiving operations are preparing for a surge in incoming packages, many of which are business and/or personal gifts. The question is how to best prepare and handle this onslaught of volume. There are different approaches to this issue and a few of those options are listed below.
Some organizations mitigate the volume and expense by banning staff from receiving personal packages outright (which can be difficult to enforce) and/or by implementing internal chargebacks – allocating the receiving and delivery cost to the department, project and/or individual who incurred the expense.
With a chargeback process, the internal package delivery expenses can be allocated via charge codes on a pay-per-use basis. Ultimately the money to pay the expenses comes from one place but by charging back internal delivery costs to a department, project and/or individual, the mailroom and central receiving department can be in more control of its expenses and can provide better internal customer service.
The key to implementing a successful chargeback process is to use a package tracking system that can integrate easily with human resources and accounting applications. An organization’s mailroom, utilizing an enterprise package tracking system (with a centralized database) linked to employee and department information, can easily track how many packages are delivered to a particular department or charge code. Chargeback reports can be generated anytime by the mailroom or accounting department detailing the exact number of packages delivered and billed to a particular department.
Does your organization use chargebacks to address seasonal or departmental volume spikes?