A day in the life of… our warehouse staff

With the wedding season upon us, our working days are getting busier and busier. For our warehouse staff it’s the peak season, with crockery hire and cutlery hire continually coming in and out of the warehouse to weddings and functions around the region.

We put this little guide together to show how our warehouse staff work hard to make hiring from us easily.

8am – the start of the working day

There is no standing around the water cooler for our staff at the start of the day, as they have to get straight to it to make sure vans are all loaded and are out delivering. The logistics manager will have made the decision on which orders are being delivered in which order, and the van will be loaded as best as possible so that stock for the first orders is closest to the door.

Our drivers and warehouse staff will check off each order to make sure everything is loaded as it should be, and that nothing gets left behind. This can be a hectic time as it’s imperative to get our drivers on the road as quick as possible and there is no time for standing around.

9am – checking through orders that have been returned

With the vans on the road it’s now time to go through orders that have been returned from the previous day. Part of the job of the warehouse staff is to go through orders to make sure everything has been returned as it should be, and to prepare things like crockery and cutlery hire to be washed in our washing plant.

This can be the messiest part of the day as this is when we’ll start to clean up items that have been sent back dirty. We ask that customers scrape food debris from plates and cutlery, and pour liquids out of glasses as it means the boxes are less stinky when we open them and we can put items straight onto the racks to be washed.

11am – preparing orders for delivery

With a constant flow of orders coming in, it’s important for our warehouse staff to keep on top of picking orders. Orders are picked in the order they are being delivered and as new orders come in the list grows and grows.

Picking orders is more than just taking items from the shelves and placing them in packing crates or boxes. Electrical items will be tested to ensure that they are working correctly while gas appliances are checked thoroughly for leaks as well. Our staff have great pride in their work and will take the time to look through crockery and cutlery as it’s put into boxes to make sure it’s all of the requisite standard.

1pm – confirming stock available

With so many orders coming in it’s important for us to understand what our stock levels are like. We have a huge range of event hire, exhibition furniture and catering equipment hire in stock but sometimes availability can get stretched for last minute orders.

While we do take last minute orders our online system prompts customers to make contact with our warehouse to make sure that we have the stock and drivers available for any order to be delivered in the next seven days. When a customer calls, our staff will check with the warehouse manager and the logistics manager to make sure we can fulfil an order as requested.

3pm – the end of the afternoon – unloading vans

As the working day draws to a close drivers start to return from their deliveries and collections with stock they have collected from our customers. Our warehouse staff have to be ready to unload the vans when they come in so that they can be readied for the next day’s work.

Like the morning, this can be a hectic time – even more so as people want to go home after a long day at work! However we have to be just as careful unloading vans as we are loading them, to make sure we have collected everything we were supposed to and that it can all be checked properly the next day.

If you have any questions about how we work feel free to speak to us via our live chat facility in the bottom corner of your screen – we will be happy to help you!