Set your online store’s order cutoff by working backwards from the confirmed courier collection and the time your team needs to prepare the order. The cutoff should mark the latest order you can realistically have ready—not simply the time the driver is expected to arrive.
WTM Logistics can help you confirm the collection and delivery arrangement. Your store then builds its preparation routine around that service.
Start with the handover requirement
Agree when packed goods must be ready for WTM. Identify who releases the orders and where they are staged.
Collection readiness means the goods have been picked, checked, packed and identified for the correct receiver. An order waiting to be printed or a carton still needing its address is not ready for the driver.
Make those completion steps part of your internal process before choosing the time shown to customers.
Allow for your real preparation workload
Estimate preparation time from the tasks your business actually performs. Include time for payment or order review, picking, packing and resolving incomplete addresses where relevant.
For illustration only: if orders must be ready by 3 p.m., preparation needs 90 minutes and your business allows another 30 minutes for exceptions, the resulting order cutoff is 1 p.m. Those times are an example, not WTM’s published collection schedule.
Use the collection time agreed for your location and realistic preparation times from your operation.
Separate products with different readiness
Stocked items and made-to-order products may not share a cutoff. A product awaiting personalisation should have a delivery message that reflects its production time before courier transit begins.
A mixed basket also needs a clear rule: does the whole order wait for the slower item, or is a separate shipment arranged? That is a merchant decision to make before requesting transport.
Explain the outcome after the cutoff
Tell customers when an order placed later moves into the next preparation and collection cycle. Use the actual agreed service days rather than assuming every calendar day has the same collection arrangement.
WTM operates pre-scheduled routes including weekends, but your specific collection and delivery service still needs to be agreed for the origin and destination.
Use a daily handover check
Before collection, compare the ready packages with the requests being shipped. Confirm destinations, quantities and any receiving instructions that changed after ordering.
Use the WTM Customer Portal to manage quotes, approvals and payments, then follow live GPS once the shipment moves. Keep the shipment reference with the relevant customer order for later POD or invoice retrieval.
Should I advertise the driver’s arrival time as my order cutoff?
Only when your preparation process genuinely supports it. Usually the customer-facing cutoff needs to allow time before handover.
What should change when volume grows?
Review preparation capacity and the agreed collection with WTM. A cutoff that worked for a few orders may need adjusting for a larger batch.
Build the promise from the collection backwards. Request a WTM courier arrangement for your online store or call 587-316-2639.
