Role · Operations / Logistics
Despatch Coordinator
The last person to touch the order before the customer does. Controls the quantity recorded, the paperwork sent and the proof captured — three things the invoice and every later dispute depend on.
Also called: Shipping coordinator · Goods-out supervisor · Logistics coordinator · Warehouse and despatch supervisor
- Sits in
- Operations / Logistics
- Reports to
- Operations manager or logistics manager
- Owns these steps
- Despatch and shipment
- Measured on
- On-Time Delivery (OTD)
What the job actually is
The despatch coordinator gets finished goods out of the building correctly: picked against the order, checked, packed for the journey, documented with the references the customer's systems need, handed to the right carrier on the right terms, and recorded accurately.
It looks physical and it is mostly informational. The quantity typed into the despatch record is the number the invoice will be raised from, the number the customer's goods-in will receipt, and the number a three-way match will compare. Getting it wrong is one keystroke and sixty days of unpaid invoice.
It is also the last inspection point. Whatever leaves is what the customer judges, and any gap between what was ordered and what is in the box will be found by someone with no context and no reason to be forgiving.
Responsibilities
- Pick against the order and ensure the count is verified independently of the picker.
- Check special requirements before packing: certification, labelling, packaging standard, batch traceability.
- Pack to survive the journey and to meet any contractual packaging specification.
- Raise the packing slip with the customer's purchase order number, their part numbers and the batch details.
- Record the quantity actually despatched, never the quantity ordered.
- Book carriers and delivery slots, including customer booking-in systems that need days of notice.
- Ship on the correct delivery terms and prepare export documentation where needed.
- Capture proof of delivery and file it against the order.
- Close or part-close order lines and release the despatch to invoicing.
- Hold deliveries where credit control has placed the account on stop.
A typical day
A realistic one, including the interruptions.
- 06:30Review today's despatch list against what production actually completed overnight — two orders are short.
- 07:00Check special requirements on today's consignments. One needs a certificate of conformity that has not been issued; chase quality now, not at 15:00.
- 08:00Picking and independent count checks on eleven consignments.
- 09:30Book a delivery slot at a customer site requiring 48 hours' notice for Thursday.
- 10:15Raise packing slips. One order ships 388 of 400 — record 388, note the balance to follow, tell the coordinator.
- 11:00Export consignment: commercial invoice, commodity codes, origin statement, carrier booking.
- 12:30Load the afternoon collection; check package counts against the notes as they go on.
- 13:30Download yesterday's carrier delivery confirmations and file them against the orders.
- 14:30Credit control puts an account on stop; hold a consignment already picked and tell sales before the customer finds out.
- 15:30Release completed despatches to invoicing and update the order lines.
- 16:00Check tomorrow's list for anything needing certification, special packaging or a booking.
Documents they handle
- Packing Slip / Delivery NoteThe document that travels with the goods and states what is in the consignment. It carries no prices, and the signature it collects is what settles a payment dispute months later.
- Certificate of Conformity (CoC)The supplier's signed statement that what was delivered meets what was specified. It is a claim about the goods, made by the person who made them, and it travels with the delivery.
- Purchase Order (PO)The buyer's instruction to supply. It usually forms the contract, it usually attaches the buyer's own terms, and its number is the key that every later document — including your invoice — has to match.
Systems they work in
- ERP despatch and stock modules
- Carrier booking portals and label printing
- Customer delivery booking systems
- Barcode scanning and label generation
- Export documentation and customs systems
Skills that matter
- Accuracy on counts, and the discipline to have them checked independently
- Knowing what each customer's site requires before the lorry arrives
- Packaging judgement — what survives a pallet network as opposed to a shelf
- Working Incoterms confidently enough to know who is liable for what
- Export documentation, where relevant, which is unforgiving of small errors
- Refusing to ship something that is not ready, under pressure at 16:45
- Keeping records that someone else can find three months later
Who they work with
- Production Planner — What is completing when, and which orders will ship partially.
- Inside Sales / Sales Coordinator — Special requirements, delivery bookings, part shipments and what to tell the customer.
- Credit Controller — Accounts on stop, and holding consignments before they leave rather than recalling them.
- Quality — Certification, concessions and holds on finished goods.
- Carriers and forwarders — Bookings, collections, tracking and claims.
- Customer goods-in — Delivery windows, receiving requirements and discrepancies at the point of receipt.
Where the job leads
- Despatch coordinator → Warehouse manager → Logistics manager
- Despatch coordinator → Supply chain or planning roles
- Despatch coordinator → Import/export or customs specialist, a genuinely scarce skill
- Despatch coordinator → Operations supervision and production management
- Despatch coordinator → Inventory or stock control management
Questions this role gets asked at interview
Useful from either side of the table.
- 01An order for 400 is ready but only 388 have passed inspection. What do you do?
- 02What is the difference between ex-works and delivered, and why does it matter to you?
- 03A customer says a delivery never arrived. How would you resolve it?
- 04Why should the packing slip not show prices?
- 05What would you check before packing a consignment for a customer with certification requirements?
- 06It is 16:45 on Friday and a consignment is not ready but the collection is booked. What do you do?
- 07How do you make sure proof of delivery is available months later?
- 08What information does the customer's goods-in department need from you, and why?
Common questions
›Why does the despatched quantity matter so much?
Because three separate systems reconcile against it: your invoice, the customer's goods receipt, and their three-way match. Recording the ordered quantity when a shorter quantity shipped means the invoice fails matching, and the invoice then sits in an exceptions queue that nobody is assigned to clear. It is the most expensive single field in despatch.
›Should despatch be able to stop a shipment?
Yes, and it needs the authority in writing. Missing certification, an account on stop, a failed count or an unbooked delivery are all reasons to hold. A despatch function that can be overruled by whoever is standing there at 16:45 is not a control point.
›What are Incoterms and why does despatch need to understand them?
They are standard trade terms defining who arranges and pays for transport and insurance, and where risk passes. Despatch acts on them physically — arranging or not arranging the carrier, insuring or not insuring, preparing export paperwork or not. Getting them wrong means either paying for freight that was never quoted or leaving goods uninsured on a journey you thought was someone else's.
›Who should collect proof of delivery — despatch or credit control?
Despatch captures it, credit control uses it. The critical part is that it is filed against the order at the point of despatch, not retrieved when a dispute arises. Carrier portals frequently purge tracking records after around ninety days, which is roughly when queries appear.
›Is despatch a warehouse job or an administrative one?
Both, and the administrative half is the one that carries the money. The picking and packing can be taught in a week; knowing which customer needs a 48-hour booking, which needs a certificate, and why the count must be verified independently takes considerably longer and is what the role is actually for.
Tools this role uses
Built for exactly this job — downloadable, self-contained, and no account required.
- Dispatch List & Shipping LogProRun outbound dispatch from one list — pick, pack and ship against promised dates, measure your OTIF rate honestly, catch missing paperwork before the van leaves, and print a shipping log worth showing a customer. Nothing is uploaded.
- Delivery & Goods-In LogFreeLog every delivery as it arrives, compare what turned up against what was promised and ordered, and measure on-time, in-full and on-time-in-full by supplier with the discrepancies still open. Runs entirely in your browser. Nothing is uploaded.
- Stock Inventory RegisterFreeA stock register for a small warehouse, workshop or stores: value every line at the unit cost you enter, see what has fallen to its reorder point, prioritise the next stock-take and print the reorder report. Nothing is uploaded.
- Batch & Lot Traceability LogFreeLink incoming material batches to the batches you make and the customers you send them to, so a recall can be scoped in minutes instead of days. Runs entirely in your browser — nothing is uploaded.
Reviewed 2026-08-15. Job titles, reporting lines and scope vary widely between companies — this describes the work rather than any one organisation’s job description.