This article will help you understand how Sendle’s pickups work and how to make it a smooth and easy process.
How to book it
- Log in to your Sendle dashboard.
- Click Send a parcel.
- Fill in your contact info as well as the details about the parcel you’re about to send.
- Choose a custom, saved or classic size that's right for your parcel.
- Under How do you want to send your parcel? Choose Pick up my parcel, then pick a date from the drop down menu.
- Pop in some clear and helpful delivery instructions and add extra cover if you need it.
- Click Create order to look at your order summary and finalise the booking!
Your pickup will be booked for the date you selected, and the driver will arrive between 8am and 6pm.
In the unlikely event that your parcel isn’t picked up, don’t worry – we’ll automatically reschedule it for the next business day.
Leave helpful pickup instructions
Make sure you leave the good pickup instructions to help the pickup driver find your address and locate your parcel if it’s not left in an obvious place.
Tips for writing pickup instructions:
- Use short, simple words (with the most important instructions at the beginning).
- Keep your instructions under 25 characters.
- Don't share your lock codes or passwords.
How to add and save your pickup instructions:
You can add pickup instructions to your order form each time you book, or you can:
- Go to your Sendle dashboard.
- Click into your account settings.
- Go to the ‘Sender details’ tab.
- Save your pickup instructions to your account.
Things to keep in mind for pickup
Making it easy for drivers to find your parcels for pickup will ensure the whole process runs as smoothly and efficiently as possible. We’ve laid out some simple things you can do to help your local drivers:
- Leave your parcels in a safe space that’s easily accessible to the pickup driver, including pickup instructions if the parcels are hidden from view (for example: “parcel left behind the pot plant”).
- For parcels booked with multiple couriers, we recommend you separate them into piles clearly marked with the appropriate courier.
- Make sure the parcel is within the size of the category booked. This will prevent parcels being returned to you for incorrect sizing.
- Keep animals away from the pickup location. For health and safety reasons, couriers can’t enter a premises where there are animals outside or pets in the yard near the parcels.
- For security reasons, a driver will not pick up parcels that are located in a locked facility (for example: a shed, locked box, storage facilities with no reception area).
This is what’s happening on the driver’s end
- On the day you have requested, Sendle books your order with the local delivery partner assigned to your collection. This usually happens between 4am and 6am so the driver will have all of their bookings before they start their day.
- In the morning, the driver will collect parcels from the suburbs they manage and drive them back to the local depot for sorting. Typically, they have a midday and afternoon deadline to get back to the depot for sorting.
- At the depot, they sort parcels, load parcels into their vans for delivery and get updates from their local managers.
- Once their vans are loaded, they drive back out to the suburbs they manage.
- In the afternoon they collect parcels that have not yet been collected and deliver the parcels in their vans.
Keep in mind that a driver can manage five or six neighbouring suburbs and have hundreds of parcels to collect in every shift, and these collections can occur anywhere from 8am to 6pm.
Our drivers work on a very tight schedule to be able to pickup and deliver hundreds of parcels every day. Their routes are generally unpredictable due to traffic and sudden changes, and this is why they can’t call ahead or book a specific time for you.