Receiving
Warehouse receiving for LTL shippers
Receiving is the moment a purchase order stops being a plan and becomes what actually showed up. LanePilot puts every inbound shipment in a working queue tied to the PO, checks it in line by line against what was ordered, and flags anything that does not match before it gets shelved. Built for small to mid-sized shippers who run their own inbound dock, not a paper process someone has to remember to reconcile later.
By Aaron Brown, Founder & CEO · Reviewed by Aaron Brown · Published · Updated
Before, during, after
The same three steps every time, so receiving is a working process rather than whatever the person at the dock happens to remember. See how to receive an LTL shipment against a purchase order for the full walkthrough.
Before
The purchase order is the plan
A purchase order is created or CSV imported, with vendor, item, quantity and unit cost attached. If a preferred carrier is set for that vendor in the Receiving Guide, which comes with LanePilot Warehouse, an inbound shipment that shows up on a different carrier is flagged before anyone opens a box.
During
The dock queue is the work
Inbound shipments sit in a queue instead of a stack of paper on a clipboard. The receiver opens a PO, checks each line against what actually arrived, and records the quantity received. A line that matches moves on; a line that does not gets marked over, short or damaged with a reason, on the same screen rather than a separate form.
After
Good stock lands in inventory, honestly
What was verified as received posts to inventory with a bin location and a movement record showing where it came from. Anything held back for a discrepancy stays out of available stock until it is resolved, so the number on screen matches what is actually on the shelf.
A routine PO, worked through the queue
A purchase order for 60 units of a packaging item arrives in two deliveries. The first pallet brings 40 units. The receiver completes that delivery against the PO, where the line shows 40 received and 20 still outstanding, and Receipt 1 stays in the history. When the second pallet arrives, Receive remaining opens a new receipt for the same PO line instead of rewriting the first delivery. The last 20 units are checked in normally. If 2 are damaged, the receiver records the damaged split on Receipt 2 rather than shelving those units as good stock. The PO line and receipt history together show what has arrived and what is still outstanding after each delivery.
What is built, what needs Warehouse, what is not built
A capability list is only useful if it says where the line actually is. Here is the line.
Built today
- Included with Warehouse Essentials ($79/mo) or the 37-day free trial. None of it needs LanePilot Warehouse ($119)
- Purchase orders created directly or CSV imported, with vendor, item, quantity and unit cost
- A real dock queue: inbound shipments waiting to be received, worked one at a time against the PO
- Line-by-line receiving against the PO, with full receive, undo, and a printable receiving sheet
- One purchase order can be received across multiple deliveries, with cumulative received and outstanding quantities visible per PO line and each delivery kept in receipt history
- OS&D capture built into the same check-in screen: over, short or damaged, each with a required reason
- Received stock posts to inventory with a bin location and a reason-coded movement record
- Serial and lot traceability for firearms and food SKUs, enforced at receiving
Needs Warehouse
- Receiving Guide: preferred carriers set per vendor, with inbound carrier-mismatch flagging
- The vendor chargeback letter drafted from a receiving discrepancy. LanePilot Warehouse is $119 a month, its own line item, additive to any freight plan and never a replacement for one
- The visual warehouse map (a 3D view of your zones, racks and bins) for seeing where the good stock landed
- Outbound fulfillment end to end, once received stock ships back out: pick and pack, wave picking, printable packing slips, and automatic inventory deduction
- LanePilot Warehouse carries no freight allowances of its own; quote credits and invoice audits still draw from whichever freight plan it is added to
Not built, do not assume it
- LanePilot does not audit inbound freight invoices automatically. The audit engine runs on outbound freight; inbound cost is entered manually
- LanePilot does not send, file or negotiate anything with a vendor or carrier. It drafts the chargeback letter; you send it
See the rest of the platform
OS&D receiving goes deep on the over, short and damaged exception path and the vendor chargeback letter it can lead to.
Inventory management covers what happens to a SKU after it is received: cycle counts, reorder points and movement history.
LTL TMS + WMS sees the whole platform, quoting and booking outbound freight in the same system that receives inbound freight at the dock.
Pricing has the full breakdown of LanePilot Warehouse, dock seats, and what receiving includes at each level.
Compare warehouse plans puts Warehouse Essentials and LanePilot Warehouse side by side, feature by feature.
Common questions
What is warehouse receiving software?
Software that turns receiving from a clipboard and a filing cabinet into a working process: a purchase order to check against, a queue of what is expected, and a record of what actually arrived, line by line, instead of a memory of what the driver dropped off.
Do I need LanePilot Warehouse to receive freight?
You need a warehouse subscription, but not LanePilot Warehouse ($119) for receiving itself. Every warehouse account starts with a 37-day free trial, no card required. After that, purchase orders, the dock queue, line-by-line check-in against the PO, and OS&D capture with a required reason are included in Warehouse Essentials at $79 a month. LanePilot Warehouse, at $119 a month, is what turns a captured discrepancy into a drafted vendor chargeback letter and adds the visual warehouse map. Both sit additive to any freight plan, including Free, and never sold instead of one.
What happens when what arrived does not match the purchase order?
It gets marked over, short or damaged with a reason, on the same check-in screen used for every receipt. That is the OS&D path, and the detail on how it works, including the decision to make right at the dock and the vendor chargeback letter it can lead to, lives on the OS&D receiving page.
Can one purchase order be received across multiple deliveries?
Yes. Complete the first delivery against the PO, then use Receive remaining when the next delivery arrives. Each delivery appends its own receipt event instead of rewriting the first, while the PO line keeps the cumulative received quantity and what is still outstanding visible.
Does LanePilot audit invoices on freight I receive, the way it does on freight I ship?
Not automatically. The invoice audit engine runs on outbound freight today. On inbound freight, recovery runs through the discrepancy you capture at receiving and the vendor chargeback letter drafted from it, not an automated invoice comparison.
See LanePilot catch a billing error
Send a real outbound freight invoice and the original quote for that shipment, and LanePilot shows you what it finds. Free, no account needed. Receiving and the rest of Warehouse open up with a free account.
Run a free invoice auditWant the receiving workflow first? See how it works or see LanePilot Warehouse pricing.