Friday Shipments and Other Avoidable Losses

Part of Clinical Laboratory (LAB) Training: Shipping and the Cold Chain.

About 2 minutes. Free, in your language, no account needed.

Most cold chain failures are scheduling failures

The packing is usually fine. The journey was longer than the packing was designed for, and the reason is almost always the calendar.

The Friday problem

A shipment leaving Friday afternoon may not be delivered until Monday. Three days is a very different journey from one.

Some couriers do not move temperature-controlled freight over a weekend at all. The box sits in a facility.

Either ship earlier in the week, or pack for the real transit time, or hold the samples properly and send Monday.

Holidays are worse, and they differ by country

An international shipment can meet a public holiday at the destination that your calendar does not show.

Check the receiving country's holidays before booking. This is a two-minute check that prevents a total loss.

Holding is usually better than a risky shipment

Samples stored correctly in your freezer are safe. Samples in a box with insufficient dry ice over a long weekend are not.

If the choice is a risky shipment now or a controlled hold until Monday, the hold is almost always right. Confirm with the manual or the central laboratory, and document the decision and the reason.

Tell the receiving laboratory what is coming

Advance notice lets them prepare space and be present. It also means somebody notices when a shipment does not arrive.

A shipment nobody was expecting can sit unopened.

Track it, and act if it stalls

Booking a courier is not the end of the task. Check that it moved.

A shipment stuck at a hub for a day is recoverable if you know on the day. Discovered a week later, it is not.

When a shipment is lost or delayed

Report it as you would any deviation, promptly and with what you know.

The sponsor may be able to arrange a repeat draw if the participant is still in the window. That option closes quickly.