Freight Glossary
Dock Appointment
A dock appointment is a pre-scheduled time slot reserved for a truck to arrive at a specific dock door to load or unload freight. Most retail DCs, grocery warehouses, and large manufacturing facilities require dock appointments for all inbound and outbound freight. Appointments are typically managed through scheduling software like Opendock or Dock Scheduler that assigns specific time slots and door numbers.
Why it matters
Arriving without a dock appointment, or missing your appointment window, typically results in the truck being turned away, freight being refused, and a redelivery charge plus potential retail chargeback. Major grocery chains can charge $300 to $500 per missed dock appointment, and repeated misses may result in restricted scheduling access.
When to use it
Schedule dock appointments as soon as freight is tendered to the carrier for any facility that requires them. Appointment lead times can range from same-day to 48+ hours, so planning ahead avoids last-minute scrambles. For high volume lanes, request standing recurring appointment slots so your weekly freight has a guaranteed dock time.
How Warp thinks about it
Warp coordinates dock appointments on behalf of shippers as part of its delivery management process, and Orbit tracks appointment windows against transit progress to flag any risk of arriving outside the scheduled slot. Our AI backbone, Orbit, integrates appointment timing into route optimization so drivers depart with the right buffer to hit their dock windows.