Behind the scenes at J&T Express

So, you’ve gone on a shopping spree during the 9.9 sales and are now waiting to receive your loot and unbox your purchases. But you may not know of the arduous journey your package takes before arriving at your doorstep.

Imagine all of Singapore ordering thousands of dollars worth of items, you would think the delivery warehouses would be in utter chaos with packages coming in from all over the place – but how does your cartful of items make its way to you in just a few days? We hooked up with J&T Express to get a lowdown on what goes on behind the scenes.

What happens after you cart out?

On the day, we ordered a dress from local fashion label, The Stage Walk. At this point, once us shoppers receive the email confirming our order status, most of us don’t even bat an eyelid. We just sit back and wait. 

But today, we faithfully follow the package to see where it takes us – starting with the seller. The Stage Walk team got notified of our order and the packing elves got busy getting our order ready for delivery.

After packing the order, personnel from The Stage Walk simply makes use of J&T Express’ Last Mile Delivery online service to book a pickup slot. The system automatically generates a shipping label with all your details including your name and address that goes onto the package.

If the shipping orders come in before 4pm, same-day pickup is on the cards. Thereafter, the pickup driver will arrive the next day during the chosen time slot to pick up all the orders. J&T Express has a total of 5 time slots available for pickup throughout the day to provide more flexibility for the merchants.

For regular partner merchants such as The Stage Walk, orders come in almost every day. Over time and numerous exchanges, the delivery drivers and merchants share a camaraderie that allows them to communicate directly with each other for flexible pick up times and more efficient deliveries.

The delivery driver will scan the label on the package so it is registered in the system and accounted for – that means fewer chances of misplaced packages. From this moment onwards, we’ll be able to track the status of our delivery and stay updated on the parcel’s whereabouts. 

Behind the scenes at the J&T Express warehouse

Now that the package is in the trusty hands of the pickup driver, it goes to the warehouse where all the magic happens. J&T Express has 2 warehouses – one in Changi and the other in Penjuru. We headed to the latter to see exactly what happens once our order leaves the merchant’s warehouse.

Warehouse staff placing orders on the conveyor belt for automated sorting.

Remember you’re not the only one who went shopping during the 9.9 sales. Picture truckloads of packages piling up at the warehouse – all waiting to be sorted before making their way to their eager owners. 

The spike in demand during such peak periods coupled with man crunch issues makes it a huge challenge for logistic companies to cope. But don’t get flustered at the thought of your package getting lost in the piles just yet – J&T Express is well-prepared to get those parcels out, pronto.

Automated sorting machines to the rescue

The cross-belt sorting machine for small and lightweight parcels is able to sort up to 25,000 parcels per hour according to their designated postal code.

The warehouse is equipped with 2 automated sorting machines to handle the large volume of deliveries. These giants have been constantly upgraded, and the Penjuru warehouse is now able to sort up to 200,000 parcels in a day, thus increasing the sorting efficiency by an impressive 630%.

Having travelled on the conveyor belt, our parcel from The Stage Walk finally reached the scanning station. “Ting ting” notification alert. This is the point at which your tracking status changes to let you know that your order has reached the warehouse and is almost on its way to you.

Here’s the cool part: the system recognises the shipping labels according to the bar code and automatically sorts all packages into the shipment load meant for that area’s postal code. Basically, all the packages going to the same neighbourhood are collated and handed to the delivery driver.

The DWS machine handles bulkier items and sorts up to 10,000 parcels per hour.

Now, if you were wondering what happens to larger or irregular-shaped parcels, there’s another sorting machine for that. Known as the Dimensioning, Weighing, Scanning (DWS) machine, this advanced piece of technology is able to capture the dimensions and weight of the parcels through a simple scan. After which they are also sorted according to postal codes.

Image credit: J&T Express

Don’t worry about the handling of your fragile packages either. Those labelled as such are transported to a different warehouse where specialists carefully sort them manually instead of using the machine.

Parcels coming from across the borders

J&T Express’ network spans 13 countries, including Southeast Asia, China, Middle East, and South America.
Image credit: J&T Express

If your order is coming through international delivery, then one of the lorries will head to the airport to pick up incoming air freight to be sent to the newly-launched Changi Airfreight Centre for custom clearance, ensuring the safety of the cross-border parcels. 

Your parcel is on the way to you

Now that our parcel is ready to make its way to its new home, us eager shoppers are getting regular updates via text messages on the status of the delivery. Otherwise, we can also use the J&T Tracking Page to track its whereabouts and be prepared for the delivery driver to make his appearance at our doorstep. 

An inside look at J&T Express’ delivery service

Since launching in 2020, J&T Express has expanded its fleet size fourfold to cope with the significant growth.

Much to our delight, the journey of our parcel ended safely as we received our delivery from The Stage Walk just 1 day after placing our order. Having seen the process from start to finish, we’ve come to appreciate the amount of effort it takes to get a parcel delivered from a merchant to their end consumer.

Not forgetting the delivery drivers and warehouse personnel who meticulously go through each step to ensure our parcels are delivered in good condition and in a timely fashion.

The next time you place an online order, you’ll know exactly what your parcel has been through to reach you.

Find out more about J&T Express delivery services

This post was brought to you by J&T Express.
Photography by Ian Sim.