Amazon Prime Day is on the horizon. Coming up in July, Prime members will get exclusive deals from top brands and small businesses. This follows last year’s Prime Day that saw members purchase more than 375 million items worldwide, saving more than $2.5 billion on millions of deals across the Amazon store. It was the biggest Prime Day event ever.

Prime Day is a great opportunity for Amazon Sellers to capitalize on the deals and reach their customers. What does it mean for their shipping? In a word, “volume.”

But the other word that comes to mind is “preparation.” It’s going to a busy time with the surge in orders, and shippers need to plan ahead to ensure smooth operations. Here are four quick tips to get the most out of Prime Day 2024 when shipping with Amazon Freight.

1. Ensure your BOL is accurate
Your bill of lading is the critical source of truth for each shipment. Information reported in it must be current, correct, and printed out. Do not alter the BOL downloaded from the website or use your own BOL. If you have last-minute changes, you can edit your shipments directly from your Amazon Freight account up to two hours before pickup or 12 hours before drop-off.

2. Follow Amazon’s loading best practices
Smooth shipping starts with the loading process. Palletize your shipments to secure earlier delivery appointments. Group the same POs/ASINs together into the same pallets and follow Amazon’s requirements. When using stretch wrap, adhere to the “5-3-5” pattern to ensure stretch-wrap completely affixes the product to the pallet: five layers of shrink wrap at the bottom, three layers in the middle, and five layers on top.

If you are floor loading, only load boxes that you can carry safely and secure them properly with load bars and straps. Go ahead and check out Amazon’s floor loading policy for full details.

3. Load within your assigned window
To help ensure on-time deliveries, you must load your shipments within your scheduled two-hour window. That means, if your driver arrives earlier than the pickup time, you will have to wait to load it. If you load it right away, the driver will then arrive too early at the Fulfillment Center (FC). There won’t be space to unload it and a disruption will occur.

It’s also a good reminder to make sure your facility hours are reported correctly in your account under “Shipping Locations.”

4. Take advantage of self-service
Your Amazon Freight account is made for you to quickly and easily book and manage your shipments. In addition to editing your loads, you can also cancel orders, track their status, and download your proof of delivery directly. If your facility has night and weekend availability, we may be able to find earlier appointments at the FCs and get your shipments in sooner. Therefore, it is always a good idea to ensure your operating hours are up-to-date under “Shipping Locations.”

Start shipping
Following these guidelines will set you up for successful shipping on Prime Day. If you have questions, start by logging into our Help Center. For issues, such as rescheduling an existing appointment at an FC or changing the pickup address, select “Contact Support” in your account.

Good luck and have a great Prime Day event!

Not using Amazon Freight yet?
If you’d like to try Amazon Freight and tap into Amazon network of more than 50,000 trailers, create an account. You can start quoting and booking loads immediately.