When Shipping Goes Wrong: How to Deal With Delivery Exception

Delivery exceptions are one of the most frustrating parts of e-commerce logistics—for both businesses and customers. They occur when an unexpected event prevents a shipment from being delivered on time. These incidents don’t just disrupt the delivery process—they can erode customer trust, increase costs, and impact your brand’s reputation.

So what should your business do when a delivery exception notification pops up? And how can you proactively minimize their impact?

In this guide, we’ll break down:

• What causes delivery exceptions
• What to do when you get one
• Practical tips to avoid them
• Why working with a 4PL logistics partner like Wayfindr can save the day

Read About Wayfind E-commerce 4PL Logistics Services

What Is a Delivery Exception?

A delivery exception is a status update from a carrier indicating that an issue has delayed or prevented a package from reaching its destination.

Common Causes of Delivery Exceptions:

• Customs clearance delays
• Incomplete or incorrect shipping documents
• Address issues or label damage
• Weather-related disruptions
• Failed delivery attempts (e.g., no signature)
• Holiday closures

Most carriers provide a delivery exception code to help identify the root cause. However, the message is often vague, and resolving the issue quickly can be challenging without the right logistics setup.

How to Handle a Delivery Exception

1. Track proactively

The last mile of fulfillment is notoriously hard to manage and get right. Keeping track of your shipments carefully is a great way to be sure that if something is delayed, you can fix the issue promptly.

If you aren’t able to proactively keep track of shipments, you might want to consider hiring a third-party provider who can manage fulfillment for you.

2. Contact the carrier

When a delivery exception occurs, carriers will provide you with a delivery exception code. You can use that code to look up what has happened and what needs to be done.

In the case of a more complicated issue, such as a faulty address or destroyed label, you may need to take action immediately. 

Particularly if you have international shipments, problems could be complex. If something is stuck at customs, you may need a party to intervene to get the package moving again.

3. Contact the customer

Contacting them proactively is the best way to avoid losing a customer over a shipping issue.

 If something will be delayed, let them know and apologize. Be specific about anything they will be offered for their patience, how long the delay will take, and what they should expect. 

4. Refund or resend the package

If it’s not possible to deliver the package due to damage or other issues, you will need to ask the customer whether they would like the order refunded or resent. 

Related: Last Mile Logistics: A Comprehensive Guide

Tips to avoid delivery exceptions

Prioritize careful labeling 

If your carrier cannot read the address or scan the barcode, they cannot deliver the package.

In order to avoid issues with addresses, use address verification software. These types of software can verify and edit addresses to ensure they exist and are typed out in the correct format. 

This is particularly helpful if you are sending packages to different countries to make sure that you have no spelling or formatting errors

At a time when package theft in many urban areas averages around 15%, you need to take tracking seriously.

Providing accurate tracking updates to your customers allows them to collect the delivered package promptly after it is delivered, which avoids missed deliveries and stolen packages.

Cross-border e-commerce is one of the many things that has grown with e-commerce, and it’s a wonderful option to have for DTC businesses that are starting to gain popularity abroad. 

However, with the opportunity of cross-border shipping comes the increased threat of delayed, damaged, or lost packages. 

If you ship goods internationally, chances are that you’ve had to deal with something stuck at customs. You may get a notification that states “held at customs”, but you may also get a more cryptic tracking notification like “clearance delay”.

There are a variety of reasons that your goods may be held, including:

• Missing documentation 
• Missing part of a multi-piece shipment
• Further regulatory processing needed

Making sure that you have the proper tariff codes for each SKU shipped will significantly reduce your risk of customs delays. If that is not enough risk mitigation for you, you may want to consider working with a partner who has local operations and can help out.

Why Work with a 4PL to Manage Delivery Exceptions?

For e-commerce brands, a delivery exception is a part of life. However, you need a way to quickly solve problems when they arise, plus strategies to avoid delivery mishaps in the future.

That’s why you work with a partner who can take care of all of that for you. The great thing about working with a 4PL like Wayfindr (formerly CBIP) is that we not only build your logistics operation and optimize it to improve your fulfillment, but we also help you out on the ground by solving problems as soon as they occur.

With a 4PL like Wayfindr, you get all the personalized customer service you would expect from a small, owner-led company, coupled with the reach of an international logistics provider. That’s because instead of owning our own logistics assets like trucks and warehouses, we work with an extensive network of providers located all around the world.

We vet them, we link them to our technology platforms, and we set them up to handle your logistics, with us at the top, overseeing and facilitating everything.

If you are ready to see how your fulfillment process could improve, talk to us today. Reach out for a free logistics consultation with me or another Wayfindr pro.