Time to Ship
Time to ship is the elapsed time between an order being placed or released to the warehouse and the package receiving its first carrier scan or ship confirmation.
Why it matters for ecommerce brands
Time to ship is the part of delivery speed your warehouse or 3PL controls, and it is the first thing to check when packages arrive late. It drives your delivery promise and is the basis of most fulfillment SLAs. Measure to the first carrier scan, not label creation, so packages that sit on the dock still count. For example, 1,000 orders that took 18,000 hours in total average 18 hours to ship. If the median is only 6 hours, a small group of very slow orders is pulling the average up.
Formula and calculator
Average time to ship = sum of (ship timestamp − order release timestamp) ÷ orders shipped
Common questions
- Should time to ship be measured in business hours or calendar hours?
- Most 3PL SLAs use business days and order cutoff times, so measure that way for contract compliance. Track calendar hours as well, because customers experience weekends and holidays as part of the wait.
- How do you calculate average time to ship?
- Add the hours from order release to first carrier scan for every order, then divide by orders shipped. 18,000 total hours over 1,000 orders is an average of 18 hours.
- What is the difference between time to ship and handling time?
- Handling time is the promise, such as one business day, often set on a marketplace listing. Time to ship is the measured result for each order.