What is an 856 advance ship notice?

The 856, or advance ship notice, is the electronic document that tells your trading partner what is physically on the truck before it arrives: which items, how many cases, on which pallets, with which carrier. The receiving dock scans against it.

When it is late or does not match the pallet, the receiver has to decide what they just got, and none of their options are good for you: delayed receiving, a rejected shipment, or a chargeback. Late and mismatched 856s are the most common expensive mistake new suppliers make.

The fix is structural: generate the 856 from confirmed shipment data the moment the label prints, never from what was planned, and never by hand. That one change eliminates most 856 problems permanently.