Aren't those all really pickup numbers?
I'm surprised you asked that, but as was noted, no necessarily.
The
Customer Ref # is an in-house number that may or may not be the pickup number. It's a reference to the customer that may or may not be the shipper. If it is the pickup number, great. But if it's not, and you give that to the shipper, you look like a moron.
The
NLM # tracks the load through NML and may or may not be what the shipper uses for the pickup number. I've been to several auto suppliers that needed a completely different number than the NLM number.
The
Pickup # is exactly that, what the shipper needs in order to ensure we get the correct freight.
The
AWB # is often the same as the pickup #, especially when picking up at air cargo at the airport, but often when picking up at an off-site warehouse where the air cargo is being stored for pickup, not always. Bax Global at Logan is like that, two warehouses at O'Hare that I know of, and one at Hartsfield is like that, where the AWB probably won't get you the freight and you need their pickup number instead.
My point is, if dispatch (or whoever books it) is actually given a pickup number, even if it's not the correct one, we should be getting it, and getting it automatically if possible. Rather than type it into the notes that we don't see, why not type it into a "pickup number" field that gets sent to us automatically (or have the notes sent to use automatically)? They gotta type it in anyway, why not type in into a field that automatically gets sent to use over the QC? That's my point.
Or multiple numbers where you just have to go through them to find the one the shipper is looking for, but at least we have them when we walk into the place.
There will certainly be times when there are incorrect numbers, it happens, no big deal. It's understandable. If dispatch is given a pickup number and it's wrong, and they have to call the customer to get the correct one, you can't really blame dispatch for that. On the other hand, if dispatch is given a pickup number and they don't give it to us, there ya go.
When I need a pickup number and I call in to get it, and it takes them like 3 seconds to give it to me, that's what gets annoying, because they had it all along and just never bothered to give it to me. I understand how busy they are, and how they can forget to send the notes on something like that. But if they're that busy, they certainly don't need to kill more time answering the phones about it. Automate it.
It's really not much different than me inputting 1 piece 1 pound when departing the shipper instead of the actual pieces and weight. Then they have to call me to get the numbers. That would, I'm sure, get really annoying really fast to our laid-back and even-keeled dispatch.