--- title: "Frequently Asked Questions — Agency-to-Agency Shipments" description: "A shipment that starts and ends at a counter. The customer drops off the package at one of your offices, the package travels to another office, and the recipient…" url: https://sistrack.com/en/docs/agency-to-agency/preguntas-frecuentes/ category: agency-to-agency section: docs updated: 2026-08-04 --- *Markdown version for agents. This page on the web: https://sistrack.com/en/docs/agency-to-agency/preguntas-frecuentes/* # Frequently Asked Questions — Agency-to-Agency Shipments ## Getting started ### What exactly is an agency-to-agency shipment? A shipment that **starts and ends at a counter**. The customer drops off the package at one of your offices, the package travels to another office, and the recipient picks it up there by showing their ID. At no point is there pickup or home delivery. ### Why is it cheaper? Because you save the most expensive part of the shipment: the last mile. No one has to go pick up the package at an address or deliver it to another one. That's why it's billed with its own rate, separate from door-to-door. ### Do I need the Agencies module? Yes. It's enabled in **Organization → System**. Without it, the option doesn't appear anywhere and everything works exactly as before. ### Can my customer create it from their account? No. It's an **internal counter** service: it's created by your office staff. The reason is that creating the order also logs that **the package has already been received at the origin office**, and only whoever has the package in front of them can confirm that. That's why the order is created the moment the customer hands over their package at the counter. ### Can it be bulk imported? Not yet. Agency-to-agency shipments are created one at a time from the order wizard. --- ## Configuration ### The office-selection option doesn't show up when creating an order Check in this order: 1. **The Agencies module is turned on** in Organization → System 2. **There are at least two offices** that meet all four conditions: active, public, your own, and **with a zone assigned** 3. **Your user has access to the Agencies section** — customer accounts don't see this service The condition people most often forget is the **zone**. Without a zone, the office won't appear in any selector even if everything else is right. ### It tells me "The agency-to-agency flow isn't configured for this organization" The **"Available for pickup"** shipment status is missing — the one that represents a package waiting at the destination counter. Without it, the system wouldn't know what status to leave the shipment in on arrival, which is why it rejects the creation. It's normally created automatically when you turn on the Agencies toggle. If you enabled the module a while ago, your organization might have ended up without it. **How to fix it:** go to **Agencies** or **Agencies → Pickup queue**. If it's missing, you'll see a notice with a button that takes you straight to the shipment statuses. There, create a new status, choose type **Available for pickup**, and place it between "In transit" and "Delivered." You can name it whatever you like. ### Why doesn't an office show up in the selector? Because it's missing one of the four conditions: - It's not marked as **active** - It's not marked as **public** - It belongs to a **partner**, not your own - It doesn't have a **zone** assigned Partner offices never appear in this service, no matter what other conditions they meet. ### Do I have to create new rates? **Yes, and it's the most important step.** Your current rates were marked as *Door-to-door* and keep working exactly the same. To sell counter shipments, you have to create new rates choosing the **Agency to agency** mode. ### What if I don't create the rate? Does it charge the door-to-door one? **No, never.** If there's no agency-to-agency rate for that route, the shipment **can't be created**. This is deliberate: charging a door-to-door rate for a counter service would mean charging the customer for a last mile that doesn't exist — the kind of error nobody catches until month-end close. We'd rather the shipment not sell than sell with the wrong charge. When this happens, the error message tells you which route is missing, with the name and code of both zones. ### What are "Door to agency" and "Agency to door"? Mixed modes: dropping off the package at a counter and having it delivered to an address, or picking it up from an address and having it picked up at a counter. **They appear in the list but can't be chosen yet.** ### Does this change the price of my current shipments? No. Not a single one. All existing rates stayed as *Door-to-door* and their prices are identical to before. --- ## Operations ### Why does the order already show as received right after creating it? Because it's true: by the time you finish creating it, the package is sitting on your counter. Asking you to later log an event for something that already happened only guarantees it gets forgotten and orders pile up in a false status. You'll see both facts separately in the history: the creation and the receipt. ### Does "Available for pickup" count as delivered? **No.** It's the most important distinction of this service. While the package waits at the counter: - It doesn't count as delivered in your reports - The shipment stays open and under your responsibility - Events can still be logged for it It's only considered delivered when someone physically picks it up. ### Can I log the arrival of many packages at once? Yes. **Received at destination agency** can be logged in bulk over many orders at once, because it doesn't require capturing anything. The truck gets unloaded and everything is logged together. **Pickup**, on the other hand, is logged one at a time: each pickup has a different person and ID. ### What happens if I scan the same package twice on arrival? Nothing bad. The pickup deadline **doesn't reset**: the first arrival always governs. A rescan three days later doesn't steal three days off the recipient's deadline. ### Do I have to assign a courier to these shipments? No. A counter shipment isn't delivered to an address by anyone: the recipient picks it up themselves. There's no need to assign a courier at any point in the journey. ### Can I return a package to the sender? Yes, by logging the corresponding event. The agency-to-agency flow supports **Returned to sender** and **Cancelled before pickup** as alternative outcomes. Both are logged manually. --- ## The pickup deadline ### How long do I keep a package? You decide, in **Organization → System → Pickup deadline (days)**. The default is **10 days**, and you can set it between 1 and 90. ### From when does the deadline count? From the moment the package **arrives at the destination office**, not from when the order was created. Days are counted in your organization's timezone. ### What happens when the deadline expires? **Nothing automatic.** The package: - Stays in the pickup queue, visually marked - Stays yours - **Can be handed over completely normally** It doesn't get returned on its own, its status doesn't change, and no one is notified. The mark is a signal for your team, not an action. If it needs to be returned, that's logged manually. ### Can I extend the deadline for a customer? There's no button for that. Since expiring doesn't trigger anything, in practice it's enough to just hand over the package: it remains pickable. --- ## At the counter ### How do I find a package if the customer doesn't have the number? In **Agencies → Pickup queue** you can search by the recipient's **name** or **phone**, in addition to the tracking number. The phone number finds it even if the customer only reads you the digits and the system has it stored with a prefix and separators. ### What do I ask the person coming to pick it up? Three required fields: **full name**, **ID number**, and whether they're the **recipient themselves or an authorized third party**. Photo, signature, ID type, and notes are optional. ### Can someone who isn't the recipient pick it up? Yes. When logging the pickup you mark that it's an **authorized third party** and capture their name and ID, just as you would for the recipient. ### I made a mistake logging a pickup — can I undo it? Not from the counter. A delivered order is closed and doesn't accept further status changes. An administrator has to correct it. ### Can I do all of this from the mobile app? Almost all of it. The mobile app includes the **Counter Scanner** for logging arrivals package by package (with misrouting alerts included) and the **Log Pickup** screen with ID verification, mandatory signature, optional photo, and payment collection. The **pickup queue** as a list, with its search by name or phone, is still part of the web panel. --- ## Payments ### Can I collect cash on delivery at the counter? **Yes.** The destination office must have its **"Accepts COD"** toggle turned on, and when logging the pickup you declare the amount collected and the payment method — from the panel or from the mobile app. The system logs who received the money, at which office, and when. The full guide: [Cash on Delivery](/en/docs/agency-to-agency/cobro-contra-entrega/). ### Why won't it let me log a pickup with a payment? Receiving money at the counter is a **capability tied to your role**: office roles include it, and an administrator can individually enable it for a courier who also handles the counter. If the system rejects your entry with a message about collection amounts, ask your administrator for that permission. Pickups **without** a payment don't need it. --- ## Labels ### Did the label for my regular shipments change? **No, not at all.** Same elements, same positions, same sizes, same barcode. Your calibrated label printers keep working the same. ### How do you tell a counter label apart? It has a **black band at the header** with **PICKUP AT AGENCY** and a notice that it's not delivered to an address. The destination office's name is the largest piece of information on the label, and the recipient appears on an "attention of" line, below the office's address. The origin office is at the bottom. It's designed so that whoever sorts packages sees it from a meter away and doesn't accidentally put it on a delivery route. ### Does the label show the recipient's phone number or address? **No.** The phone number and address printed are those of the **destination office**. The only personal detail on a counter label is the name of who's picking it up, on the "attention of" line — the package travels across your entire office network and the recipient's contact details aren't needed by anyone along the way. ### Can I print a mixed batch? Yes. Each label comes out in the format that corresponds to it, and the batch doesn't fail. ### What happens if an office moves? Orders created before the move **keep the address the office had on that day**, in the history, on the invoice, and on the label. That way the label you already printed and one you reprint keep matching. --- ## Can't find your question? - [Agency-to-agency shipments guide](/en/docs/agency-to-agency/guia-envios-agencia-a-agencia/) - [Counter pickup queue](/en/docs/agency-to-agency/cola-de-retiro/) - [Agencies module frequently asked questions](/en/docs/agencies/preguntas-frecuentes/)