Shipping and receiving can be a juggling act, especially for employers who manage high volumes of material management, such as consumable manufacturers and distribution facilities (e.g., Amazon Distribution).

There’s a lot that goes into optimizing warehouse operations; therefore, when writing your management cover letter, you’ll want to focus on these key areas:

RECEIVING – 

• Inspection Processes
• Pallet Labeling/Processes
• Stock Replenishment
• Documentation/Tracking

SHIPPING – 

• Shipping Costs (e.g., delays, inventory damage, insurance claims)
• Fleet Management (if not using an outsourced provider, such as XPO)
• Deliverability Issues (e.g., holidays, road/construction closures)

WHAT’S THE PAY SCALE?

For those in supply chain and shipping and receiving departments, you know these aren’t the highest-paid jobs.

The median salary for a shipping and receiving manager is $49,000 according to Payscale, while Glassdoor reports the average salary at only $36,844. The gap between these two salary resources likely has to do with the location and size of the company.

BREAKDOWN OF LETTER WRITING

Effective cover letter writing can take a fair amount of time and consideration.

For example, what’s the best approach to writing the first and second paragraphs? Should you stick with paragraphs, or are bullet points okay to use? Is letter design acceptable, or should you stick with traditional font styles and headings? What about cover letter format?

Before writing a cover letter, the best place to start is by not writing at all.

Start by reading and assessing the employer’s job description.

Highlight and make notations of the EXACT skills the employer is seeking and match those up against yours.

Write down what’s unique about the company that you’re aware of. For example, has the company recently expanded into a market you’re familiar with? Or, has there been a recent company merger, and you’ve been through an M&A in the past?

IMPORTANCE OF YOUR UVP

This is where your Unique Value Proposition (UVP) comes into play. A UVP is answering the question: what’s unique about you?

There are plenty of S&R Managers looking for new jobs. What’s so unique about you? Why you over someone else?

Your UVP could include:

• Training programs you’ve introduced to improve team performance
• New policies and procedures that reduced workplace injury, improved customer service, etc.
• Contracts you’ve renegotiated and savings you’ve squeezed seemingly from a rock 😉

Something else to include in your letter is those relevant extracurricular activities you possess that you couldn’t find room for while resume writing. For example, let’s say you volunteer with the Habitat For Humanity, and you know the Hiring Manager at XPO does the same. That’s something unique to you and worth writing about, correct?

Of course, this is the ideal scenario.

There are times when you won’t even know the Hiring Manager’s name, let alone what they do in their spare time.

So, let’s talk about that for a moment.

Who do you address the letter to when you don’t have a contact name?

In the old days, resume writers would just replace the typical salutation from “Dear Mr. Smith” to “Dear Sir or Madam.”

Those days are long gone now that LinkedIn has moved into town.

As of early 2020, LinkedIn had 610 million members, and a staggering 2.48 million of those are Hiring Managers.

With stats like that, there’s a high probability that you can and will find the names of HR Managers using the LinkedIn company search box.

Job Responsibilities For Those in Shipping & Receiving 

• Inventory Controls
• Purchase Order Management
• Bill of Lading (BOL)/Bill of Material (BOM) Reviews
• Order Submission/Validation
• Packaging & Label Inspections
• Supply Chain Management
• Just-in-Time (JIT) Delivery
• Purchasing Planning Processes
• ERP Material Management
• Stored Inventory Audits

[Related Resource: there’s an additional list of keywords in this post [about 50% down] for procurement, purchasing, and inventory management]

How to Write a Cover Letter When Job Responsibilities Differ For S&R Managers

Regardless of the industry, managers have many similar job responsibilities.

For example, Shipping & Receiving Managers oversee the department’s staff. Depending upon the employer’s size, this involvement could include hiring, training, performance reviewing, and mentoring.

Managers also get into financials. There are contract negotiations and management, cost controls, and salary negotiations.

An S&R Manager could also be a big part of researching and selecting delivery and shipping services. They could also work with third-party fulfillment centers — either here in the States or abroad.

What does this mean when writing a cover letter?

This means that you should write about those tasks that go along with shipping and receiving roles; however, don’t forget to input those bits about you to leverage your UVP as I mentioned above.

What You Should Know Before Using the Below Example

Sure, I’ve given you a basic cover letter below.

However, I can’t stress enough that this letter should merely be used to get your creative juices flowing. Remember, you want to stand out amongst other candidates, so using a generic cover letter will not aid in that goal.

The below example DOES give you the proper format (intro to closing paras) combined with some nice content recommendations that can help you write faster.

Example Cover Letter For Shipping and Receiving Manager

Cory Brown

12 Century Pike, Concord, GA 30206 | (770) 214-1221 [email protected]

Date

Hiring Manager
Company
Address
City, State  Zip

Re: Shipping & Receiving Manager [Job Posting @ LinkedIn]

Dear Mr(s)._____________:

Having been a Shipping & Receiving Coordinator with Horner Industrial Group in Springfield, Ohio, for more than 5 years, please accept my submission for your job opening.

Before my most recent role, I worked for various companies throughout Dayton, Springfield, and Cincinnati, including IdX, Northrop Grumman, and Sweet Manufacturing. My management role was built from my time as a Material/Order Handler and Shipping Supervisor roles I acquired after college.

Below, I’ve included a quick snapshot of my management responsibilities at Horner. Despite my job being eliminated, the company invited me to work on many ad-hoc projects in addition to my regular job responsibilities. For example:

 Fleet Maintenance/Management  RFI/RFP Administration  Supply Requirements & Purchasing  Order Fulfillment & Processing  Insurance Policy Coverage & Deductibles  Department Management  JIT Manufacturing & Packaging  High-Volume Material Handling

In addition to my education and work experience, I maintain a membership to APICS and take many of the organization’s ongoing training for logistics and operations managers.

I’d like to discuss the scope of this job further; therefore, you may contact me at (770) 214-1221.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Cory Brown