FBA Shipping Strategy & Doodla Shipment Troubleshooting

Overview

Impromptu working session between Mark Hope and Karly Oykhman on December 15, 2025 to troubleshoot a stuck Doodla FBA shipment and align on a revised shipping strategy going forward. The session resolved the immediate shipment issue and produced a clear decision to abandon AWD in favor of FBA-only shipping with a more frequent cadence.

Attendees: Mark Hope (mark.hope@asymmetric.pro), Karly Oykhman

Key Decisions

1. Abandon AWD — Ship FBA Only

All future shipments will go directly to FBA, not AWD. AWD has proven unreliable in practice, with recurring issues including incorrect expiration date handling. This decision stands at minimum through the post-Christmas period, with no planned revisit in the near term.

2. Shift to Weekly 1–2 Pallet Cadence

Rather than accumulating inventory and shipping in large, infrequent batches, Karly will review FBA inventory weekly and ship 1–2 pallets whenever stock warrants it.

Key rationale from Mark: LTL freight is priced per pound, not per pallet — so shipping two pallets costs roughly the same rate as shipping twenty. There is no meaningful cost penalty for shipping more frequently, and the downside of stockouts far exceeds any marginal shipping overhead.

"I think it's a bigger problem to run out than it is to ship more frequently." — Mark Hope

Shipment Troubleshooting: FBA ID Ending 1404

Problem

A Doodla shipment created December 13 was stuck in "Working" status in Seller Central, preventing carrier pickup that had been scheduled for December 15. Labels had already been sent to the warehouse contact (Jason) twice.

Resolution Steps

Located the shipment in Seller Central → Manage Shipments by searching for FBA ID ending in 1404, sorted by create date.
Re-confirmed shipment information within the shipment detail screen.
Downloaded a fresh Bill of Lading (BOL) and pallet labels.
Navigated back to the shipping queue — status updated to "Ready to Ship" with pickup scheduled for December 15.

Root Cause

Unclear. Amazon's shipment confirmation flow does not provide an explicit "complete" confirmation state, making it easy for a shipment to appear confirmed while remaining in "Working" status. Mark noted this is an uncommon but known issue across hundreds of shipments.

Contingency

If the shipment gets stuck again: open a Seller Central support case via Gilbert. Karly should also notify Jason of any pickup date changes proactively.

Context: Cornmeal Stockout Impact

The urgency behind the strategy shift was driven directly by a recent cornmeal stockout:

Sales impact: ~$1,000/day revenue loss while out of stock
Recovery: As of December 15, yellow cornmeal was beginning to appear in sales data again — inventory was slowly re-entering the fulfillment system
Next order: Includes a larger cornmeal quantity to reduce recurrence risk

This stockout is the clearest evidence that infrequent, large shipments create unacceptable stockout risk, and that the cost of running out exceeds any shipping efficiency gains from batching.

Action Items

[ ] Karly — Email Jason re: pickup delay to December 17; send updated pallet labels + BOL
[ ] Karly — Monitor shipment 1404 status in Seller Central; if it reverts to "Working," open a support case with Gilbert
[ ] Karly — Set a weekly recurring reminder to review FBA inventory levels; ship 1–2 pallets to FBA whenever stock is ready
[ ] Karly — Create next shipment order using FBA-only strategy (no AWD)

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