TAE/TExpress Tips

Follow these useful tips to save staff time and ensure timely shipments:

  • Check your labels to be sure the location number and hub city match what is on the Amigos web site, both for your location and the receiving location. Incorrect labels are the most frequent cause of shipping delays and missing items. See labeling instructions at http://www.amigos.org/files/label_instructions.pdf.
  • Update your participant list with the information found at http://www.amigos.org/node/137 to help prevent delays due to returned or lost shipments.
  • Pack your items properly to ensure safe passage through the courier service. Make sure the label is clearly visible and secured to the package. Please place a strip of invisible or Scotch® tape on the inside flap of the window on the nylon bags to prevent the label from slipping out during transit. Reusing envelopes is okay, but please be sure to black out previous markings on labels to avoid misdirected packages.
  • Check for the barcode on all TAE/TExpress purple nylon bags, and add a barcode label to all items not shipped in the bags. Barcodes help us locate missing items and ensure that your items reach their destinations in a timely manner.
  • Designate a TAE pick-up/drop-off location separate from your United States Postal Service pick-up location. Each year, hundreds of misdirected packages arrive at Amigos that were meant for the USPS.

Do you know a library that might be interested in joining the TAE/TExpress courier service? Tell them how you benefit from the service and have them contact Amigos to discuss the pricing and resource-sharing benefits of becoming a participant, or let us know and we’ll contact them.