On-time shipping percentage calculator
How often you ship when the retailer said you would.
Formula
On-time shipping % = (orders shipped on time ÷ total orders shipped) × 100
Runs in your browser. Nothing is sent anywhere.
On-time shipping percentage
94.00%
of orders shipped on time
Worked example
Ship 940 of 1,000 orders inside the retailer’s window and you land at 94.00%. The buyer sees the 60 that missed, and most routing guides charge for each one individually, so the average understates what a bad week costs.
When you reach for this
The first number a retail buyer pulls up when a scorecard review is coming. Track it weekly, not monthly — by the time a monthly number looks bad, the chargebacks have already been assessed.
How to read the number
Large retailers set their own thresholds and publish them in the routing guide, so read this against the specific number in your agreement rather than a general target. If the figure moves more than a point or two week to week, the cause is usually upstream in purchasing or receiving, not in the warehouse.
What the big retailers require
- Walmart 98% on-time for collect-ready shipments, 90% for prepaid. Your own number: OTIF Scorecard in Retail Link. Missing it costs: 3% of the cost of goods on every case that misses.
- Target On-time against the delivery window, with early arrivals counted against you the same as late ones. Your own number: Supplier Performance Management dashboard, refreshed weekly. Missing it costs: 3% of the cost of goods on non-compliant items, with a $150 floor per chargeback.
- Amazon Receipt inside the purchase order window, charged as a PO on-time accuracy chargeback on whatever lands outside it. Your own number: Operational Performance in Vendor Central.
Programs get revised and your agreement can set a different bar, so read this against the routing guide and scorecard for your own account before you plan against it.
Metrics that travel with it
Questions operators ask about this metric
What counts as on time?
The retailer’s definition, not yours. Most routing guides measure against the must-arrive-by date or the ship window on the purchase order, and many measure the carrier’s scan, not your tender. Check which one your agreement names before you build the report.
Should cancelled orders count against the rate?
No. A cancelled order never had a window to miss. Track cancellations in fill rate instead, where a cancellation and a short ship do the same damage to the customer.
Why does my number differ from the retailer’s scorecard?
Usually a clock difference. You time from carrier handoff; they time from their receiving scan. The gap is transit plus dock queue. Pull their scorecard detail and reconcile one week line by line before you dispute the rate.
How does this differ from OTIF?
On-time shipping tests one gate. OTIF adds the in-full test, so an order that ships on time but short passes here and fails there.
Stop calculating this by hand
Every number on this page comes out of data you already have — orders, shipments, inventory, deductions. Endless keeps those in one source of truth instead of four exports, so the metric updates on its own and agents watch it for you.