> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://course.pokesignal.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# 4.4 · Keep the Customer Promise

> Set a fulfillment, protection, communication, and recovery policy the operation can keep across shipment, pickup, and handoff.

Once an item sells, the business owes the buyer a predictable process: fulfill the correct
stock as represented, protect it when it travels, communicate when the agreed timing slips,
and resolve a failure without improvising under pressure.

The strongest promise is not the fastest or most elaborate one. It is the promise the
operation can keep repeatedly, including on a busy week.

## Define the promise before choosing supplies

Write four commitments in plain language:

* the transaction or order record, selected stock, and [Chapter 4.3](/chapters/4-3-listing-and-inventory-discipline) sale record must agree;
* the fulfillment method has a written timing and handoff rule;
* a customer who reports a problem receives a response by a stated deadline;
* a named person may apply a defined remedy up to a stated authority limit.

These commitments make service checkable. A shipping promise that exceeds normal capacity, a
pickup without a window, or a remedy without an authorizer is not a policy.

For each sale, choose later shipment or delivery, scheduled pickup, or immediate handoff. All
three keep the stock-to-sale-record check and recovery promise. Apply shipment and pickup controls
only when relevant; an immediate handoff completes the timing step at the sale.

## Match protection to the exposure

When an item travels or waits for a later handoff, use a small number of internal protection
tiers. The standard tier should protect it from the normal physical risks of its format and
preserve the condition represented in the sale record. An upgraded tier should apply when a
current rule requires it, the item's fragility warrants it, or the transaction's exposure
exceeds the business's chosen uninsured-loss limit.

That loss limit belongs to the capital and risk policies in Part 5. Until those are complete,
label the trigger provisional and revisit it. Do not turn a remembered price, tracking level,
signature threshold, or insurance anecdote into a fixed operating threshold.

Check only the current official terms that govern the chosen method, such as venue, platform,
carrier, service, destination, or protection terms.

For packaged fulfillment, the item should not move freely, the protection must not damage it,
and the package must meet current service requirements. Materials and dimensions vary; this
chapter prescribes no universal box or value band. For immediate handoff, mark shipment-only
protection fields not applicable after the condition and stock check.

## Choose a later-fulfillment cadence capacity can support

For later fulfillment, set a cutoff or window and a repeatable cadence. A consistent every-other-
day ship run can be a better promise than unreliable same-day handling. Define what happens after
the cutoff so the buyer and the operation use the same clock.

Check the promise against measured work:

**Fixed fulfillment-run minutes + (transactions due before the next run × variable minutes per
transaction) ≤ available fulfillment minutes**

Use one fulfillment window throughout. Counts and minutes cannot be negative, and variable minutes
must be positive when transactions are due. Measure that variable time from a representative mix
of selection, verification, packing or postage, and pickup preparation.

Immediate handoffs bypass this queue after the record and stock check.

If the inequality fails, the promise is not currently supportable. Adjust the published cadence,
limit new order exposure where the venue permits, or escalate the recurring capacity problem to
[Chapter 6.1](/chapters/6-1-systems-before-scale). Do not make late-night recovery the normal operating system.

## Resolve exceptions without improvising

Delay, loss, damage, and not-as-described reports need the same calm sequence even though the
eventual remedy may differ.

1. Acknowledge the report by the written response deadline.
2. Check the transaction or order record, sale record, condition record, applicable tracking,
   pickup, or handoff evidence, and the buyer's report without arguing about blame.
3. State the next checkpoint: what will be checked, by when, and what decision follows.
4. Apply the written return, refund, replacement, or other permitted remedy in line with any
   applicable current venue, platform, or legal obligations.
5. When a carrier or insurer claim exists, keep it separate from the customer-facing resolution.
   Do not make the buyer wait for a claim outcome unless the applicable rules require that sequence.
6. After the customer issue is resolved, decide separately whether a future-buyer restriction
   is warranted and permitted.
7. Record the cause. A sale-record or condition failure updates the inventory record; a protection,
   handling, or communication failure updates this policy.

The policy should not guarantee that a carrier pays, that a platform—if one is involved—removes
feedback, or that every case receives the same remedy. It should guarantee who responds, which
record is checked, who has authority, and when the next decision is made.

## Write, authorize, and review the policy

Complete this operating table for the chosen method. Mark method-specific fields *not applicable*
when they do not apply.

| Situation            | Customer promise                                                                               | Trigger and action                                                                                                                | Authority and record                                                                  |
| -------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Normal sale or order | Stock matches the sale record; fulfillment timing: \_\_\_                                      | Method: \_\_\_; complete the stock/transaction check; ship, deliver, pick up, or hand off by \_\_\_                               | Owner: \_\_\_; transaction/order record: \_\_\_                                       |
| Upgraded protection  | Verified protection tier is applied; if fulfillment fails, the written recovery process begins | Upgrade when current rules require it, physical risk warrants it, or provisional/final loss limit of \$\_\_\_ is exceeded         | Authorizer: \_\_\_; protection basis and source/date: \_\_\_                          |
| Capacity breach      | Buyer receives the written timing or a prompt update                                           | Later-fulfillment queue exceeds \_\_\_ transactions or capacity test fails; adjust promise or exposure and notify affected buyers | Owner: \_\_\_; incident record: \_\_\_                                                |
| Delay                | Response by \_\_\_; next checkpoint by \_\_\_                                                  | Applicable shipment, delivery, or pickup status has not advanced by \_\_\_; apply delay rule: \_\_\_                              | Decision owner: \_\_\_; remedy limit: \_\_\_; incident record: \_\_\_                 |
| Loss                 | Response by \_\_\_; loss decision by \_\_\_                                                    | Transaction and applicable status/handoff evidence meets loss criterion: \_\_\_; apply permitted loss remedy: \_\_\_              | Decision owner: \_\_\_; customer record: \_\_\_; carrier claim record, if any: \_\_\_ |
| Damage               | Response by \_\_\_; evidence checkpoint by \_\_\_                                              | Packing and buyer evidence meets damage criterion: \_\_\_; apply permitted damage remedy: \_\_\_                                  | Decision owner: \_\_\_; remedy limit: \_\_\_; incident record: \_\_\_                 |
| Not as described     | Response by \_\_\_; sale-record review by \_\_\_                                               | Sale record, condition, and buyer evidence meets discrepancy criterion: \_\_\_; apply permitted remedy: \_\_\_                    | Decision owner: \_\_\_; remedy limit: \_\_\_; inventory record: \_\_\_                |

**Policy owner:** \_\_\_  **Escalation above remedy limit:** \_\_\_

**Incident measures to review:** \_\_\_  **Next review date:** \_\_\_

**Current official basis, source, and check date for applicable protection, remedy, or future-buyer
rules:** \_\_\_

Recheck those terms whenever the fulfillment method or its governing venue, platform, carrier,
service, destination, protection product, or obligation changes. Feed actual fulfillment and
protection costs back into the [Chapter 2.2](/chapters/2-2-the-real-cost-stack) cost worksheet.