What happens if an order ships without a sidemark?

It arrives as unidentified freight. A receiving warehouse will log it against your firm, charge storage while someone works out which project it belongs to, and in the worst case deliver it to the wrong site. None of that is billable to the client, and all of it is avoidable.

Is a sidemark the same as a PO number?

No. The PO number identifies the transaction for you and the vendor; the sidemark identifies the destination project for everyone downstream — the factory, the freight carrier, the receiver and the installer. Orders should carry both.

DefinitionUpdated July 31, 20262 min read

Sidemark: the label that decides whether your freight is ever found

A sidemark is the project reference that travels with every order and carton. What it should contain, where it goes, and what happens at a receiving warehouse when it is missing.

By Idan Mann, founder of NYA

The short answer

A sidemark is the short project reference — usually client name plus room — that a designer puts on every purchase order, and that the vendor prints on the packing list and cartons. It is how a receiving warehouse knows which project a pallet belongs to when the shipping label only names the designer.

Sidemarks look like clerical fussiness until the first time a warehouse calls about four unidentified cartons. Your vendor ships to your receiver, and the shipping label carries your firm's name, because your firm is the buyer. The sidemark is the only field on the paperwork that says which of your eleven live projects the goods belong to.

What a good sidemark contains

The client or project name, spelled the same way every time — `Bergman` and `Bergmann` are two projects to a warehouse database.
The room or area, so the receiver can consolidate deliveries by installation sequence rather than by arrival date.
The item's place in the order, when a single PO covers several pieces — `Bergman / Primary Bedroom / Chair (2)`.

Keep it short and machine-friendly. Many vendor systems truncate the sidemark field, and the part that survives is the beginning — so lead with the client, not with your own firm name.

Where the sidemark has to appear

On the purchase order you send the vendor, in the sidemark or mark for field.
On the vendor's acknowledgement — check it, because this is where transcription errors surface while they are still free to fix.
On the carton labels and packing list, which is what your receiving warehouse actually reads.
On any COM fabric shipped to the factory, so the mill's cut and the frame in production find each other.

Common questions

What happens if an order ships without a sidemark?: It arrives as unidentified freight. A receiving warehouse will log it against your firm, charge storage while someone works out which project it belongs to, and in the worst case deliver it to the wrong site. None of that is billable to the client, and all of it is avoidable.
Is a sidemark the same as a PO number?: No. The PO number identifies the transaction for you and the vendor; the sidemark identifies the destination project for everyone downstream — the factory, the freight carrier, the receiver and the installer. Orders should carry both.

Keep reading

Sidemark: the label that decides whether your freight is ever found

A sidemark is the project reference that travels with every order and carton. What it should contain, where it goes, and what happens at a receiving warehouse when it is missing.

By Idan Mann, founder of NYA

The short answer

What a good sidemark contains

The client or project name, spelled the same way every time — `Bergman` and `Bergmann` are two projects to a warehouse database.

The room or area, so the receiver can consolidate deliveries by installation sequence rather than by arrival date.

The item's place in the order, when a single PO covers several pieces — `Bergman / Primary Bedroom / Chair (2)`.

Keep it short and machine-friendly. Many vendor systems truncate the sidemark field, and the part that survives is the beginning — so lead with the client, not with your own firm name.

Where the sidemark has to appear

On the purchase order you send the vendor, in the sidemark or mark for field.

On the vendor's acknowledgement — check it, because this is where transcription errors surface while they are still free to fix.

On the carton labels and packing list, which is what your receiving warehouse actually reads.

On any COM fabric shipped to the factory, so the mill's cut and the frame in production find each other.

Common questions

What happens if an order ships without a sidemark?: It arrives as unidentified freight. A receiving warehouse will log it against your firm, charge storage while someone works out which project it belongs to, and in the worst case deliver it to the wrong site. None of that is billable to the client, and all of it is avoidable.
Is a sidemark the same as a PO number?: No. The PO number identifies the transaction for you and the vendor; the sidemark identifies the destination project for everyone downstream — the factory, the freight carrier, the receiver and the installer. Orders should carry both.