Receiving Guidelines

Eastern Washington University and Washington State regulations require an approved purchase order for all university purchases. To avoid delays in receiving ordered goods and services shipped to the Receiving Warehouse, the delivery location must be included on the purchase requisition as follows:

• address (room number and name of building)
• name and phone number of a contact person ( should any questions arise about the order)

Receiving will hold all orders until a valid purchase order is generated for the merchandise received. It is the responsibility of the individual departments to check the status of their orders by contacting the vendor. If the vendor has not received the purchase order within a reasonable amount of time, you may contact the Purchasing Office. University personnel will not process personal packages for faculty and staff.

Do not have merchandise placed against Procurement Cards or Blanket/Open Orders shipped to the Receiving Warehouse unless special handling is required or department personnel will not be available to receive the order. For a complete list of authorized addresses go to:

EWU ADDRESS CODES

If you have merchandise shipped directly to your department, open the packages immediately and call the Receiving Warehouse at 359.7915 to have receiving posted. For Regular Orders and Quoted Bid Orders receiving must be posted before the vendor will get paid.

Decentralization:

Decentralized Receiving for Cheney campus: List your preferred “ship to” address on your requisition. Because of unique situations, Purchasing may elect to have the merchandise shipped directly to the Receiving Warehouse.

Merchandise for Spokane and other departments located outside of the Cheney campus will be sent directly to their locations.

How to return orders:

When a return is necessary on a purchase order, the department will contact the Receiving Warehouse so the necessary documentation can be input to the Financial Records System (FRS). Returns are now the responsibility of the department; however, contact the Receiving Warehouse for help with return procedures. The following are a few standard procedures for returning merchandise:

• Ask the vendor for a “return” address. It may be different that the correspondence/mailing address
• Ask the vendor for a “Return Authorization” (RA#) number if required. Write the RA# on the outside of the box in bold writing and on any enclosed paperwork
• Ask the vendor to pick up the return shipping, if it was received due to vendor error. If it was department error, return at department expense
• Always ship merchandise with a traceable and insurable carrier such as UPS, FEDEX, and Airborne
• Contact central receiving at 359.7915 or the University Post Office at 359.7993 with questions regarding return shipping questions
• Submit a change order to the Purchasing Department, referencing the purchase order number, if you need to delete a line or cancel the order completely