Not least of the factors which should be considered in routing shipments, is the accommodation of the customer. It is frequently the case, that of two roads entering a town, the freight house of one is more conveniently located for the shipper. Rates being equal, shipments should be routed over the road from which the customer's cartage charges are the lowest. Or the customer may have a sidetrack to his warehouse from one road, which makes no switching charge, while on every car shipped over another road a switching charge must be paid. This charge may offset an advantage in rates. It always pays to accommodate the customer. When the wishes of the customer are known, they should be granted, within reasonable limits, even though it involves extra expense. FILLING ORDERS In all large concerns the filling of orders--that is, the assembling of the goods--is done by the stock department. The subject is here discussed in connection with the shipping department for the reason that in many houses all orders are assembled under the direction of the shipping clerk; in others he is also the stock keeper or stores clerk. This discussion refers more especially to the filling of orders in a jobbing house, or a manufacturing business which carries goods in stock. It does not refer to those manufacturing enterprises whose orders are for goods to be manufactured. As a rule, all orders of a jobbing house should be filled the day they are received. If they cannot be filled complete, they should be filled as nearly as possible, and missing articles handled as explained later under the subject of _Back Orders_. There is a great chance for time saving in most houses in filling orders. In many houses, too little consideration is given to the handling of goods in a manner that will save time in assembling orders. Lack of a logically planned system is responsible for much of the confused and confusing rush in the average shipping room, about the time that orders should be delivered to the transportation companies. Here is a case in point which came under the observation of the writer. A certain jobbing house, handling drugs and druggists' sundries, occupied a five-story building. On each floor there was a stock room in charge of a stock man, who, with the aid of such helpers as he needed, kept the stock in proper shape, and assembled the goods required from his floor to fill orders. In the drug business, the average order received from a retailer calls for a large number of articles--it is made up of small items. This is especially true of orders brought in by the traveling salesmen. As a consequence, the larger part of the orders received by this house called for goods from practically every floor.