Same-Day & On-Demand Runs
Not every pickup fits a standing schedule. A same-day run is booked, dispatched and documented to the same standard as a contracted route — there is no reduced version for unscheduled work.
Scheduled On RequestA same-day run is unscheduled work: a pickup that came up this morning and has to move today. Sentinel books same-day runs across the DFW east corridor, Monday to Friday between 07:00 and 18:00, and handles them to the same documented standard as a contracted route. The part worth knowing before you call is that capacity is finite, so what you get back is either a real window or a quick no.
Unscheduled work runs through the same process as everything else: a confirmation with pickup detail and an ETA when we book it, temperature control matched to the payload, and a signed proof of delivery at the end. The urgency is yours; the standard does not move.
- Same documentation standard as contracted routes
- Confirmation with pickup detail and ETA
- Signed proof of delivery
- No separate process for unscheduled work
- Booking
- By phone or form
- Standard
- Identical to contracted routes
- Availability
- Mon–Fri 07:00–18:00
How a run works
- 1The request
Tell us the pickup and destination, what is moving, the temperature it needs, and the time it has to be there by. Four facts, and they are enough for us to answer you.
- 2The feasibility check
Your request is checked against the day that already exists: the routes already committed, where the vehicle is now, and what the drive actually takes at that hour. Most of the value on a same-day run sits in this step. A courier who answers before checking is answering from optimism.
- 3A window, or a no
You get one or the other, and you get it quickly. If we can do it, you receive the collection window and the delivery time we are genuinely working to. If we cannot, you hear that immediately, while there is still time to call somebody else.
- 4Confirmation
The booking is confirmed back to you with the pickup detail and the times, so what you asked for and what we are doing are the same thing in writing before a vehicle moves.
- 5Collection
Packaging and temperature are checked at pickup exactly as they are on a contracted route. Unscheduled work does not get a shortened version of the process.
- 6Delivery
The handoff is signed and timestamped with condition recorded, and you receive the completed record for the run.
- 7If anything moves
Traffic, a closed dock, a contact who is not there. You hear it from us as it happens, with the revised time, rather than learning about it from the person waiting at the other end.
What we decline, and why
Same-day is where couriers over-promise, because the request arrives with urgency attached and saying yes is the easy answer. These four get a no.
If the feasibility check says the collection or the delivery time will not land, we decline rather than accepting the run and calling you from the road. A fast no costs you one phone call. A late yes costs you the thing you were trying to protect.
Sentinel runs Monday to Friday, 07:00 to 18:00. There is no walk-up urgent service and we do not publish a guaranteed response time, because a number we cannot hold on our worst day is not a commitment. Contracted clients can arrange time-critical and after-hours work as part of an agreement.
Contracted routes have named windows and a same-day request does not displace them. Another facility's urgent pickup is not a reason your standing route runs late. That protection works in both directions, and it is worth knowing before you contract.
Category A infectious substances, scheduled medication, and payloads whose packaging or temperature requirement we cannot verify are declined on a same-day run exactly as on any other. Urgency does not change what we are equipped to carry.
Common questions
- How quickly can you collect?
- It depends on where the vehicle is and what the day already holds, which is why we check before answering instead of quoting a standard figure. Send the request and you will have a real collection window, or a no, without waiting on it. A courier quoting every caller the same response time has not looked at their day.
- Do you offer STAT or emergency service?
- Not as a published service. Sentinel does not advertise a guaranteed response time and there is no walk-up urgent counter. Time-critical work is arranged with contracted clients as part of their agreement, where the window, the escalation path and the rate are settled in advance instead of negotiated during the emergency.
- What happens if you turn a run down?
- You find out straight away. The reason we check first is so that a no reaches you while it is still useful. We will also tell you why, because being full until two is a different problem from the payload sitting outside what we carry, and the second one will still be true tomorrow.
- Can we book a same-day run without an account?
- Yes. You will spend a few more minutes on the phone, because a contracted client's dock location, access instructions and named contacts are already on file and yours would not be. If you find yourself booking regularly, that is usually the point where a standing route costs less and works better.
- Is a same-day run documented to a lower standard?
- No. Packaging check, temperature at both ends, signed and timestamped handoff, completed record. The urgency belongs to the run, not to the paperwork.
- Will another facility's same-day request delay our contracted route?
- No. Committed windows stay committed. A same-day booking is accepted only if it fits around the routes already promised, which is precisely why some requests are turned down. If your route is the one under contract, that rule exists to protect you.
Four facts and we can answer you
Pickup, destination, what is moving, and the time it has to be there by. Send it through the quote form, and you will get a collection window or a straight no. If it is not something we can carry, that will be the first thing we say rather than the last.
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