How to Manage Dispatch, Gate Passes & Delivery Agents
Getting equipment out the door cleanly is where a rental either runs smoothly or turns into a scramble. Rentablez brings the whole hand-off into one drawer: pick exactly which items are going out, note who handed them over, optionally assign a delivery agent, and — once the org has it switched on — print a gate pass for the security desk. Every dispatch is logged, so you always know what left, when, and with whom.
For example, when a customer’s projector and screen are ready to leave the warehouse, you open the order, hit Dispatch, tick the items, and confirm. The order moves to Rented Out, inventory updates instantly, and a gate pass is one click away.
How Dispatch Works
“Dispatch” is the moment stock leaves your control and goes to the customer — whether they collect it themselves or you deliver it. In Rentablez both cases use the same flow. You dispatch from the order editor, and you can dispatch everything at once or in batches (partial dispatch) as items become ready.
An order moves through these stages as items go out and come back:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Reserved | Stock is booked but nothing has left yet |
| Partially Dispatched | Some items are out with the customer, some are still in |
| Rented Out | Everything is out with the customer |
| Partially Received / Received | Items are coming back (see Returns) |
You can only dispatch from a Reserved or Partially Dispatched order — never from a Draft. Save the order to Reserved first.
Before You Dispatch
Open the order you want to dispatch and check a few things:
- The order status is Reserved or Partially Dispatched.
- Every item has stock allocated. If an item is missing its stock assignment, Rentablez blocks dispatch and lists what’s unallocated — assign stock, then try again.
- The rental start date and customer address are correct.
Open the Dispatch Drawer
On the order editor, find the item table. When the order is ready, a green Dispatch button appears above it, with a small legend showing which items are still to go out (red) versus already dispatched (green).
Click Dispatch to open the Rentals Out drawer. This is the single place you complete the hand-off.
Set the Hand-Off Details
At the top of the drawer, the Dispatch Mode badge shows how this order is fulfilled:
- Delivery — you’re taking the goods to the customer.
- Self Pickup — the customer collects from you.
This mode comes from your organization’s operations settings (and can differ per order). It controls which fields the drawer shows.
Fill in the hand-off details:
- Handed By — the person releasing the stock. Depending on your settings this is optional or required (a red asterisk means required — you can’t dispatch until it’s filled).
- Delivery Agent (delivery mode only, if enabled) — optionally pick the agent who will run this delivery. See Assign a Delivery Agent below.
- Delivery Address (delivery mode only) — confirm where the goods are going. If the customer has more than one address, choose the right one from the dropdown.
Select the Items Going Out
Below the details, the drawer lists the order’s items with a checkbox for each. Tick only the items (or quantities) actually leaving now — leave the rest for a later batch. This is how partial dispatch works: dispatch part of the order today, come back and dispatch the remainder when it’s ready.
Metered assets: If your organization requires meter readings, items with usage-based pricing show a Meter Reading field. Enter the starting reading before you can dispatch that item. This only appears when meter readings are switched on and the asset is priced by usage.
Handle Inspections (if required)
If an item needs a pre-dispatch inspection and one hasn’t been done, the drawer shows a warning bar naming the affected assets.
- Where inspections are enforced, dispatch is blocked until they’re cleared. Complete the inspection, or use Skip Inspection & Dispatch, choose a reason (for example, “Pre-inspected offline” or “Customer waiver”), add notes, and confirm.
- Where inspections are not enforced, the warning is informational and you can dispatch anyway.
Confirm the Dispatch
When your items and details are set, click the primary button at the bottom — it reads Mark [n] Dispatched with the count you selected (swap dispatches show a matching “Swap” label).
The order status updates (to Partially Dispatched or Rented Out), inventory reflects the items as out with the customer, and the dispatch is recorded with the timestamp and hand-off details.
Generate a Gate Pass
A gate pass is a printable document your security or gate desk uses to verify what’s physically leaving the premises. It’s an optional feature your organization turns on in operations settings — if it’s off, you won’t see any gate-pass options.
The easiest moment to create one is right after you dispatch. When the Rentals Out drawer confirms the dispatch, it shows a success banner and a Generate Gate Pass button covering exactly the items you just sent out. Click it, then Download or View the PDF and hand it to the driver or gate desk. Click Done to close.
You can also generate or reprint a pass later:
- Open the dispatched order.
- In the order header, click the Gate Pass button (it appears only once the order has dispatched items and the feature is enabled).
- The panel tells you how many newly-dispatched items are ready for a pass. Click Generate Gate Pass to cover them.
- Every pass for the order is listed with its gate-pass number and item count. Use View to open it or Download to save the PDF. The list also notes how many times a pass has been printed.
A gate pass only covers items that were dispatched but not yet on an earlier pass. If everything dispatched is already covered, the panel says so and there’s nothing new to generate. Generating a pass needs the orders.write permission.
For a focused walkthrough, see How to Generate a Gate Pass.
Assign a Delivery Agent
If your organization runs its own delivery riders (third-party fulfillment), you can assign an agent to carry out the delivery. This is available only when Delivery Agent management is enabled in settings and the order is in Delivery mode — self-pickup orders never show it.
The simplest way is during dispatch: in the Rentals Out drawer’s Delivery Details section, use the Delivery Agent dropdown to search for and select an agent, then dispatch as usual. The agent is attached to the order automatically.
Assigning the agent is a separate step from the dispatch itself, so if the assignment ever fails the dispatch still goes through — you’ll see a prompt to assign the agent again. Delivery agents are set up by your admin; only users configured as delivery agents appear in the dropdown.
Review the Dispatch History
Every dispatch is logged on the order. Scroll to the Dispatch Records section (under the item table) to see each batch that has gone out:
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Asset / Tag | The item dispatched and its stock tag |
| Qty | How many units went out in that batch |
| Meter Reading | Starting reading, for metered assets (when enabled) |
| Handed Over By | Who released the stock |
| Dispatch Date | When it left |
Swap dispatches are flagged with a swap badge and show which tag they replaced, so a mid-rental equipment change is always traceable.
You’re All Set
You now know how to dispatch items, capture who handed them over, assign a delivery agent, print a gate pass, and track every hand-off. When the equipment comes back, head to How to Process Full and Partial Returns.