FRONTIER GOODS LTD Out and back
A despatch hall at dawn seen down its length: a long steel measuring bench, cartons squared along it, a shutter half open at the far end.
The hall at the start of a day. Nothing on that bench leaves unmeasured.

Measured out, read back

A carton being dimensioned on three axes, each figure travelling across to the despatch note that will go out with it A carton stands on a flat stand. A caliper closes across its width, then its depth, then its height. Each figure travels along a leader line to a specimen despatch note at the right, in millimetres, and the finished note is stamped before the parcel leaves. DESPATCH NOTE — SPECIMEN WIDTH 318 mm DEPTH 204 mm HEIGHT 126 mm REF. SPECIMEN

FRONTIER GOODS LTD retails goods at a distance, by mail order and over the internet. Nothing crosses a counter. Every item is measured, declared, listed, packed and sent out — and a share of what goes out comes back, inside a cancellation window, to be read again against the figures it left on. This site follows that passage in both directions.

Above, the carton turns through its three axes. A caliper closes on each and the figure travels down a leader to the despatch note; the third completes it, and the note goes out with the parcel.

Incorporated 31st August 2026, nothing sent yet. What follows is the journey out, and then the journey back.

What the item says while it is still in the hand Fields 01–03 · nothing taken off paperwork

These three can only be had honestly while the item is physically in the office, which is why they are taken first and never from a supplier’s description. Where item and paperwork disagree, the item is written down and the disagreement noted.

  1. 01 Line reference The six characters every later document quotes. 6 characters whoever opens the note Why

    Allocated once, never reissued, so the readings and the margin stay with a parcel long after it has gone.

  2. 02 Description What the thing is, in words a reader would accept. free text, 200 characters whoever opens the note Why

    Written first: main characteristics cannot be stated from a blank field.

  3. 03 Country of origin Read off the item’s marking, not off an invoice. ISO 3166 two-letter the person with the item open Why

    Unmarked items leave it blank, reason recorded. A guess here travels out with the parcel and into every listing.

Still blankField 03, wherever a note was opened from a photograph rather than the item.

A carton squared against a steel rule and a set square at a measuring station. A despatch bench from above: a sealed parcel, a tape roll and a stack of blank forms.
Measured at the station, read again at the bench.

The three figures an instrument has to produce Fields 04–06 · a reading, with the instrument named

These three settle the packed form, so they decide whether a parcel can be made up at all and what it costs to move. Each entry carries the instrument it came from. How each figure is taken.

  1. Dimensions Field 04

    Taken at the widest point of each axis.

    Unit
    mm, whole numbers
    Filled by
    whoever takes the reading
    Why

    Three an axis, the largest kept, rounded up. An understated axis gives the wrong packed form.

  2. Mass, net and gross Field 05

    The item alone, then as it would be despatched.

    Unit
    g, whole numbers
    Filled by
    the person at the scale
    Why

    Both or neither. An unsettled reading is written as the range it moved through.

  3. Packed volume Field 06

    Computed from the packed form, once it exists.

    Unit
    cm³, computed
    Filled by
    derived, checked by hand
    Why

    The only derived field, and the only one countersigned.

Still blankField 06, until a packed form has actually been made up.

The three that stop a parcel leaving Fields 07–09 · held on paper, or nothing moves

A declaration is a document, not an opinion.

No instrument can supply these: each one exists on a document somebody else signed, or it does not exist. An empty field here keeps the parcel in the office, and one filled from an assumption sends it out on a guess.

  1. Hazard class

    Field 07

    Cells, aerosols, pressurised and flammable contents.

    Unit
    UN class, or NONE
    Filled by
    from the declaration held
    Why

    NONE is an entry and needs its own basis. An open question leaves it blank, a different answer.

  2. Age restriction

    Field 08

    Whether it may be supplied below a stated age.

    Unit
    years, or NONE
    Filled by
    from the restriction in force
    Why

    Settled before the parcel is made up, not when copy is written, so one answer governs every listing.

  3. Conformity marking

    Field 09

    Whatever marking it carries, transcribed exactly.

    Unit
    verbatim from the item
    Filled by
    the person with the item open
    Why

    Transcribed, not interpreted: a fact about the item, not about FRONTIER GOODS LTD.

Still blankFields 07 and 09, until declaration and transcription are both on file. All nine, in order.

Three things the note does not carry Deliberate omissions

A despatch note of nine ruled rows beside a second block of three rows, drawn in dashes and struck through
Nine rows carried out, three struck off

Three things are kept off the note on purpose, each answered better elsewhere.

No cost field. That is a listing matter, settled after the note is signed off.

No supplier name in field 02. The description describes the item; where it came from is held apart.

No judgement field. Nothing measured could support one, and a listing drawn from it would send out an opinion as a fact.

Parcels graded by size along a despatch bay floor under a half-raised shutter.
Outbound, graded by size.

Six things the offer has to carry before anything moves Pre-contract information · checked against the draft

A finished note does not write a listing, but nothing can be offered without one. Tick what a draft carries; the checker names the rest. The other duties before it leaves.

Carried by the draft

Nothing is ticked, so all six are outstanding. Each is a heading the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 require before a distance contract is concluded.

Fourteen days out, then fourteen days back Counted from receipt · whole calendar days

Twenty-eight day cells in four ranks of seven: the first fourteen are the cancellation period, the second fourteen the window to send the goods back DAY 0 — GOODS RECEIVED 7 14 NOTICE BY DAY 14 — THEN 14 MORE 21 28 DAY 28 — OUTER LIMIT IF NOTICE IS LEFT TO THE LAST DAY
One cell, one calendar day; weekends and bank holidays counted.

Two periods of fourteen days run one after the other, and the second is counted from the notice rather than the delivery. The day the goods arrive is day nought.

Notice given earlier moves the second deadline earlier by as many days: the drawing shows the worst case, the planner the real one.

Where an order arrives in parts, the count runs from the last part. The clock in full, and the evidence kept.

The delivery

On a receipt of Thursday 3 September 2026: day one is Friday 4 September, day fourteen Thursday 17 September, the outer limit Thursday 1 October.

The letter a parcel is given when it comes back One letter, written on the note it left on

Nothing that returns is judged from memory. It is read against the figures it went out on, by working down four tests in order. What each letter means.

  1. 1

    Are the seals intact? Grade A

    Remeasured on receipt against fields 04 and 05. The margin records a return, ungraded.

  2. 2

    Opened, but complete? Grade B

    Handled no further than the regulations allow for establishing what the goods are. The margin says reopened, fields unchanged.

  3. 3

    Handled beyond inspection? Grade C

    Where a deduction becomes available to a trader under the regulations. The handling observed is written out in words.

  4. 4

    Incomplete, or not the item that went out? Grade D

    Held apart and described in writing first. The note is suspended while the discrepancy stands.

What is left in the office afterwards The note, the readings and the snapshot

One parcel’s passage leaves four documents behind, kept apart because each answers a different question. What this office holds, and for how long.

The despatch note

Fields 01 to 09 with signatures and amendments, closed when the line closes.

The reading slip

Three readings an axis, with instrument, surface and scale graduation.

The listing snapshot

The listing as published, with its date and time, taken at go-live and at every change.

The margin

Grades, suspensions and condition notes, read as a sequence.