A shipping manifest is a document that provides a detailed list of a shipment's contents for carriers, government agencies, and the recipient. It must contain all information necessary for transport and customs clearance. This includes the customer's address (consignee), the weight of the packages for freight calculation, and a reference number like an invoice or order number for tracking and reconciliation. The identity of the "picker," the internal warehouse employee who assembled the order, is an internal operational metric tracked within a Warehouse Management System (WMS) for performance and quality control; it is not included in external-facing shipping documentation.

A. invoice number: This is commonly included on a manifest to link the physical shipment with its corresponding financial transaction for both the sender and receiver.

B. customer address: The destination address is a fundamental and mandatory component of any shipping document to ensure the cargo reaches the correct recipient.

D. package weights: Package weight is critical information used by carriers to calculate shipping costs, ensure compliance with weight limits, and for customs declarations.

1. Bowersox, D. J., Closs, D. J., & Cooper, M. B. (2020). Supply Chain Logistics Management (5th ed.). McGraw-Hill. In Chapter 10, "Transportation Management," the text describes transportation documents like the manifest and bill of lading as containing key information such as the consignor/consignee, a description of the goods, weight, and quantity. Internal operational roles are not listed as part of this external documentation (pp. 278-281).

2. Rushton, A., Croucher, P., & Baker, P. (2017). The Handbook of Logistics and Distribution Management (6th ed.). Kogan Page. Chapter 16, "Documentation and IT in Transport," details the information required on a consignment note or manifest, which includes collection/delivery addresses, number of items, weight, and a description of the goods. It makes no mention of internal staff roles like pickers (pp. 375-378).

3. MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics. (2016). An Introduction to Logistics and Supply Chain Management. MITx Courseware (CTL.SC1x). Module 4: "Warehousing & Inventory." The course distinguishes between internal warehouse processes (like picking, managed by a WMS) and external shipping documentation. The manifest is presented as an output of the shipping process containing data for the carrier and customer, not internal performance data.