qualifier number + unit a measured amount

minimum handling time

The lower bound of the handling window under a shipping rate — the fastest time between order placement and dispatch (the seller's processing, before the carrier takes over). A qualifier of `shipping_rate` (cardinality one), a numeral with a time unit (hours, days, business days). Paired with `handling_time_max` to express the ubiquitous range ('ships in 1-2 business days'); a fixed time sets min=max. Distinct from transit (the carrier leg). A delivery-date estimate or 'order within Xh' cutoff is presentation rendered from handling + transit + a clock (A10).

Minimum handling time is a measured figure, given in seconds or minutes.

It is a qualifier of shipping rate — it has meaning only inside a shipping rate statement, one per statement, never on its own. It belongs with shipping rate to fulfilment — one facet of a product.

It is answered inside every shipping rate statement, not as a standalone question on a kind.

answered with: №number + unit — a number paired with a unit drawn from an exhaustive unit vocabulary.
value domain: Time units — the vocabulary its answers are drawn from.
qualifier of: shipping rate — one per statement — it has meaning only inside that host's statement.

Answered inside every shipping rate statement — not a standalone slot on any kind.