Can't pick up items

[Dr. Peeper]

I've been trying to get leather and such for crafting but every time I kill something the message appears "you have received (random item)-(pending)..how do I actually receive the items

[Dogmatic Atheist]

On the right hand side of the screen is an icon underneath the quest objectives. Click that to bring up the loot box and you can loot items from there.

[Lalo Salamanca]

Yep, what first poster said. It is kind of hidden. You'll see lots of alerts pop up here later on in the game.

[Rezz]

And also, it encourages players to turn on Auto-loot. You can find the option "Auto-loot all" in the UI options.
Press Esc-->Options-->Ui Settings (I think). And for most of the game, this autoloot options is awesome, unless you're in an instance and you have to roll for a certain weapon or item.

I hope this helps :)

[Dr. Peeper]

Thanks guys i got it now. Hoping to be a pro soon :)