E-Commerce Postage

[Duci]

Hello,

I wanted to know if you guys knew what I should do for postage. I wanted to stick labels on my delivery bag but I think printing the labels can be a cost that I can easily avoid. The alternative being using a permanent marker to write where the delivery is going.

I would like to know what you think? Should I use a permanent marker? Any alternatives?

 

[Mr D]

We sellotape part of the packing slip to the front of the envelope or box. Then stick a small return address sticker on the back.
Means a few moments with scissors to get the name and address but not normally delivery problems.

The postage itself - can buy labels to use?

 

[Duci]

We sellotape part of the packing slip to the front of the envelope or box. Then stick a small return address sticker on the back.
Means a few moments with scissors to get the name and address but not normally delivery problems.

The postage itself - can buy labels to use?

Thank you for your response!
Do you think there is any thing wrong with using permanent marker?

 

[fisicx]

Doesn't look very professional.

 

[Paul Norman]

Our ecommerce system prints out dispatch labels. Personally, I would not expect an address written with a market pen if I was buying from a business, although there is no reason other than image for not doing so.

Of course, many of our parcels go using a courier service, and in that case their software prints out a label with a barcode.

 

[Raw Rob]

Is permanent marker going to be cheaper anyway? You've still got to buy the markers. As others have said, printed labels look more professional, are less time consuming to create, not prone to error, and might pass through the postal system easier, Royal Mail use OCR to read post codes which might not work when hand written.

 

[SamLH]

When a courier collects you can ask them for the clear plastic documents inclosed wallets that stick to the package, we usually get about 20 each time for free, our previous courier company used to send us label paper to print on and delivery bags for free. We just needed to print the label, you should be able to fit 4 labels on a piece of a4 paper and it only costs a few pence to print.

 

[14Steve14]

If we are posting using RM we print an address label that also includes our logo and return address. It creates an impression and looks so much better than using a fat black pen. If sending by courier we use a smaller label with the return address, logo and very small customers address. Thats more for internal use though, but does look ok on the outside.

 

[Duci]

Doesn't look very professional.

Thank you!

I was thinking that it wouldn't!

 

[Duci]

Is permanent marker going to be cheaper anyway? You've still got to buy the markers. As others have said, printed labels look more professional, are less time consuming to create, not prone to error, and might pass through the postal system easier, Royal Mail use OCR to read post codes which might not work when hand written.

Thank you for your response!

I have taken into consideration everything you have said. I don't want to ruin my brand image before I even build one. What is a Royal Mail OCR code?

 

[Duci]

When a courier collects you can ask them for the clear plastic documents inclosed wallets that stick to the package, we usually get about 20 each time for free, our previous courier company used to send us label paper to print on and delivery bags for free. We just needed to print the label, you should be able to fit 4 labels on a piece of a4 paper and it only costs a few pence to print.

It is start-up and I am not expecting to see a flood of sales in one go. I am starting this business with no expectations. I am guessing the courier company gave you that service because of the amount of business you done with them.

I would consider printing using a4 but as said before it is a start-up. I won't be able able to print 4 labels on a A4 paper as I would have to get 4 orders at one time.

 

[Duci]

If we are posting using RM we print an address label that also includes our logo and return address. It creates an impression and looks so much better than using a fat black pen. If sending by courier we use a smaller label with the return address, logo and very small customers address. Thats more for internal use though, but does look ok on the outside.

Thank you for your response!

I think I will reconsider using a black pen. I will be delivering using Royal Mail to start off with, I think I will incorporate the LOGO on the address label that is a good idea. How do you attach your labels to your delivery bag or box? Do you use sellotape?

 

[Raw Rob]

What is a Royal Mail OCR code?

OCR stands for Optical Character Recognition - it's a way for a computer to read text, they use it to read the postcode to automatically sort items, of course it is much easier for a computer to read a printed post code rather than a hand written one.

 

[antropy]

there is no reason other than image for not doing so

Speed, automation, accuracy?

 

[DontAsk]

Never had any problems or complaints about hand written addresses in 13 years of business. It shows a personal touch.

RM has adequate procedures for items that cannot be machine read for whatever reason.

 

[antropy]

Never had any problems or complaints about hand written addresses in 13 years of business. It shows a personal touch.

It's not the sort of thing you'd get a complaint about, it's one of those things that adds to the overall perception of a company. Personally when I receive stuff that's hand-written, it makes me think that they must not have very good systems in place and they must be a small company. A bit like using a [email protected] address. That's just my opinion though and I'm the sort of guy who prefers a chain restaurant/pub to an independent.

 

[Duci]

OCR stands for Optical Character Recognition - it's a way for a computer to read text, they use it to read the postcode to automatically sort items, of course it is much easier for a computer to read a printed post code rather than a hand written one.

Thank you for sharing that.

 

[Duci]

It's not the sort of thing you'd get a complaint about, it's one of those things that adds to the overall perception of a company. Personally when I receive stuff that's hand-written, it makes me think that they must not have very good systems in place and they must be a small company. A bit like using a [email protected] address. That's just my opinion though and I'm the sort of guy who prefers a chain restaurant/pub to an independent.

Thank you for sharing your view. You have raised some very valuable points, I really do understand where you are coming from. I think I could possible show the progress of the company if I started off with the hand written delivery bag to then move onto labels.

It may sound silly but it would really represent the message behind my brand. You have really made me rethink. Let me know what you think.

 

[Duci]

Never had any problems or complaints about hand written addresses in 13 years of business. It shows a personal touch.

RM has adequate procedures for items that cannot be machine read for whatever reason.

Thank you for responding!

I can see the point you are making I think a business can lose its authenticity if it becomes to fancy, it can be better to do things old school as it shows real Entrepreneurship I believe. What is the age range of your target audience? & what do you sell?

I have sent multiple things via Royal Mail and I haven't seem to have any problems, could you further explain what you mean please?

 

[Chris Ashdown]

Sorry but you appear to be worried about such minor costs for your intended company rather than spending the time on the essentials like how you are going to get sales which is never easy and if you worry about A4 paper do you have enough capital to advertise or get good software

From the little information i have you are looking to sell t-shirts like thousands of other people and compete with the really big boys. this cannot work unless you have plenty of money to advertise

You also need to sort out your software printers etc. Fully understand the new consumer regs that replaced the distant selling regs

I am not trying to knock your plans but just suggest you solve the big things first, like what you are buying, how you make it a more profitable sale, your selling price and how you are going to sell and how many you need to sell to make enough profit to live on the profit, worry about the paper and what colour ink you will use latter nearer the time

 

[Duci]

Sorry but you appear to be worried about such minor costs for your intended company rather than spending the time on the essentials like how you are going to get sales which is never easy and if you worry about A4 paper do you have enough capital to advertise or get good software

From the little information i have you are looking to sell t-shirts like thousands of other people and compete with the really big boys. this cannot work unless you have plenty of money to advertise

You also need to sort out your software printers etc. Fully understand the new consumer regs that replaced the distant selling regs

I am not trying to knock your plans but just suggest you solve the big things first, like what you are buying, how you make it a more profitable sale, your selling price and how you are going to sell and how many you need to sell to make enough profit to live on the profit, worry about the paper and what colour ink you will use latter nearer the time

Thank you for you response, I appreciate your constructive criticism!

How did you come to that judgement that I do not know how I am going to get sales? If I was speaking to someone and they spoke about minor expenses that would show me that they have took time to plan what they are doing - which I have done.

I have only provided little information on what I will be doing so it wouldn't make much sense to make a judgement on what I am doing. What you are saying doesn't make sense 'this cannot work unless you have plenty of money to advertise.' you clearly said I have provided little information so how can you make that sort of judgement? For me competing with the 'big boys' is not a problem, because every 'big boy' wasn't always a 'big boy.' I am not focused on trying to create the next Ralph Lauren I am focused on trying to provide value to a niche market that is untapped.

I am not a clothing designer I am an Entrepreneur so this is a business first, that is why I am going through every single detail of the business and by using this forum I can listen to what fellow Entrepreneurs like yourself have to say. As it is better to learn from others mistakes before making the same mistakes myself.

 

[Chris Ashdown]

Many people come on this forum looking to start t-shirt companies looking at the price of t-shirts under £2.00 and see them sold in shops at £25.00 and think is a good way to make money

The truth is they can buy in printed t-shirts like a mid range Gildan at £2.50=£3/.00 per 500 or more and sell at £25 inc vat great for the shops but little profit for the printers

Smaller runs are a couple of quid extra

The hard thing is getting sales which require either door knocking or advertising both cost a large amount of money for little profit unless you can get decent size orders or just want to sell on ebay in ones and two's

posting about the cost of paper seems to indicate either a very thorough person doing there business plan or someone who may not realise how hard sales in that market are, and may be also interpreted right or wrongly that money may be very tight

 

[Duci]

Many people come on this forum looking to start t-shirt companies looking at the price of t-shirts under £2.00 and see them sold in shops at £25.00 and think is a good way to make money

The truth is they can buy in printed t-shirts like a mid range Gildan at £2.50=£3/.00 per 500 or more and sell at £25 inc vat great for the shops but little profit for the printers

Smaller runs are a couple of quid extra

The hard thing is getting sales which require either door knocking or advertising both cost a large amount of money for little profit unless you can get decent size orders or just want to sell on ebay in ones and two's

posting about the cost of paper seems to indicate either a very thorough person doing there business plan or someone who may not realise how hard sales in that market are, and may be also interpreted right or wrongly that money may be very tight

Thank you for your feedback!

There are many ways to market a brand in today's era especially with the internet. I have a marketing plan and I know if I execute it correctly it will work.

I have tried to approach this business as if money is tight! I didn't want to spend money that I didn't have to. There are a lot of things I have cut back on by just thinking twice about it - I have just used my past experience to approach this business venture. You are open to your interpretation as this is a business forum and I came here to see everyone's interpretation on my situation.

 

[Chris Ashdown]

I am more than willing to look over your marketing plan for you, if you PM me, and bring my nearly 15 years of internet selling experience to advise you of any likely pitfalls in your plan

 

[Duci]

I am more than willing to look over your marketing plan for you, if you PM me, and bring my nearly 15 years of internet selling experience to advise you of any likely pitfalls in your plan

No problem!

 

[japancool]

I would consider printing using a4 but as said before it is a start-up. I won't be able able to print 4 labels on a A4 paper as I would have to get 4 orders at one time.

You can get a pack of 100 x 4 label A4 sheets for £6 on ebay. Even if you only printed one label per sheet, that would cost 6p per label. And if you only print 1 at a time, turn the paper around and put it through the other way, then you can get 2 sheets per label with 2 wasted, at a cost of 3p per label.

Can you really not afford to absorb that into your pricing?

 

[lesliedocherty]

It is start-up and I am not expecting to see a flood of sales in one go. I am starting this business with no expectations. I am guessing the courier company gave you that service because of the amount of business you done with them.

I would consider printing using a4 but as said before it is a start-up. I won't be able able to print 4 labels on a A4 paper as I would have to get 4 orders at one time.

Dymo Printer, £59 with 600 labels, looks pretty good, we used to use in the old days, prin them off one at a time

 

[namesweb]

Just to chime in above. Get on HUKD and keep an eye out for a cheap label printer. The software is fab; you literally just copy and paste the address from your online into the software, and hit print - gives you perfect looking labels every time. I picked up on when it went on offer for £35 with 3 rolls of labels.

You'll notice the benefit in 3-6 months time when business picks up and you're having to bang out lots of orders every day; it's so much quicker copying and pasting, and you can line them all up in one go.

It's all about automating as much as possible that isn't necessary, along with processing out your process as it were - copy paste, print, copy paste print, copy paste print as opposed to; get scissors, cut paper, find pen, look at address, write first 2 lines, check address, write second 2 lines, double check address rinse and repeat.

To add to this, the points made above about OCR make this an absolute no brainer. The professionalism of your brand identity on top of that...

Get yourself a label maker, tick this item off your list, and move onto one of (I'm sure) many hundreds of other things on your plate. Getting into this mindset is probably the best thing I've ever done.

 

[Duci]

You can get a pack of 100 x 4 label A4 sheets for £6 on ebay. Even if you only printed one label per sheet, that would cost 6p per label. And if you only print 1 at a time, turn the paper around and put it through the other way, then you can get 2 sheets per label with 2 wasted, at a cost of 3p per label.

Can you really not afford to absorb that into your pricing?

Thank you for your response.

What about the cost of ink?

 

[Duci]

Dymo Printer, £59 with 600 labels, looks pretty good, we used to use in the old days, prin them off one at a time

Thank you for your response!

I will have a look at it.

 

[Duci]

Just to chime in above. Get on HUKD and keep an eye out for a cheap label printer. The software is fab; you literally just copy and paste the address from your online into the software, and hit print - gives you perfect looking labels every time. I picked up on when it went on offer for £35 with 3 rolls of labels.

You'll notice the benefit in 3-6 months time when business picks up and you're having to bang out lots of orders every day; it's so much quicker copying and pasting, and you can line them all up in one go.

It's all about automating as much as possible that isn't necessary, along with processing out your process as it were - copy paste, print, copy paste print, copy paste print as opposed to; get scissors, cut paper, find pen, look at address, write first 2 lines, check address, write second 2 lines, double check address rinse and repeat.

To add to this, the points made above about OCR make this an absolute no brainer. The professionalism of your brand identity on top of that...

Get yourself a label maker, tick this item off your list, and move onto one of (I'm sure) many hundreds of other things on your plate. Getting into this mindset is probably the best thing I've ever done.

Thank you for you feedback!

You have really broken down why I actually do need a label printer. Thank you very much!

 

[lesliedocherty]

Thank you for you feedback!

You have really broken down why I actually do need a label printer. Thank you very much!

For longevity, i would try a Dymo, you get cheap labels on Ebay, and the machine lasts for years, with daily use, and the software is pretty user friendly.

 

[japancool]

Cheap laser, compatible toner cartridges.

 

[TLMartin]

I use a Dymo label printer hooked up to PC to do my labels onto sticky labels. This then will go on any packaging type I like
Each label costs less than 1p... as the printing is done thermal and not ink

I also have return address labels that I stick to the back, again these cost less than 1p each

The time saved from doing these is worth the 2p... if you handwrite you will spend more time writing addresses than 2p is worth, let alone mistakes, etc

Definitely work on a system to get your packaging time down as that's the most expensive part... is the time you spend packaging the items... i.e. £8 an hour.... how many parcels can you pack in 1 hour... how much profit do you make from that number of parcels and will it cover that £8 an hour...
if you are writing the address out, how much longer does that take, than a print on a label
at £8 an hour (just rounding for convenience, plus not far off once extras are covered on salary) is 13p a minute.... I suspect it would take 1 min to write an address.... vs the 2p it costs for printing the labels which take seconds to print and apply (if you build a routine system (not computer, but process of how you process each order)

 

[MaureenP]

Hello,

I wanted to know if you guys knew what I should do for postage. I wanted to stick labels on my delivery bag but I think printing the labels can be a cost that I can easily avoid. The alternative being using a permanent marker to write where the delivery is going.

I would like to know what you think? Should I use a permanent marker? Any alternatives?

A pen is also an option in place of the marker and any printed label. But if you have your own printer then its cost becomes very nominal to you and you can save time by printing labels for the parcel.

 

[14Steve14]

Thank you for your response!

I think I will reconsider using a black pen. I will be delivering using Royal Mail to start off with, I think I will incorporate the LOGO on the address label that is a good idea. How do you attach your labels to your delivery bag or box? Do you use sellotape?

I use A4 four to a sheet self adhesive labels that go through the printer. I use a label software to design and print the labels. The addresses need to be copied and pasted into the template, but that doesnt take that long, but it would depend on how busy you are.

 

[Chris Ashdown]

Depending on what e-commerce software you use it may well have pre defined label printing or a A4 Packing list or Invoice that you can fold over to just show delivery address and place in one of those plastic clear stick on's

 

[Paul Babiak]

I would not advice marker as I’m a dyslectic and I would just **** up most of the orders.

At the beginning, I was using cheapest printer I could get and stick the labels with a tape. After a while I invested in Zebra GK420d (I’m not advertising, this baby is just sitting on my desk) and since then I get free labels. You have to have business account with royal mail to get that but if you have that your prints are free. There is no ink as its thermal and labels are provided by RM for free