- Original Poster
- #1
I've been a long-time reader of UKBF but this one I couldn't find a historical topic on so here I am.
We sell online using two Opencart platforms, the odd Romancart link for bespoke orders alongside Amazon and a couple of eBay accounts. Volumes are typically 100-200 items a day. We use DPD for the bigger high-value stuff (no issues there) and Click & Drop (even though they collect it) for the bulk of it.
The workflow on the Click and Drop is what we're having problems with.
On the old Royal Mail OBA life was easier, pack the stuff, split the large letters from the parcels, weigh the bags, divide by the number of items and put the average weight in. Lemon Squeezy.
Now we've gone over to the new barcodes and the Click and Drop platform, we're using mostly regular 48 for economy delivery, 24 Tracked for the premium orders and the odd international service for those orders.
The problem is with inputting the weights. Our RM price deal is worked out on the assumption that our average item is 1kg (reviewed every three months). That's OK as much stuff is 100-300g, and others might be 1-2kg. The average will be about right.
Because we have many mixed orders, and packaging varies, few orders are the identical weight. It's not like we sell two or three types of widgets that come in mailing boxes and they're all the same weight. Two identical orders may even differ in weight as we use a lot of recycled packaging, recycled boxes and cardboard shred. Other stuff goes in mailing bags, some in padded envelopes, etc.
The way we do it at the moment is we print invoices/packing slips, then pull all the orders into the RM interface, exclude those that will be DPD later (only maybe a dozen or so a day), we print the postage labels, attach them to the invoices, then they get picked and put on the pre-packing shelves, and then packed and bagged.
This means we have to guess the weights at the point of label generation. Before picking and packing. And this is the problem. if something weighs less than the label says, no problem. If it's a few grams more, nobody will likely notice or care. If it's a big difference that we notice, we go back and reprint the label with the right weight on so we don't get surcharged on a revenue check. Tedious.
But this is not only highly inefficient, it can muck up our averages. When we send the occasional something that weighs six or seven kilos, it's OK as it's averaged out (eventually by RM at pricing time) by all the other stuff that is 500g or so in order that our average is still 1kg. But if we are guessing 700g and it's really 400g were 'losing' 300g a parcel that could be used on other heavier stuff (if that makes sense). And in any event, guessing is a crap way to go here. Were looking to do more and in order to add another 50-100 a day I need a better system with accurate weights.
When we receive stuff from others, weights are often accurately noted on the labels. Instead of a guestimated 5kg like we might put, their parcels arrive saying for example 3.87kg on. So others are working with some kind of system that probably allows weights to be inputted at the packing desk and the label generated there. That's what we need. And that's what I don't know what we need to do that. I need to see or have described someone else's workflow to see how that might be achieved.
Probably we need to print one label at a time at the packing desk somehow with a different printer (it's 4 to an A4 sheet now and that wastes time too). The packing desk is 20m from the office where stuff is printed and booked. And we cant have packers making decisions about shipping methods, etc. That needs to happen in the office. Perhaps there's some software that enables this? I dunno, that's why I am here.
Ideally, I need to see someone else's operation to see how we might do this. Or have it described in detail. I only know one person with a larger operation than us, and although I know him, he won't show me his setup as it's 'commercially sensitive'.
We sell online using two Opencart platforms, the odd Romancart link for bespoke orders alongside Amazon and a couple of eBay accounts. Volumes are typically 100-200 items a day. We use DPD for the bigger high-value stuff (no issues there) and Click & Drop (even though they collect it) for the bulk of it.
The workflow on the Click and Drop is what we're having problems with.
On the old Royal Mail OBA life was easier, pack the stuff, split the large letters from the parcels, weigh the bags, divide by the number of items and put the average weight in. Lemon Squeezy.
Now we've gone over to the new barcodes and the Click and Drop platform, we're using mostly regular 48 for economy delivery, 24 Tracked for the premium orders and the odd international service for those orders.
The problem is with inputting the weights. Our RM price deal is worked out on the assumption that our average item is 1kg (reviewed every three months). That's OK as much stuff is 100-300g, and others might be 1-2kg. The average will be about right.
Because we have many mixed orders, and packaging varies, few orders are the identical weight. It's not like we sell two or three types of widgets that come in mailing boxes and they're all the same weight. Two identical orders may even differ in weight as we use a lot of recycled packaging, recycled boxes and cardboard shred. Other stuff goes in mailing bags, some in padded envelopes, etc.
The way we do it at the moment is we print invoices/packing slips, then pull all the orders into the RM interface, exclude those that will be DPD later (only maybe a dozen or so a day), we print the postage labels, attach them to the invoices, then they get picked and put on the pre-packing shelves, and then packed and bagged.
This means we have to guess the weights at the point of label generation. Before picking and packing. And this is the problem. if something weighs less than the label says, no problem. If it's a few grams more, nobody will likely notice or care. If it's a big difference that we notice, we go back and reprint the label with the right weight on so we don't get surcharged on a revenue check. Tedious.
But this is not only highly inefficient, it can muck up our averages. When we send the occasional something that weighs six or seven kilos, it's OK as it's averaged out (eventually by RM at pricing time) by all the other stuff that is 500g or so in order that our average is still 1kg. But if we are guessing 700g and it's really 400g were 'losing' 300g a parcel that could be used on other heavier stuff (if that makes sense). And in any event, guessing is a crap way to go here. Were looking to do more and in order to add another 50-100 a day I need a better system with accurate weights.
When we receive stuff from others, weights are often accurately noted on the labels. Instead of a guestimated 5kg like we might put, their parcels arrive saying for example 3.87kg on. So others are working with some kind of system that probably allows weights to be inputted at the packing desk and the label generated there. That's what we need. And that's what I don't know what we need to do that. I need to see or have described someone else's workflow to see how that might be achieved.
Probably we need to print one label at a time at the packing desk somehow with a different printer (it's 4 to an A4 sheet now and that wastes time too). The packing desk is 20m from the office where stuff is printed and booked. And we cant have packers making decisions about shipping methods, etc. That needs to happen in the office. Perhaps there's some software that enables this? I dunno, that's why I am here.
Ideally, I need to see someone else's operation to see how we might do this. Or have it described in detail. I only know one person with a larger operation than us, and although I know him, he won't show me his setup as it's 'commercially sensitive'.
