All You Need to Know About Shipping Labels

When you think about shipping labels, you almost certainly believe that they would be non-existent in this digital era, but on the contrary, businesses still use them. We live at a time where you can choose to create brand awareness online, sell it using your eCommerce platform or the online market, allow customers to pay with digital methods, and go to a carrier’s website to organize the delivery process. While you can do all of these things thanks to digitalization, the driver of the carrier will never leave your premises with your product unless it has a shipping label. Whether you like it or not, as long as you ship products regularly, you must use shipping labels. However, make sure you look for a reputable provider of shipping labels such as Enkoproducts for exceptional quality.

What they are?

Shipping labels are used to display crucial information for a carrier to transport a package to their destination. This information includes postal code, state, tracking number, date and package quantity. Sometimes, the labels might identify the package’s contents, but that applies mainly if they are getting shipped internationally.

How shipping labels are produced?

You can use two options to produce shipping labels. You can go with the manual process, especially if you ship a few items per day or make all your shipments by the same carrier service. However, if you have to send high volumes or use different carriers for freight, the manual process will not be adequate for your needs. With that in mind, you have a choice to make, and the following options can reduce time and cost when going through the shipping label process:

1.      Combine your business’s backend system with different carriers used

Suppose your company only focuses on the major carriers such as FedEx and UPS to manage your shipments. In that case, you might be better equipped with ERP or CRM software directly integrated into the carriers’ systems. Creating your labels will be much quicker since the crucial data generated will be automatically obtained from your system into the carrier’s. Some of the data you get include:

·         Address of where the shipment is intended to go

·         Weight of the package

·         The dimensions of the package

What’s more, data importation is automatic, so you get to avoid costly input errors that may cause hold-ups, agitated clients and stray shipments.

2.      Administer an automated shipping platform

If you choose to go with this option, you should know it also imports shipment data, but it allows your business to integrate with many carriers, unlike the previous option. It instantly grows your carrier network as you tap into the platform’s existing carrier relationships and use its pre-negotiated rates.

As long you use an excellent third-party shipping and logistics platform, you can take advantage of a shipping API to sync your existing data with your business, allowing you to generate the following with a single interface:

·         United States Postal Service, Federal Express, and United Parcel Service shipping labels

·         Batch shipping labels

·         Amazon and eBay

·         eCommerce shipping labels

·         Freight shipping labels and lading bills

The best printer for shipping labels

If you are interested in shipping labels, you might want to go for a direct thermal printer. Here are the reasons:

·         They do not require ink, toners, or ribbons.

Unlike other printers, the thermal printer creates a digital image directly onto the shipping label. Since they do not use ink, they save costs in the long-run.

·         They are reliable

You can print shipping labels on your desktop inkjet or laser printer, but you will only be overworking the printer. What is even worse is that you have to keep on alternating from paper to labels and vice versa, which can be pretty inconvenient. With a thermal printer, you are sure it is dedicated to printing shipping labels.

·         Affordability

With a couple of hundred dollars, you can purchase a printer, meaning it is not costly.

Shipping labels facilitate safer and secure shipments. As a business owner, you must ensure your delivery process is flawless. The last thing you want is delayed shipments or agitated customers. Just ensure you have an effective system in place for creating shipping labels promptly.