5 Serious Warning Signs That You Need to Switch to Label Sheets
by Chelsea Camper | Last Updated December 30, 2015Are you unsure as to whether or not you should move your warehouse toward shipping label sheets? It can be a big change for some companies, but a generally welcomed change. Shipping labels can help your fulfillment become more productive and more accurate.
Here are 5 signs to look out for that will tell you whether you should be using shipping label sheets for your order fulfillment process.
Packages Getting Returned Due to Tape Over the Bar Code
If you’re still using regular paper and tape for your shipping labels, you really need to jump on the shipping label sheet train. When you print your shipping label onto a label sheet you can easily peel the label off and place it onto the package; no cutting, no tape. To top it off you can remove the section of the label sheet that has the packing list printed on it via perforation and place that in the box.
Can’t find a stock label sheet that suits your 
needs? Don’t think you have to go back to scissors and tape! Just get a custom shipping label sheet.
Once you’ve started using shipping labels sheets, you can stop worrying about your packages being returned to you because of tape over the bar code.
Customers are Getting the Wrong Packages on a Regular Basis
Does your current order fulfillment process have incorrect orders being shipped to your customers on a regular basis? This can cost you in both return expenses and customers. Would you stay with a company who constantly gave you the wrong order?
When you print your shipping label and packing list on separate sheets of paper you increase the risk of the wrong shipping label being paired up with a package. Your pickers, packers, and shippers are busy fulfilling orders all day, and on those great, busy days where they’re filling out a bunch of orders, sheets of paper are flying around and bound to get mixed up.
Using shipping label sheets will let you keep all of the order information on a single sheet of paper, reducing the risk of the shipping labels to get mixed up. The shipping label can stay with the package from start to finish without having to worry about keeping up with multiple sheets of paper.
Customers Complaining that Your Fulfillment Time is Too Long
If it takes most of your competitors less than a week to turn around an order that takes you two weeks, you should take a hard look at your fulfillment system. Where are the weak points? What’s taking so long to fulfill?
Is the hold up where your employees are trying to match the shipping labels and packing lists? Are they having trouble keeping all of the order information together? Could it be at the printer waiting for all of the different forms to print out?
Thinking that there’s some way shipping label sheets can help out with this? There sure is!
As we mentioned earlier, all of your shipping forms can stay on the same page so that there’s no time wasted in trying to match up shipping labels and packages. It’ll also reduce time wasted standing around at the printer. Your employees only have to wait for one sheet to print out instead of two, three or even four sheets.
Company Needs to Cut Back on Printed Paper
Is your company trying to become more environmentally friendly? It can be tough to do. One thing that you can do to reduce your paper usage is to duplex print your label sheet. Print your shipping label and packing slip on one side, then use the other side for your Terms of Service, Return Information, ect.
Combining all of your shipping forms onto a single sheet will help reduce the amount of paper your fulfillment service uses.
Wondering if shipping label sheets are recyclable? In some municipalities they are. Usually the label sheet (with the label peeled off of it) can be recycled, but you’ll want to talk to your local government about it to find out where you can recycle your used label sheets.
The Boss of The Boss of Your Boss Says YOU Need to Improve Customer Satisfaction
We have already talked a bit about your customers in this post. Let’s review the two things your customers want from you:
- Their orders to be correct
- Their orders to arrive in a timely fashion
Label sheets are a good way to get started on improving customer satisfaction since they can help out with both of those things. They’ll help keep your order information together (increasing order accuracy) and they’ll help your orders get fulfilled quicker (not having to search for matching shipping labels and packing slips).
When you’re tasked with a job like this, it’s great to be able to satisfy both of your customer’s needs with the addition of just one item!
What other signs can you think of that tell you that you need to switch to shipping label sheets?
Learn more about label sheets!
