FAQ: Packing-Day Questions
Direct, field-tested answers to the equipment, layout, and carrier questions that come up when running an independent dispatch floor.
1. At what daily order volume should we switch from single-order picking to batch picking?
Once your workshop dispatches more than 20 to 25 parcels per day, walking to storage shelves for one order at a time wastes up to an hour of floor labour. Start by filtering single-SKU orders into a "Fast Lane" batch of 25 labels, pulling the bulk quantity in one crate to the bench. For multi-item orders, introduce an 8-tote rolling trolley as soon as you pass 35 orders per day.
2. Why are my 4×6 thermal shipping labels printing fuzzy or failing courier scans?
Fuzzy barcodes almost always happen when a computer scales an A4 PDF down to 4×6 inches with half-toning ("dithering") turned on, turning crisp black bars into grey dots on a 203 dpi printhead. In your driver preferences, set Halftoning/Dithering to None (Threshold), reduce print speed to 3 or 4 ips (inches per second), clean the thermal printhead strip with a 99% isopropyl alcohol swab, and configure your shipping software to output native ZPL whenever supported.
3. What is the ideal standing height for a packing bench?
For light-to-medium parcel assembly, set the top work surface between 91 cm and 96 cm (36 to 38 inches) above the floor, paired with a 15 mm anti-fatigue mat. If you pack tall, heavy cartons (over 30 cm box height), a slightly lower 86 cm section keeps your shoulders from shrugging upward when taping the top flaps.
4. How many box sizes should a small online shop actually keep in stock?
Five core profiles cover 95% of dispatches: one rigid Large Letter pip box (under 25 mm thick), one honeycomb padded kraft mailer, one small cube carton, one medium multi-depth carton scored at 50 mm intervals, and one heavy double-wall carton for large bundles. Stocking more than six sizes crowds the bench and slows down packer decision time.
5. When should we buy dedicated shipping software instead of using native store labels?
Native checkout label printing works fine when you sell on a single platform and use a single postal carrier for under 20 parcels a day. Once you sell across two or more channels (for example, Shopify plus Etsy or eBay) or split parcels between a national postal service (for under 2 kg) and a road courier (for 2–20 kg), a shipping rule aggregator pays for itself in saved copy-pasting and automatic box-weight presets.
6. How do we stop water-activated gummed paper tape from curling or failing to stick in winter?
Starch adhesive needs warm water to activate instantaneously in cold workshops. If your unit drops below 12°C overnight, fill the dispenser water bottle with warm water at the start of the morning shift, verify that the moistening brushes aren't encrusted with dried glue (wash them weekly in warm soapy water), and rub the applied strip firmly once with a gloved palm from the centre outward.
7. Should we outsource fulfilment to a 3PL or keep packing in-house?
Keep fulfilment in-house if your orders involve custom kitting, handwritten notes, fragile assembly, high SKU counts with slow turnover (which incur heavy monthly 3PL bin-storage fees), or gross margins under 45%. Consider a 3PL only when standardized, barcode-ready SKUs exceed 150–250 orders per day and physical floor space prevents you from adding a second packing bench.
8. How do we prevent packers from putting the wrong variant size or colour in a box?
Relying on visual checks alone yields a 1% to 2% human error rate when staff get tired. Store adjacent sizes or colours at least two bins apart ("skip-bin slotting"), bold the last four characters of the SKU on the packing slip, and introduce a cordless 2D barcode scanner at the bench so the shipping label only prints after every item's EAN barcode is scanned.
9. What is the fastest way to handle undeliverable "Return to Sender" parcels?
Do not automatically reship RTS parcels at your own postage expense. Scan the parcel into your afternoon returns block, inspect the goods for Grade A condition, refund the product value (minus original shipping where your terms permit, or hold credit), and email the customer a clean checkout link to re-verify their delivery address.