Guard Your Edges

Moving can be a hassle. You have to go through looking for a home and deciding what works best for you and your family. Then you have to show your home and hope someone will put in an offer. Then you have to go through multiple inspections, appraisals, and counter-offers. Finally about a month later you can sign on and finally close on selling your old house and buying your new house. While exciting, it is not the most fun adventure in the world. A lot of things can go wrong, and the worry doesn’t just end when you close on the house. Now you have to worry about moving.

When moving, there are a few different routes you can take. Most people would recommend professional movers, but sometimes that isn’t always the best option for people. Many people can not afford movers, especially after shelling out a down payment and closing costs on the new house. Another option is to post an ad alone, but this doesn’t guarantee the legitimacy of who you are hiring. The last option (and the option most people have to revert to) is asking your friends and family to help you. You usually just have to offer free pizza and beer, and a least a few people will show up.

But! The important thing to know about asking your friends for help is that they are not professional movers! There can and will be accidents if you don’t think ahead and prevent these accidents from happening. You need to make sure you have proper shipping supplies so none of your belongings get damaged. To help, we are listing a few shipping supplies we think might be helpful when moving or shipping things that you don’t want to get damaged.

Corner guards to exactly what they sound like, They protect your furniture’s edges and legs during the move. There are two different types you can choose from. Angleboard guards are great for preventing damage that is caused by strapping that is too tight during moving. Your friends are probably not going to be the greatest packers, so this is a possibility that will cause damage. Edgeboards help prevent damage from double-stacked loads. These are especially helpful if you are trying to cram as many things as possible into as few loads as possible. It is not recommended to to pack so much so tight, but damage can be prevented if this has to be the case.

Managing Shipping from Time Perspective

Like it or not, shipping has never been a hassle free process because of its nature. And now when you see many lots to be shipped with a limited time window until holidays, you might be worried about how to get your shipping supplies on board. Surely you want to sell more to cover the holidays in advance but you are restrained by operational shortcomings that you face before finally dispatching the items.

You can use a few helpful tips to get a better idea on how to make the shipping process less time consuming and more convenient.

Use a Thermal Printer

Thermal printing usually involves interaction between chemically treated metal and the thermal print-head that transfers heat to the metal, blackening the chemically treated areas. Working with these printers wouldn’t require you to update the toner, refill ink and any conventional printer maintenance task. Moreover, it brings convenience and efficiency in printing labels. Efficiency in printing labels is the major relief as this efficiency can help you making the dispatching process many times faster. Some features that justify the usage of thermal printer include:

Thermal printer is dedicated to print postage. It means that you wouldn’t need any labels to feed into the printer.

Due to simple path, jamming isn’t the issue with this printer.

Printing labels using inkjet printers wouldn’t make labels ready right away due to time required for ink to dry. On the other hand, thermal printer readies labels instantly, saving a lot of time.

Batch printing

Printing the batch of a large number labels doesn’t take much time while using thermal printer. Unlike the inkjet printing which requires paper portions to get under the cartridge, thermal printing works like a quick stamp that works in a dynamic way. Hence, you can easily use batch printing software if you are dealing with thermal printing.

Include return labels with your shipment

In case the customer reconsiders the decision to have your product, the reverse shipping process should be efficient and free of any confusion. For that purpose, always include return labels with your shipment. As a matter of fact, this inclusion of return labels can give your customer the confidence that he/she has more authority to return the product. It can surely be defined as an aspect of customer satisfaction.

Carrier Pickup

Transporting shipping supplies to the carrier’s office consumes time and money. There is a way you can avoid this hassle. That way is to sign up for pickup by carrier. You can coordinate with the carrier’s representative to finalize a schedule for pickup of your items from your office by the carrier. Some companies charge for picking the items from office or home but the pickup charges may vary depending upon how often you want your items to be picked up. Some major carriers also offer free pickup.

Automation in shipping process

Shipping process usually involves immense amount of record keeping and calculation. Moreover, certain entities like item types, volume and weight need to be recorded in organized way in order to avoid measurement of shipment again and again. Since this record keeping is a complicated and lengthy process, the best way is to use shipping software that would keep records in its database and show simplified information by running complex codes at the backend.