Better Print Options (Label, Slip, Both)

It would really help to speed things up if you could choose to prompt the print screens for both labels and packing slips. Creating a printing queue could also help with printing management. Thanks

I think I agree with your first one about being able to choose on a per-order basis whether a packing slip gets printed or not. On the print queue thing, isn't that what a batch is? I add orders to batches all the time and then process the batch which spits out all the labels. The big bummer I have is that you can either have packing lists turned on or turned off when to trigger a print but I'd like to be able to set the slip printing on/off on a per order basis as I'm setting up shipping parameters.

i would like to see the ability to batch print the Shipping label and packing list at the same time, in sequence with the orders. So it prints "Order1 Label-Order1 Packlist-Order2 Label-Order2 Packlist etc...". So perhaps this option for inline printing could go hand in hand with the one-button feature you mention.

Finale Inventory; That's exactly how batch printing works right now. However, keep in mind that as you're adding order to a batch, you MUST have your printing preferences set to Label + packing list.

Thanks! Ive overlooked those settings hundreds of times!

We don't batch ship because every order could be one of 14 different box sizes and we don't know that until it's packed. For us, we'd love a setting that we could choose like a checkbox to "Print Packing slip with label." Currently we "Create Label" then have to go to "Print Packing Slip." Are we overlooking a setting someplace?

Sam Ray, Yes, what you want is to click the gear icon, account settings, printing settings, under document type "labels", click document options and select Label and Packing Slip. Now, I understand what you mean about pre-boxing orders before printing labels, but in order to do that, don't you already print all the packing slips ahead of printing the labels? If so, why do you need to print them inline with the labels? Let's say you still want to print the labels and packing lists after you box everything, it's still beneficial to use batch. If you're looking at a pile of 10 boxes that are already packed up, you'd go into the orders, set the parameters e.g. weight, box type, size, etc, click add to batch. Move on to the next order by clicking the green arrow, repeating for each box. When you're done, process the batch and hit print. Now instead of dealing with the printing prompts for each order, all 10 just spit out of the printer. Batching has reduced our shipping time by at least 20%.

Robert, If I do the process of the gear icon you suggested, I can only print 4x6 packing slips/labels. I need 8x10 PS and 4x6 labels. Each of our boxes will be different sizes and weights as well so not sure batch would work unless I am missing something which is ALWAYS possible haha Thank you all for the help!

Loucon, I see what you mean. You want to be able to set it so that when you print a label, it prints the label on 4x6 and the packing list on a different printer. Basically it seems like the feature request is just really the ability to print on two printers at the same time if it's set up that way in settings. Right now you can only do a thermal label (with or without packing slip) OR a laserjet (with or without the packing slip). Side note: As much as I do like the look of the packing slips on a full sheet of paper, we've gotten used to letting the thermal printer just do those too. We only pay 1.5 cents per label. I believe you can leverage batching right now to do something like what you want. First, be sure to set your packing slips to be 8.5 x 11. Also set your labels to exclude packing slips. Select and order and set box parameters. Click batch, create new batch. Move on to other orders in the list and set parameters, then add to current batch. Once you've done all the orders that you want, click the batch in the lower left column and click PROCESS BATCH. Once it's done, click print labels. Then click print packing slips. That way if you have 20 orders to address, you're only clicking print twice. Once for labels and once for packing slips. It saves more time than haven't click print on every order, even if you only had to click once.

Yes exactly. That is what I want and why I put in my vote. The problem is that sometimes we have to print one order and then the packing slip is a bit cumbersome to print. By the way, we get our thermal labels from ebay and they cost .008, so you may be a bit overpaying. However, regular paper at the local walmart cost .005 per sheet, so the cost adds up pretty quickly. The batch method does work for batches. Also a bit cumbersome.

Don't forget the cost of toner. Since most of our orders are worth $50+, I'm not very concerned about a penny here or there though. I think it's a great idea to have simultaneous label and packing list print out with one command with the option of using two different printers. The original proposal isn't very clear on that so I'd hope the admins could fix that up. It would prevent the staff and other users from assuming it was already a feature (just like I did).

ooo .008? where from, Aaron

Yes you are correct, but it is still worth it. We deal in low-priced items in large quantities, so price matters alot. I was able to get LP-2844 labels ( I ordered a batch of 4000 ) from a seller on ebay. I checked on other sites, they were around the same price after factoring in shipping. There is a company that makes labels and plain sheets on the same page, but after shipping costs, it is not worth it.

I moved over here from ShipWorks where the packing slip and shipping label can both be printed simultaneously (shipping label via thermal 6x4, packing slip via normal printer). When I switched to ShipStation, I set things up so the shipping label and the packing slip both print on the thermal printer. It's saved a lot of hassle not having to match up packing slips with labels. It also solves the issue of having to print the label and slip separately in ShipStation.

Hey Robert, sorry it's been a bit before checking back. We keep the hard copies of the packing slips with all the warehouse markings on it as a check if a customer calls to say they were missing an item. It's our "Step 1" of determining if we potentially made a mistake. If all the items are checked off then it should have been in the box. The second step is to look at the product weight. Most of the time, there is no mark next to the product and we have to go put an employee in time out for awhile lol. Anyway, I was a ShipWorks convert but like 8PA below we now just print the second packing slip with the label on the thermal. Much easier, less folding and a lot better for us. I'm still working on the batch though lol. Thanks for all your help and the help of the community!!!

I found another situation that supports the need for more control over packing slip printing. I don't know how many other users would be affected by this but chime in and let everyone know. Since packing slip printing yes/no is setup in the backend printing preferences screen, it's one of those things that is not easily changed on a per order basis. In most cases, 95% of the time, we leave inline packing list printing turned on in the printing setup. However, since we have to print two different shipping labels for a lot of USPS, we turn off the packing lists for the second shipment because we don't need to waste 3-5 labels for duplicate packing lists. If we make the mistake of kicking off a "batch" of like 60 labels without making sure the packing lists were turned back on, there is no way that I can see to have the packing lists put back inline with the shipping labels. It's REALLY frustrating having to match up 60 labels with 60 packing slips. This is another reason why I feel it's important to have a little more control of packing lists during an order followup shipment. It already warns "this order has already been shipped" so it would be pretty easy to also ask, do you want to print a duplicate packing list for this? That way you could suppress the packing list on a one-off basis without having to go into printing preferences and messing up the 95% usage. The hardest part about feature requests is that you never know if it falls into an existing feature request or if a new one should be created.

Add an option to print your full size packing slip at the same time as the thermal shipping label is printed.

Well we print the packing slips on the 8.5x11 and the shipping labels on the 4x6, but we have to remember to print the slips and labels separately. If the shipper forgets to push the button, then we have a bunch of labels or packing slips without their counterpart. Then we have to go back and search for it all. That can turn out to be a real pain.

Also, if I ship just one order at a time, the order grays out or disappears from view in the order details pane, and it can get pretty complicated to print out the packing slip. Thanks!

I'm not actively endorsing this request any longer because our current process does not benefit. We are using the batch process for up to 50 orders at a time. We run the batch, click print labels (they come out of our thermal label printer), then click Packing Slips which come out of a laser printer. Sure, it's two clicks but it's not a problem when you are batching that many orders at once. For anyone that has not tried using the batch process, check it out. It takes a lot of the redundant monotony out of printing one order at a time.

It would be quite helpful if the 4x6 thermal printer automatically printed a summary for multiple SKUs when printing the shipping labels. Thanks

mbeck, do you mean a pick list?

The net result is that i want to be able to have the label printed to printer A (for me label writer 4XL) and the packing slip to printer B (a laserwriter). This could either be done by specifying in the printing setup, that packing slips print with the label printing BUT add the capability to have them print on different printers (which it can NOT do now). Other option is not to muck with printing setup but add a menu item to the Print menu for an order of "Label and Packing Slip". This seems the easier route in that a menu command could just be programmed to run each of the already existing routines that print the label and print the packing slip. THink this is a slam dunk.

Have set labels separate from packing slip. But then you have to manually print the packing slip. Hence the suggestion above.

For us for example, we recently started a new barcoding system. But the pick slips we print for the pickers wouldn't work as a packing slip. So rather than having to match packing slips to pick lists, we'd just take the pick list, use it to pull up the order, print the shipping label with a packing slip to throw in the package.