5 Ways to Prepare for the Holiday Rush

Published on September 12, 2022
Written by
Filed under Holiday
Read time 6 Minutes

The 2022 holiday season will continue to see a longer, more protracted buying cycle.  Additionally, customers may be a bit more frugal this year and this will extend to what they expect to pay for shipping. ShipStation found that 36% of Americans biggest concern about receiving their online orders this year is delivery costs. The past couple of holiday seasons have seen delivery speed and tracking be more important. However, as we approach the holiday shipping deadlines, more express services need to be used to make final delivery. This along with shipping delays and holiday surcharges will all impact the shipping price. The best way to combat rising shipping costs is to stay on top of warehouse fulfillment. Luckily, ShipStation can help.

Situate your packing and shipping area in the best location

When determining where to set up the packing and shipping zone, pretend you’re a city planner. Figure out where team members will be coming from when they enter the workspace and where they’ll be headed when they leave. Also consider what kinds of items team members will be carrying during their travels around the distribution center. This includes not only products but also carts, storage bins, and other shipping equipment.

Make sure team members have a direct route to the packing and shipping area from anywhere, regardless of what’s in their hands. The location should also have plenty of space for supply storage and workstations.

Before you decide where to put the packing and shipping zone, use tape to mark off the space and do practice run-throughs. Will the location affect other operations in the distribution center? Is there proper visibility throughout the workspace? How will the design affect efficiency and productivity? This will help prevent issues before you’ve invested in installation.

See how ShipStation can help you streamline shipping and create a better, more affordable shipping workflow. 

Have all necessary supplies and equipment on-hand and readily accessible

A productive packing and shipping area is always well-stocked with the right materials and tools. This includes …

  • Postal scale
  • Boxes and envelopes
  • Cushioning, such as bubble wrap, kraft paper, air pillows, foam sheets, and peanuts
  • Label printer and labels
  • Packing tape
  • Tape measure
  • Packing slips

In addition, team members should be able to quickly find the materials they need. Assign each item its own dedicated shelf or storage bin and clearly label where everything belongs. Make sure team members always put each item back in its proper storage location.

Keep holiday shipping costs low this year save up to 88 percent on shipping costs

Stay ahead of the game

If you know certain products will be in high demand during the holidays, consider keeping a stockpile of them near the packing and shipping zone. This will keep team members from repeatedly retrieving the same products from elsewhere in the warehouse. As long as these items aren’t bulky and won’t be in the way, this tactic can improve efficiency.

If you haven’t identified your best sellers yet, you can pre-build a few of your most commonly used boxes. And if you usually include freebies such as stickers or coupons for future orders, keep those in the pre-assembled boxes, as well.

As your operation grows and space becomes more limited, pre-packing and pre-assembling may not be an option. But smaller retailers should take advantage of every opportunity to shave time off the packing and shipping process.

Know Holiday Shipping Deadlines

Knowing when certain services cut off for Christmas is an important way to prepare for last-minute shoppers. Holiday shipping deadlines allow merchants to plan accordingly for when a service may need to swap from First Class to Priority Mail. 

Read the 2022 holiday shipping deadlines and know when you need to use quicker express services.

Don’t forget the steps before and after packing and shipping.

Your packing and shipping space is likely designed with packing and shipping in mind, but what about the steps before and after?

Before an order is packed, it’s picked from the shelves. And after an order has been packed, it isn’t immediately shipped. In addition to the items being packed, you must take into account two other categories of products:

  1. Ones that have been sold but not yet packed.
  2. Ones that have been packed but haven’t been shipped.

Ensure each set has its own dedicated space in the packing and shipping zone so team members can quickly move orders through the process.

Start saving time and money on holiday shipping now with a free ShipStation trial!

Written by

James Messer

James Messer is a copywriter specializing in shipping, logistics, and ecommerce.

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