Happy Thursday, friends! For any of you boss ladies and gents in online retail, you’ve probably learned more about shipping rates, mailers and USPS mailing zones than you ever wanted to know. For those of us who sell a physical product, we have to find an efficient and cost effective way to get said product to our anxiously awaiting customers, and a carrier pigeon is rarely the right answer. Although shipping can be a major headache, it doesn’t have to be! With a little homework upfront, and putting in the extra time to streamline your shipping systems, you’ll be left with a process that will end up saving you time and money.

Pre-Package Products

Before you even set foot in a Post Office or Fedex storefront, set yourself up for success by getting all your product and materials ready. Pre-package your products so they’re ready to be pulled out of storage and dropped in the correct mailer when the time comes! I’ve found that although this requires a packaging party upfront, it makes the actual order packing process much smoother, which gives me more time to write a personalized note to a customer, or spend a little extra time that day answering client emails.

Know Your Inventory Levels

Nothing is more upsetting that discovering in the middle of a busy shipping day that you’re out of 9” x 11” stay flat mailers! Not that I speak from personal experience, or anything. Let’s just say Bonnie circa 2012 had a steep learning curve.

Just like you manage your product inventory, always have a clear idea of how many mailers, boxes, protective sleeves, cardboard inserts, etc. you have to avoid any shortages. A simple spreadsheet in Excel works wonders! And if you keep a clear log of how many supplies you order at any given time, you should be able to calculate how many items you’ve used over the past month or quarter fairly easily.

Be Organized

In addition to keeping track of your shipping supply levels, make sure that every piece has a proper home that is easily located. Set up your office, warehouse, garage or wherever you store inventory and shipping supplies in an easy-to-navigate way. The goal is that a shipping assistant or intern should be able to find everything they need to fill your orders if something crazy happened and you couldn’t be there to show them around. Plus, it will save you so much time knowing exactly where each mailer or roll of bubble tape lives. Yes, this is fairly common sense, but you’d be amazed at the amount of time you’ll save simply by organizing your supplies and packing flow.

Print Labels Online

Unless you derive some true sense of joy from hanging out at your local Post Office or shipping center, do yourself a solid and print those labels before you go! Not only does writing out each address take ages, but you can actually save money if you prepay and print labels online. I personally use USPS for my orders, but all major mail carriers offer this feature. In fact, you don’t even have to use USPS.com to access this timesaver! Etsy offers sellers the option to print labels for each order directly within the seller dashboard. And third-party programs like Stamps.com allow you to create labels at a discounted rate, for a monthly fee, of course.

Minimize Wait Time

A huge perk of printing your shipping labels is the freedom to simply drop them off at your local Post Office, or schedule a pick-up! We all know that old idiom that “time is money,” and the less time you can spend worrying about getting your orders where they need to go, the better. Once your orders are packaged a ready to go, do a quick run to your Post Office, delegate this task to someone else within your company, or schedule a good ol’ pick-up from your friendly postal worker! You’ll be delighted with how much time you’ll find you have to do other things, like brainstorm new products or even have a proper lunch break.

What facets of shipping your customer orders do you find challenging? What practices have you put into play that have totally helped streamline your workflow? Sound off in the comments below!