Photo by waferboard

The cost of packing materials can add up quickly… peanuts, packing paper, bubble-wrap. There are lots of different ways to pack your orders but we discovered a secret a long time ago that has saved us thousands of dollars per year.

Newspaper End Rolls

Your local newspaper prints using large rolls of paper. These rolls of paper have to be changed out before they run out, so there is always a little paper left over. How much? Well, probably a few hundred feet (maybe even 1,000). These “end rolls” as the newspaper calls them are unprinted paper, so unlike used newspapers they won’t get ink all over your hands.

These end-rolls are cheap too. For years, our local newspaper just gave them to us for free. As demand grew, our newspaper started charging for end rolls, but they still only charge $5 per roll. A roll will last us months.

Contact your local newspaper and see if they will sell (or give) you some end-rolls for packing materials.

Pros

• Start slow. No need to hire employees, lease a facility, or invest in supply chain management.
• Simplify. Most fulfillment services can integrate into your current order management. Simply click a button and send the order to be picked, packed, and shipped to your customer.
• Value-added features. Some e-fulfillment services also provide other services, such as call centers for phoned in orders, returns processing, and the ability to insert sales/marketing material into your boxes while being picked/packed.
• Location. You can choose fulfillment centers near your customers. Many fulfillment companies have multiple warehouses so you can pick the best location (or use all of them).

Cons

• Expensive. The biggest drawback to outsourced fulfillment is the cost. Paying someone else is always more expensive than just doing it yourself
• No control. You can’t control someone else’s facility, or their employees. This means you and your expensive inventory are at the mercy of your fulfillment company. Lost or damaged merchandise, delayed shipments, and errors are just some of the problems that can occur.
• Flexibility. If a customer calls at 5 PM and just has to have a product the next day, chances are you’re out of luck. If you have your inventory in a warehouse or the garage, you can make exceptions as long as UPS is still open, but by outsourcing you’re at the mercy of a third party. There are typically pretty early cutoff times for same-day shipping, and shipments can be delayed even more during the peak holiday season.

Tips for Choosing a Fulfillment Service

• Location – Find a location that’s centrally located, or use multiple locations to ensure all your customers are served equally.
• Price – Do some calculations based on your number of individual SKUs and your average number of orders to determine the approximate costs, and compare several fulfillment services. Some are better suited for small, uniform items (like books or electronics), while others can handle palletized products and irregularly shaped merchandise.
• Shipping Costs – Many fulfillment companies use shipping surcharges as a major profit center. Ask if you can use your shipper account numbers to charge actual shipping costs directly to your account. If not, make sure they pass at least some of their shipping savings onto you, as paying “counter” rates for shipping is very expensive!
• Proven Track Record – Ask for testimonials and a client list. Google their return shipping address to find other retailers using their service, and call them to get their opinion. Ask them if they are happy with their fulfillment service, ask them about the speed of both shipments and responses to inquiries.
• Insurance – Ask for proof of insurance, and ask about policies regarding damaged or stolen merchandise. Make sure you can request a full inventory at any time (even if there are costs involved).
• Turnaround Time – Get a guaranteed turnaround time for order processing and shipping.

Popular Fulfillment Services

ShipWire – Their simplified pricing structure makes outsourcing fulfillment easy, but means that they aren’t a good fit for all products.

Fulfillment by Amazon – Warehousing with Amazon has its benefits, like being able to sell on Amazon.com and offer “Prime” shipping to customers.

eFulfillmentService – A fairly small company, they’re more flexible and more likely to work with you if you have odd requests such as large or specialty products.

TrackThePack is very simple to integrate and just requires a short JavaScript snippet be added to one of your pages with the tracking number inserted. Most people will want to use some kind of form, so I’ve put together a simple script that will let you create links to send to customers in emails, but will also allow a user to copy/paste a tracking number into a form field. I’ve posted some sample PHP code at the end of the post.

TrackThePack offers their API and tracking service for as little as $0.02 per tracked package. Users can track their package as many times as they want – you’re charged per tracking ID not per lookup.

I integrated TrackThePack into 2BigFeet.com and just had to change a few of the JavaScript variables to get it looking very nice. We plan on making some tweaks before rolling this out to our customers, but it looks like a very easy way to add order tracking to your website for very low cost.

In addition to using an input form on your website, you can send customers automated emails linking directly to the form on your website. For instance:

http://www.mysite.com/track.php?packageid=1Z1234567890123

Head over to TrackThePack’s website and sign up for an account for free and start testing. Grab the code below for an easy tracking form in PHP.

<?php if ( isset($_GET['packageid']) ) { ?>

 <script type="text/javascript">
 var ttp_number = "<?= $_GET['packageid']; ?>"; // Tracking number
 var ttp_width = "500"; // Change if needed, or comment out for default
 var ttp_height = "600"; // Change if needed, or comment out for default
 var ttp_m_width = "200"; // Change if needed, or comment out for default
 var ttp_m_height = "200"; // Change if needed, or comment out for default
 var ttp_key="YOURCODEHERE";(function(){document.write('<div id="ttp"></div>');s=document.createElement('script');s.type="text/javascript";s.src="http://trackthepack.com/javascript/embed.js?" + Math.random();setTimeout("document.getElementById('ttp').appendChild(s);",1);})()
 </script>

<?php } else { ?>

<p>Please enter your tracking number below:</p>

<form action="<?= $_SERVER['PHP_SELF']; ?>" method="get">
 <p><input type="packageid" name="packageid" value="" size=40></p>
 <p><input type="submit" value="Track Your Package"></p>
</form>

<?php } ?>