Top Five Shipping Tools

blog getting started tech tools Jan 16, 2022

 

I ship more than 3,000 subscription boxes to my subscribers every month. That’s a lot of turquoise boxes filled with fun surprises making their way around the country. 

When I started my business, I had a brick and mortar boutique. My customers came to my shop and bought from me. In person. No shipping necessary. 

Then I added an online store and subscription boxes and suddenly, figuring out shipping became VERY important. 

 

 

It took a lot of trial and error to get to where we are now - shipping online orders and all those subscription boxes efficiently and as cost-effectively as possible. 

Whether you already have a subscription box business or are working toward starting one, shipping deserves your attention. When something goes wrong - it demands your attention! 

* This post contains affiliate/referral links. I could make a commission at no charge to you if you purchase my recommended products.  Please read my disclosure and privacy policy HERE.

 

My Five Favorite Shipping Tools

Today I want to share my top five shipping must-haves to help you skip some of the trial and error and get to shipping efficiency quickly.

 

1. Shipping Scale.

I talk about the importance of knowing your numbers a lot inside my Launch Your Box membership. That’s true when you’re looking at product costs and profit margins, but it’s also true when talking about shipping costs.

If you sell products and plan to ship them, you need a quality scale to weigh everything you ship. 

Small differences in weight can add up to big differences in shipping costs. 

 

 

I use my scale to check that all the items I choose to include in my subscription boxes stay within a specific weight range in order to keep my shipping costs low. 

Once the boxes are packed, they get weighed, and then they’re ready to be picked up by my delivery service.

 

2. Packing Tape Gun.

This is the BEST way to tape up all those packages! 

Still using the small, plastic tape dispenser you picked up from the grocery store? It’s time to upgrade. Right away. 

The days of wrestling with packing tape that gets jammed on those small dispensers is over. And running out of tape just when you get into a groove because your dispenser can only handle small rolls of tape? Yep, that’s over, too.

 

 

We talked about how important shipping efficiency is. Tape guns like this one are sturdy, hold bigger tape rolls, and help you move along so much faster. Buy your big rolls of tape in bulk. These are my favorites.

 

3. Rollo Label Printer.

Anyone inside my Launch Your Box membership knows how much I LOVE my Rollo Label Printer. And no, I don’t think love is too strong a word for an object. 🤣

We use the Rollo to print ALL our shipping labels. Thousands every month. The Rollo works with any direct thermal label and is compatible with all major couriers and software platforms. 

Are you starting to understand why I love it so much? 

 

 

This printer really stepped up my label printing game. It never needs ink, it prints extremely quickly, and no special skills are needed to set it up. In other words, it’s practically perfect.

 

4. Fanfold Labels.

Once you try fanfold labels, you’ll never go back to the roll! 

Why? 

By now, you know we ship out a LOT of packages every month. And each one of those packages needs a label. 

After they’re printed, fanfold labels form a nice, neat stack instead of jumbling together like rolled labels. 

 

 

It might seem like a small thing, but untangling a jumble of labels takes time. And anything that takes extra time means lost efficiency in your shipping process. 

Fanfold labels help keep things neat and tidy as your Rollo Printer works away printing labels for all those products and subscription boxes you need to send on their way to delight your customers!

 

5. Shipstation.

Shipstation is a shipping platform and an absolute MUST for bulk shipping! 

The platform is easy to use and simplifies the shipping process for any business owner. That includes subscription box owners. 

I can go into Shipstation, pull up the name of the orders I’m shipping in bulk, and select the ones I want to print labels for. Almost like magic, they all print at once! 

Combine Shipstation with your Rollo Printer and print thousands of labels at a time.

 

 

Find All My Favorite Subscription Box Supplies In My Amazon Shop!

 

Before you can ship your subscription boxes, you need to pack them. Check out my blog post all about packaging basics and download my Packaging Cheat Sheet. It’s filled with my favorite packaging resources.  

-Sarah

 

 

 

 

Learn from me:

  • Subscription Box Blueprint eBook: This $10 ebook covers logistics from product selection to packaging to shipping. Plus a 90-day launch plan and bonus ‘Instant Scripts’ for your social media.
  • Launch Your Box: My complete training program that walks you step by step through how to start, launch, and grow your subscription box business.
  • Launch Your Box Podcast: I share tons of practical tips and strategies to help you start, launch, and grow your subscription box business. You’ll also hear from industry experts and current Launch Your Box members who are crushing it - get ready to get inspired!
  • One Box at a Time: Inside my book One Box at a Time, I show you the steps you need to follow to start and launch your subscription box. To turn your dream into reality. This book is filled with proven teachings, valuable resources, best practices, and action steps for you to take.

 

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