Wednesday, July 18, 2012

How To: Shipping Made Easy

After numerous attempts, I have finally set up a proper shipping station that speeds up my processing time and makes me feel organized.  The key was to have everything, EVERYTHING, I need to package, at my fingertips.



Jewelry shipping is small, I realize I'm lucky to be able to setup a small shipping area that doesn't have to be picked up at the end of the day.  But if you can carve out a space that will let you have all envelopes, boxes, tissue, ribbon, cards, etc within reach, it will make you feel organized and efficient.  If you're short on space, maybe you could set up your supplies on a roll-up sheet that can be tucked away when finished.

The foundation of my station is my envelope and jewelry box supply, it slides right under my table where I sit to package.  Sometimes I even have a helper to pull it out.


On top of my table is a vintage desk organizer I got from reclaimer with my delivery confirmation stickers, customs forms (yes, I still do these by hand) and my postcard inserts.  There are tons of great vintage office organizers on Etsy and they feel more "special" than something from Office Depot. In my lazy susan are my jewelry cards, business cards, scissors and pen.


 

Right in front are my ribbons and tissue paper, where George and Martha look on.  I only wish I could mount my ginormous bubble wrap roll under the table, but a certain evil cat cannot, or will not, stop chewing it. When I'm lucky enough to have a bunch of orders I try to setup an OCD assembly line, a little tower of boxes, everything done in the same order because I'm terrified of sending the wrong item.


I still hand write my forms and addresses, I'm lucky enough to live very close to a USPS facility so I don't mind the daily trips.  But I'm thinking about printing labels on Etsy if I got a postage scale.  I know a lot of Etsy sellers love endicia, stamps.com or ebay shipping tools. 

There's a Shipping Improvement team on Etsy where you can test drive new shipping functions like processing time estimates, ship estimates, tracking - it's a great place to learn about the new improvements and how to use them.  What other shipping tricks do you use?

2 comments:

judė said...

excellent article, Analisa... I like your lazy susan idea.. I may have to steal it :) I still do all my addresses, forms, and whatnots by hand, as well, and still shlep to the post office every other day. I don't mind, it's not far, etc. Thanks for a look into your assembly line - from one OCD person to another ;)

Cristy said...

Once business picked up, a shipping station was a must for me. Thanks for a peek at yours, and I'm glad I enlarged the pics, saw something familiar poking out of the top of that vintage organizer! :)