Shipping Label Scanners for Streamlining Shipping and Receiving Tasks

Sep 18, 2022
Shipping Label Scanners for Streamlining Shipping and Receiving Tasks

Shipping labels must be scanned effectively to save time and keep errors at bay. Speed becomes even more critical in the shipping and receiving process during peak times such as the holiday season and end-of-season sales. Relying on antiquated technology and equipment only makes things more challenging.

Investing in the right shipping label scanner solution is essential to reduce costs and errors, speed up deliveries, and improve customer service.

1. Barcode Scanning through the Shipping and Receiving Process

2. Barcode Formats on Shipping Labels

3. Shipping Barcode Label Scanners: Common Challenges

4. How does Dynamsoft help address these issues?

5. Get Started with Dynamsoft Barcode Reader SDK

Barcode Scanning through the Shipping and Receiving Process

The shipping and receiving process starts from the fulfillment center and ends at last-mile delivery, where the product needs to reach its final destination. At every step, barcode scanning is crucial as it helps streamline workflows by ensuring everything is in place.

Order picking and packing at a fulfillment center

Scan barcodes at fulfillment centers

The order fulfillment process involves storing, assembling, and picking the orders and then shipping and delivering them to the respective customers, along with the other functions that support these tasks.

Barcodes help remove human errors to better warehouse management and intralogistics operations and help cater to the increasing demand for e-commerce fulfillment. Barcode scanning solutions are also crucial during the delivery phase for reading shipping labels and simultaneously identifying the products as per the information contained in those labels.

Dimensioning and weighing machine equipped with barcode scanners

scan shipping labels
At distribution centers, the packages traverse through a conveyor system for the sortation process via dimensioning and weighing machines that help capture the weight and dimensions of the packages, boxes, cartons, etc., along with the barcodes on their labels. Intelligent dimensioning and weighing scanning systems support reading linear as well as 2-dimensional barcodes.

Mobile Barcode Label Scanner for truck drivers

mobile based barcode scanning

Once the products are packed, the warehouses load them into trucks for shipping. A shipping label scanner can be used to make the loading process error-free and fast, as manually doing so will only increase the time involved. Using a mobile barcode label scanner over handheld barcode scanners further eliminate the need to invest in dedicated devices and increases compliance.

Last mile delivery

scan barcode to deliver product

The last step in the shipping and receiving process is the delivery of the products to their destination. Barcode scanning solutions add flexibility, ensuring that the packages are being delivered to the correct locations and meet workflow demands.

Robust mobile barcode scanning helps offer real-time visibility that allows last-mile delivery providers to track the status of the deliveries while they are in transit and detect driver performance problems such as missed time windows, damaged inventory, etc., for quick resolutions.

Barcode Formats on Shipping Labels

Every shipping label contains unique information vital for transporting a parcel from one location to another. Whether it is a UPS shipping label, FedEx shipping label, or USPS shipping label, all shipping labels must contain this data.

shipping label

Most shipping labels contain the following information:

  • Type of goods
  • Tracking number
  • Postal code of the origin and the destination
  • Address of the origin and the destination
  • Country
  • Date and weight
  • Level of the urgency of the shipment- 24-hours delivery, same-day delivery, express delivery, etc.

The most commonly used barcode types in shipping and receiving are listed below.

  • USPS Intelligent Mail
  • Industrial 2 of 5
  • Interleaved 2 of 5
  • Codabar
  • Code 39
  • Code 93
  • Code 128
  • MSI Code
  • PDF417
  • Micro PDF417
  • DataMatrix
  • MaxiCode

Shipping Barcode Label Scanners: Common Challenges

During the shipping and receiving process, the product has to travel a long distance and withstand various conditions. Especially when the truckload is remarkably high, the barcode labels’ quality may get affected during the loading and unloading process, posing a challenge for most shipping label scanners.

Below are some usual challenges faced scanning barcodes while shipping and receiving products.

barcode scanning challenges

  • Tough Barcodes: Barcodes damaged due to rain may give an ordinary barcode scanner a tough time. Other challenging barcodes may be difficult to read, such as distorted, tainted, wrinkled, or poorly printed. A weak barcode scanner may not be able to scan shipping labels with such barcodes.
  • Slow and Tedious Process: To cater to the demand of the competitive delivery market, opting for ordinary barcode scanners is not the best idea. Most barcode scanners fail to read multiple barcodes at once. Due to slow processing, such scanners may lead to severe losses and delayed deliveries during peak times when the load is extremely high.
  • No Support for Important Barcode Types: Ordinary handheld barcode scanners are limited to scanning linear barcodes. Some may support common 2-dimensional symbologies such as the PDF417 barcodes. But what about other shipping barcodes such as the MaxiCode, USPS Intelligent Mail, UPS code, etc.?

How does Dynamsoft help address these issues?

The Dynamsoft Barcode Reader is an enterprise-grade barcode scanner SDK (Software Development Kits) that lets you embed barcode scanning functionality into a web, desktop, or mobile application with just a few lines of code. It can be integrated into shipping and management software for different operations involved in the process. It helps reduce dependency on dedicated devices, transforming desktops and mobile devices into robust shipping label scanners.

Find out how Dynamsoft Barcode Reader SDK helps address all the issues faced in the shipping and receiving process.

  • Quick integration on all platforms: From dimensioning and weighing machines to last-mile delivery solutions, the Dynamsoft Barcode Reader SDK can be easily integrated into new or existing software using minimal coding.
  • Ability to support multiple barcode symbologies: Dynamsoft Barcode Reader SDK supports decoding of 1-dimensional barcodes, 2-dimensional barcodes, composite barcodes, USPS Intelligent Mail, UK (United Kingdom) Royal Mail, etc. Hence, to provide any specific data such as UPS information instantly. Hence, you won’t struggle to scan shipping labels with any standard barcode symbology.
  • Ability to read tough barcodes: Barcodes on shipping labels may get damaged due to rain or mishandling. Whether the barcode is incomplete, torn, tainted, or distorted, Dynamsoft Barcode Reader SDK is designed to read all such codes.
  • Fast Speed reads numerous barcodes in a single scan: Speed is critical in shipping and receiving. An ordinary handheld barcode scanner cannot scan multiple barcodes at once. On the other hand, Dynamsoft Barcode Reader SDK can scan several barcodes in a single scan, that too, at any orientation and rotation angle. Not to mention, it can read more than 500 barcodes in a minute!
  • Brilliant Accuracy and Recognition Rate: The enterprise-grade barcode detection algorithm, OCR capabilities, and the addition of camera-enhancing functionality provide exceptional recognition rate and accuracy for scanning shipping labels without a hitch.

Get Started with Dynamsoft Barcode Reader SDK

Looking for an enterprise-grade shipping label scanner for your business? Check out the online barcode scanner demo to see Dynamsoft Barcode Reader in action. If you want to thoroughly review all its features and find out if it is perfect for your business needs, download the 30-day free trial. Choose from hundreds of APIs to cater to your specific requirements.

If you have any queries or doubts, feel free to contact us. For sales queries, connect with us at sales@dynamsoft.com.