Relabelling at the dock with the trunk waiting
The collection vehicle backs in, the pallets come off, and the warehouse starts scanning. One barcode will not read because it was printed on a nearly empty toner cartridge. Two pallets carry the same label because the customer booked one consignment of two but printed one sheet. Another has last week's label still on it under the new one.
Each problem means walking to the office, finding the booking, printing a new label, sticking it on and scanning again. On a heavy evening this happens enough times to hold up the trunk.
Why labels go wrong at the customer
Customers print labels as a side task. They do not know how the hub sorts by barcode, and nobody has shown them what a good label looks like.
- Labels print on the wrong size of paper or from a failing printer.
- One label is printed for a multi-pallet consignment.
- Old labels are left on reused pallets.
- Bookings are amended after printing, but labels are not reprinted.
What bad labels cost
Relabelling at the door takes time the depot does not have in the evening. Pallets that slip through with bad labels become missing scans at the hub, mis-sorts and misroutes, which lead to late deliveries and queries.
Duplicate labels are worse: the hub may treat two pallets as one and one of them goes astray.
Bad labels also blur responsibility. When a pallet goes missing, the first question is whether it was ever scanned, and a label that would not read at your door makes the answer uncertain. Clean labels are what let your depot say, with confidence, that a pallet left your building on a given trunk.
And the customers themselves do not know they are causing the problem. Nobody tells them, because the warehouse fixes it quietly every evening, so the same faded printer is used for months.
How we stop bad labels reaching the hub
- Customers print labels from a simple page, from your own booking screen or linked from the network portal, that fixes the size, the count per pallet and the print quality settings.
- Amended bookings trigger a reprint prompt to the customer, and the old labels are marked void.
- At collection, the driver app scans each label and warns on duplicates, voided labels or a count that does not match the booking.
- At your door, the inbound scan checks the same things and shows the warehouse which pallets need attention.
- Warehouse staff can reprint a correct label from the scanning screen without walking to the office.
- A weekly report shows label problems by customer, so you can help the ones who struggle.
| Problem | Caught at | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Unreadable barcode | Collection or door | Reprint at the scanner |
| Duplicate label | Collection scan | Reprint the missing one |
| Voided label | Collection or door | Reprint the current one |
| Count mismatch | Collection scan | Driver confirms with customer |
Label formats are set by the network. We work within them and use the network's own label output where that is the rule.
A calmer dock in the evening
Most label problems are caught at the customer's premises by the collection driver, where they are easy to fix. The ones that get through are shown clearly at the door, with a printer beside the scanner. Fewer pallets arrive at the hub with a problem your depot put on the trunk.
Is this happening at your dock?
- Warehouse staff relabel pallets most evenings.
- Duplicate labels have caused lost pallets.
- Customers reuse pallets with old labels still on.
- Nobody checks labels until the door.