The export business is lucrative. It offers you a steady market for your products at prices you may not be able to find locally. To succeed, you need to partner up with a shipping company which will give you various guidelines. Many of these guidelines are extremely important as they guard against mix up of goods on transit – an incident that often leads to logistical nightmares and hefty financial losses.
To avoid these embarrassing situations, that may make you appear incompetent as a business person, shipping companies require you to have elaborately printed shipping labels. This is not a printing exercise that you can do using an ordinary printer. Therefore, you need to get a printer that’s specifically designed for shipping labels. Here are factors to consider when making your selection.
Shipment Volumes
Like the ordinary printers used in day-to-day office printing stints, shipping label printers have various levels of sophistication. Some of them are one-line printers. This means that they print out the labels line-by-line. Line printers are painstakingly slow. They can slow down your export business whenever you have thousands of packaged goods to label for shipment. Page printers are faster. Before you make the purchase, consider the number of copies that the printer can churn out per hour.
Label Sizes
Other label printing directions that are likely to be outlined by a shipping company include the label size. While some shipping companies prefer the 8.5” x 11” size others accept packages with the 8.5”x 5.5” label on them. The labels should as well be printed on straight-corner sheets.
Printing System Compatibility
Go for an ordinary shipping label printing system if you’re doing a straight-off your home garage product packaging for your company. If your printing business targets other businesses, on the other hand, you need a versatile printing system. One that includes laser and inkjet technology since you will need to meet the requirements of various clients who deal with different shipping companies with different shipping label preferences.
Technical Elements
Technical ElementsThis includes clear bar-code printouts for special cargo recognition purposes. Some printers are fitted with technologies that allow you to reuse packaging boxes and other materials. It follows that you can have the box shipped back to you after the goods have been delivered. All you need to do is to peel off the stickers and patch up new ones – an innovative cost reduction strategy that you can bank on especially if the shipment is done over shorter distances.
Printer Size
Shipping label printers vary in sizes. They can be bulky, medium-sized or small depending on your shipping label printing needs. For small businesses, you have the option of going for the hand-held designs. Consider office space, power consumption and inventory record keeping features as well whenever you set out to buy a shipping label printer. Note that many of these printers are affordable and durable. However, it’s advisable to obtain them from certified dealers to avoid purchasing substandard versions.
Ends
