You can ask the warehouse to pack a shipment into proper, weighed boxes — and then read everything back off the shipment itself. You do not need to phone the floor, and you do not need to explain the job to them.
Asking for it
There are two moments, and they ask for exactly the same thing. Use whichever you reach first.
While you are placing it. Press Place shipment on a Parked shipment and you are asked what you want done with it:
- Ask the floor to pack this into measured boxes — this is the packing request.
- Reusable packaging is allowed (crate or pallet) — appears once you tick packing. Leave it off and the packer uses consumable packaging only (a box, wrap). Tick it when a crate or pallet is acceptable; it is taken from stock and comes back when the box is emptied.
- Ask for a courier collection — separate from packing. You can have either, both, or neither.
Everything is off by default, so placing stays one decision.
Any time after it is placed. Open the shipment and press Request packing. You get the same tick-box and the same reusable-packaging option, and the floor is told the same way. This is where most requests actually happen, because the question usually arrives late — the customer asks, the goods turn out to be fragile, a courier gets involved.
The button sits next to Book courier and reads Packing requested once the job is on. It is available while the shipment is Placed: before that, placing is the moment to ask; after dispatch there is nothing left to pack.
Changing your mind
Press Request packing again, un-tick the box and save. That withdraws the request, and the floor is told to stop — in the same chat channel, so nobody is left working from a message that is no longer true.
One thing to be clear about: withdrawing changes the instruction, not the stock. Any box already sealed stays sealed and still ships as it is. If the goods should travel loose after all, somebody has to open the box — whoever is holding it can unpack it from My Inventory.
What comes back, without you asking
The request and every step after it are posted to the shipment's own chat channel. You will see, in order:
- Packing requested — the floor can now see the job on their screens.
- One message per box, as it is sealed — the box's label, its weight and its dimensions, then what went inside it, including the serial numbers of any serialized units.
- Fully packed — once every collected unit is inside a sealed box, with all the boxes listed.
- Dispatched — what actually shipped.
If a request is ever withdrawn — by you, or as a side effect of a shipment being un-placed and placed again — that is posted too, so the record never quietly stops being true.
The weight and size in those messages are the figures a courier is billed on, which is why the floor is asked to measure rather than estimate.
Make sure you actually see them
Open the shipment and use the star next to its number to watch the channel. The star cycles through not watching → all messages → system only → muted. System only is usually right for a shipment: you get the packing and dispatch milestones without the chatter.
If you placed the shipment yourself you are subscribed already. If you asked for packing later, pressing the button subscribes you as well.
Serial numbers: packing is what fixes them
This is the part worth remembering.
Placing a shipment reserves no particular units. It commits a product and a quantity — three of these — and nothing more. Which three is decided later, when someone physically picks them up.
Packing is the step that fixes which serial numbers the customer gets, and the first thing that records them. So:
- If a customer needs to know their serial numbers before the goods leave, ask for packing. There is no earlier answer to give.
- Once a box is sealed, its serials are on the record permanently. On the shipment, each packed line has a Serial button that lists them — and it keeps working after dispatch, when the box no longer exists.
The shipment tells you where the job stands
Once anything has been asked or packed, the shipment shows a Packing line near the top: the stage it has reached and how many boxes exist. The stages read Waiting for picking → To be packed → Partially packed → Packed → Dispatched.
It is worked out from the boxes that actually exist, not from a status somebody remembered to update — so it cannot tell you a shipment is packed when it is not.
Common questions
Does the customer's order have to wait for packing? No. Packing never blocks anything. A shipment with no boxes at all dispatches exactly as before.
Can I book a courier without packing? Yes, but the parcel figures are then a guess — it books one estimated parcel per line. Once boxes are sealed the courier is quoted on real measurements.
Can one product go into several boxes? Yes. Ten bulky units can go five to a carton, and for serialized goods the packer chooses which units go in which box. Each box's message tells you exactly what is in it.
Can a box be opened again? Yes, while the shipment has not been dispatched, and only by whoever is holding it. The contents go back to loose stock and the shipment stops being fully packed — you will see that in the channel too.
What if nobody ever asked, but it should be boxed? The floor can pack a shipment nobody asked them to — the option appears for them as soon as stock is collected. Asking is still better: it puts the job on their To Pack list instead of relying on somebody noticing.
I asked, and the request seems to have vanished. Un-placing a shipment and placing it again clears what was asked for. The chat says so when it happens, so search the channel — then just press Request packing again.
Related
- Sales Shipments — the full shipment lifecycle.
- Floor processing screens (goods-in & goods-out) — what the warehouse sees when you ask.
- Couriers & Waybills — booking and tracking a collection.