First you both got me thinking on this. It would not be to hard to print these to PDF files so they are not paper. To paw through, We never found the “file by pile” method works well.
You could then take the pdf’s at the end of the month and combine them to one pdf file. We would use Acrobat Pro for this, Save the file as “January Orders” etc. Then the pdf is searchable.
Not something we feel like doing but we could do it.
For us we use ShipStation as the funnel. Our websites and all our eCommerce channels feed into ShipStation. For Amazon SS calls all the amazon orders, however we go and use Amazon Shipping and ship from there. Our workflow is to scan the order number, we print them on every order with SS, scan it into SS then Scan it into Amazon FBus orders. We then ship the order, go back and confirm we shipped the order without notifying the customer or Amazon.
Then we use ShipSation to feed out to our Accounting System, and call up orders since we started using it. Amazon started redacting customer info out of ShipStaton a year or so ago. After about 20-30 days, a real PITA when a customer contacts us with a warranty issue. We have to ask them for the address. Very few register the product as we request on the packaging.
As I recall, they started doing that with Stamps/Endicia a few years ago which was fine by me.
I have never ‘automated’ the system to automatically upload the tracking numbers into Amazon or eBay just for that reason!
I load all the numbers manually with a copy and paste as I go down the list. It gives me one final opportunity to look at the packing slip and scan my memory bank to be sure I actually shipped the correct item (AND the correct number of items).
At this stage it is as much a check on the business side as it is a check on my mental acuity. Getting old ain’t for sissies and I’ll be 77 in a month and a half.
Age is an attitude and some people claim I have a lot of that for some reason…
On a serious note, one could employ a spreadsheet with relevant customer data and tracking number, to ensure that all packages get delivered. In the case of USPS, where an item could easily get lost or delayed beyond the 20-30 day window after which Amazon redacts crucial customer data, this spreadsheet could be used to file claims for late/lost packages.
If I were to have already recovered about $300 this year in claims from USPS for lost packages using this method, I bet most here would find that plausible.
My 9yo asked the other day, what does it mean to “have your cake and eat it too”? (We were eating cake.) I said it’s when you want two things at the same time that are impossible with each other. You can’t hold your whole piece of cake but also eat your cake.
Amazon wants to deflect all possible responsibility onto 3Ps while simultaneously hoarding all possible benefit from 3Ps.
