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Packing slips, picking lists, and manifests
Packing slips, picking lists, and manifests

The documents you need to get orders from shelves into packages, and out to customers. Learn what is on each, and how to use them.

Updated over 3 months ago

There are a few documents that you need to get your head around when you're preparing orders for shipment. Packing slips, picking lists, and manifests are all used in different ways during your pick and pack process and, used correctly, they can significantly reduce the amount of time you spend in the warehouse.

  • Packing slips are used to help your packers get the right items off the shelves, and include them for customers to check that they have everything.

  • Picking lists organise individual items across many orders to reduce the amount of time you spend picking orders.

  • Sales order manifests make it easy for carriers to track and invoice you accurately.


Packing slips

Packing slips, or packslips, contain details about the order including the customer’s address, what they ordered and how many of each item.

A packing slip, showing four items to be packed.

Packing slips serve two main purposes. They are critical for packers to make sure they're picking the right items, and they also make it easier for your customers to verify they have the right items.

Packing slips list what’s in an order. You can keep your packing slips as an internal document, used only by your packers, but they can also be valuable to your customers. Package receivers can scan their packing slip to make sure all the items they ordered are there. This provides a great opportunity to re-enforce your brand image by showing them gratitude or creating a quirky or funny style for the slip.

For more information about using custom branding on your packing slips, see the Global branding article.

💡Note: Don't confuse packing slips and invoices. Invoices include payment information, prices, discounts, and terms of payment. Packing slips are often attached to the outside of a package, and you don't want to expose those details to the public.

You can avoid using packing slips if you use shipping labels or invoices to know what to pack, but they do make the packing process a lot easier. The details that can be included on a packing slip are:

  • Order date

  • Name of customer

  • Customer address

  • Itemised list of order

  • Quantity of items

  • Weight of items

  • Company name

  • Company contact information

  • Packing slip/order number


Picking lists

Picking lists, or pick lists, are used to group orders together in a way that makes the most sense for your business and warehouse. When you have orders that include multiple items from different areas in your warehouse, pick lists group together similar items so you spend less time wandering the warehouse, and more time getting products out of the door.

A picking list, showing several different items from various orders, with warehouse locations

You can group orders in your picking lists in the way that makes the most sense for your warehouse, such as:

  • By order: showing line items, recipient name and order number

  • By stock keeping unit (SKU): showing the total number of items for each SKU

  • By location: showing items arranged by their location in the warehouse

  • By order and SKU: showing details for each individual order and the SKU

  • By location, SKU, and order: showing each individual order, with SKUs grouped by location

The main purpose of a picking list is to save the picker as much time as possible, while also reducing picking errors. The details that can be included on a picking list are:

  • Product SKUs

  • Warehouse location, including aisle and item numbers

  • Product variations, such as colour, size, or material

  • Product images

  • Order quantity


Manifests

Manifests group together different sales that are ready for delivery, to make it easier for your carriers to track consignments and invoice retailers. Shippit automatically generates a manifest for every order depending on the delivery destination, speed, and which carrier service you choose. Manifests are then automatically shared with the carrier, so that you don't need to manually book and manifesting orders yourself.

A manifest, showing an order waiting to picked up, with consignment information, weights, and dimensions

The main purpose of a manifest is to provide a summary of the order information for the carrier. The details that can be included on a manifest are:

  • Consignment number

  • Order number

  • Destination

  • Product details

  • Package sizes

  • Label

For more information about manifests, see the Manifests article.

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