Scan To Pack

Scan To Pack

Scan to Pack lets you pack a consignment almost entirely by scanning barcodes, instead of clicking through the screen by hand. It's built for anyone shipping standard cartons or satchels, or pallets of different sizes - and it can dramatically speed up how fast you pack.

What you'll need

Three things, and you're ready to go:

  1. A pick slip. Printed from your own system, it needs one barcode carrying the order number. That barcode must match whichever reference field — Reference 1 or Reference 2 — you choose to scan against.
  2. Commands and item barcodes. Printed from MachShip (see below). Commands are barcodes that tell the scanner what to do — add an item, mark a consignment DG compliant, complete it, and so on.
  3. A scanner. Any standard barcode scanner that connects to your computer as a keyboard and sends a line return after each scan will work — even a basic handheld scanner is enough.

Enable Scan to Pack

  1. Open the pending consignment screen.
  2. Click the barcode icon in the toolbar, then toggle Scan to Pack to on.
  3. Choose the scanning target — Reference 1 or Reference 2.





The reference you choose controls which field MachShip checks the pick slip barcode against.
Before you start packing, print the barcodes for your commands and your items.
  1. From the same barcode icon, click Print barcodes.
  2. Build your sheet from four sections:
    • Commands — complete, cancel, and DG declaration barcodes, so you can control the workflow entirely by scanning. Drag them into whatever order suits your sheet.
    • Routing and pricing (optional) — carrier barcodes, if you want the ability to force a specific carrier rather than relying on cheapest.
    • Packages and items — tick any standard MachShip items to add their barcodes, or build a custom item (dimensions, weight, quantity) and add it to the sheet.
    • Service options — barcodes for questions you're commonly asked, such as hydraulic tailgate, residential hand unload, or crane truck.


  3. Arrange the barcodes in whatever order works best for how you pack.
  4. Click Download to generate a PDF, then print it.

Tip: for pallets that vary in size, build a "dynamic" item with a length and width but no height or weight, then add a few extra barcodes for height and weight in convenient increments (e.g. every 25 kg). See below for how these come together during packing.

Scan the pick slip

  1. From the pending screen, scan the pick slip barcode.
  2. MachShip checks it against the reference you selected during setup.
  3. Once it matches, the consignment opens automatically — no clicking required.

Pack the items

  1. Scan the barcode for each item you're packing — satchel, carton, pallet, and so on — to add it to the consignment.
  2. Scan any service option barcodes that apply, such as residential delivery.
  3. Keep scanning until everything for that consignment has been added.

Approve the DG declaration

If the consignment needs a dangerous goods declaration, scan the DG declaration barcode to mark it as compliant before completing.

Complete or cancel

  • Scan Complete to finish and create the consignment.
  • Scan Cancel to close the Scan to Pack pop-up without completing it.

Packing dynamic pallets

Dynamic pallets let you cover a wide range of sizes from a small handful of barcodes, rather than printing one for every possible combination.

  1. Scan the pallet barcode (for example, a 100 × 100 pallet). This adds the pallet and moves the cursor straight into the height column.
  2. Scan the barcode for the pallet's height.
  3. The cursor moves to the weight column — scan the matching weight barcode.

Repeat for each pallet the consignment needs, then complete it as usual. It's a fast way to build pallets of almost any size from a fixed set of printed barcodes.