Drop off, collection or to the locker: your shipping routine for the busy months
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by Verpakkingdeals.nl
5 min reading time
Dropping off, using a parcel locker, or having it picked up: what suits your volumes? Calculate your shipping routine and adjust your box sizes accordingly before the peak season begins.
In September, you ship six packages a day, and it feels like nothing. In November, it's twenty, you're at the drop-off point with three bags, and that trip, including waiting, takes forty-five minutes. Five days a week, that's almost four hours—half a workday not accounted for in your margins. The time to revise your shipping routine is now, not when the peak has already begun.
First, calculate what your routine costs
Before you change anything, for one week, measure three things: how many packages you send per day, how many trips you make for that, and how long such a trip takes from door to door. Multiply that by an hourly rate you assign to yourself—even €20 an hour will make the difference visible.
A common example for small webshops: ten packages a day, one 25-minute trip, five days a week. That's over two hours a week, or about nine hours a month. During peak season, that doubles. As soon as you see those hours on paper, the choice between dropping off and having items picked up becomes a calculation instead of a gut feeling.
Dropping off at a service point
For small quantities, this remains the simplest option: no appointments, no minimum volume, and you can work until the last minute. It works well if you're already passing a service point anyway and if your shipments are small.
The practical limit is usually what you can carry in one go. More than ten to fifteen packages becomes difficult, especially if they have different sizes. Two things make it easier: uniform box sizes, so you can stack instead of juggle, and a sturdy transport container. An Action moving box of 480 x 430 x 330 mm (€3.50, 50 liters) is perfect for this: you fill it at home, lift it once, and put it back empty in the car.
Parcel lockers
A parcel locker is attractive because you're not tied to opening hours and you don't have to queue. The limitation is the size: each compartment has a maximum size, which is stated on the locker and in your carrier's app. Measure your most commonly used box once and note if it fits—then you'll never have to figure it out on the spot again.
Collection becomes interesting as soon as you consistently ship more than you can carry in one go, or as soon as your trips interfere with your regular working hours. The conditions and costs vary per carrier and per contract, so check with the party you currently ship with—it often depends on your average number of shipments per week.
What you need to arrange yourself for pick-up to work:
A fixed cut-off time. Orders received before that time will be shipped the same day. Also, put that time on your shipping page, so your customer knows what to expect.
A fixed place where shipments are ready. Stacked, labels facing up, in the same order as your scan list.
Everything taped and scanned before the pick-up time. A driver won't wait while you're still taping a box.
That last point is precisely where a Kinzo tape dispenser with 2 rolls (€9.95) pays for itself: seconds per box, but with twenty boxes a day, that saves noticeable time and frustration. Always keep a spare roll of KINZO packing tape 50 meters x 48 mm (€3.00) ready, because a roll running out halfway through peak season will cost you a trip to the store.
Your packaging determines your routine
The choice between dropping off, using a locker, and having items picked up depends on how uniformly you package. Three examples of the same principle:
Packaging
What that means for your routine
One standard parcel size
Stackable, fits predictably in a locker compartment, quick to count
Five different sizes
Every trip is a puzzle, you have to think about the route per shipment
What works best in practice for small webshops is a combination: daily letterbox shipments when you're already out, preparing packages in one batch per day, and a fixed time when they leave—either dropped off yourself or picked up. Don't switch methods daily, because then counting, sticking, and scanning will get mixed up.
Test your new routine in October, not mid-November. Then you'll calmly notice that your box size doesn't quite fit in the locker compartment, or that your cut-off time is an hour too late to get everything ready on time.
Get started
Do you want to get your shipping area in order before the peak? Look in Letterbox Packaging for sizes that fit through the mail slot, in Packing & Shipping for boxes and envelopes, in Tape for rolls and dispensers, and in Value Packs for Webshops if you want to buy in bundles. Don't know which sizes fit your products? Email what you send and in what quantities to info@verpakkingdeals.nl—then we'll help you think about an arrangement that simplifies your routine.
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