Once a pallet is wrapped, it is a block of plastic. Two pallets for different customers can look identical, and the only thing that tells the loader and the driver what is inside is the label. A good label prevents the wrong pallet going on the wrong van, and the wrong goods reaching the wrong customer.
What belongs on a delivery pallet label
For a multi-drop route, the label has to answer four questions at a glance:
- Which pallet is this? A large pallet number, so it can be read from a few metres away.
- Which vehicle is it going on? The registration, big and bold. If two vans load side by side, this is the most useful line on the label.
- Which route and driver, and when? Date, route name and driver.
- Who is it for? The shops on the pallet, with their drop numbers and customer codes.
Add the total items and weight at the bottom: loaders use the weight to decide how to stack and where to place it on the vehicle.
Why add a QR code
A label can't list every product on a mixed pallet, and nobody wants to squint at forty lines. A QR code solves that. Scan it with any phone and a page opens showing what is on the pallet and which customer each part is for, with drop numbers.
Three details make it work in practice:
- No sign-in. A driver or a customer's goods-in team can scan it without an account.
- No prices or addresses. The page shows what is needed to identify the goods, not commercial information.
- It can't be guessed. The code is signed, so changing a digit doesn't open somebody else's pallet.
Keep labels right when pallets change
Pallets change. A line is short, a drop moves to another route, the planner rebalances weight. If the QR code points at a fixed snapshot, it is wrong the moment anything changes. If it points at the pallet itself, it is always right. In Fleetnyx the code depends only on the route and the pallet number, so a label printed in the morning still shows the pallet as it is now. If you move a whole drop to a different pallet, reprint, so the shops listed on the paper match.
Put your logo on it
A label with your company logo reads as part of your process. It also makes it obvious if a pallet from another supplier has been mixed into the load.
Label the whole route in one go
Printing labels one at a time is slow and error-prone. The better habit is to print the labels for the whole route as soon as the pallets are built, so each is on the pallet when it is wrapped. In Fleetnyx that is one button in the pallet builder, which prints a 4 by 6 inch label per pallet.
Pair it with the right packing order
A label is only half the answer. On a pallet that carries more than one drop, the customer whose goods come off first has to be on top, so pack the later drop first. The warehouse app shows the customers in packing order, with the order and customer codes as tags, and a divider that turns green as each is finished. There is more on that in our guide to loading in reverse drop order.
See pallet labels with QR codes for how it works in Fleetnyx.