Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Boxing up and shipping pots has taken up much of the past two-weeks for me. The update coinciding with a heatwave didn’t help, but I was able to get all the orders packed within five days, (with two days assistance from a helper). Then it took two days to get all the labels printed and taped on.
It’s slow going but it’s also work that you can’t really do in a half-baked manner. Badly wrapped pots with break in transit, shoddy admin and notes throughout the process can lead to confusion and packing the incorrect item and if you’re under prepared with your boxes and wrapping materials it can delay you even further.
I tend to spend the week prior to a “drop” getting all of these bits ready, well, 2-3 days is normally enough and I’ve completed the process enough times now to know roughly how many of each box I need to make up and how many starch packaging chips I need to order.
The one thing I desperately need to figure out are my labels as they just don’t stick very well to the boxes and tape that I use… This means I have to individually tape on each label at the very end, which is just a maddening waste of time. If I don’t do this the labels begin to peel off and I can envision them dislodging during transit, which obviously wouldn’t be great for getting the work to you.
The first big batch of boxes was collected today with all the others, everything heading to the US and Canada, scheduled for pick-up tomorrow, thereafter my workshop will finally be in a workable state and my next making cycle can begin.
If you have any questions regarding the process itself, it’s strangely become a topic I’m rather enthusiastic about. Who knew that boxes, card, ways of wrapping the couriers used could be such an interesting subject. My one bit of advice for those embarking on this way of selling would be to befriend you courier and collection-person, I always enjoy getting to know my UPS drivers and gradually building up courage to ask for their numbers. It’s a heavenly thing knowing exactly when they’ll arrive to pick everything up.
#pottery #smallbusiness #ceramics #postage #shipping
Boxing up and shipping pots has taken up much of the past two-weeks for me. The update coinciding with a heatwave didn’t help, but I was able to get all the orders packed within five days, (with two days assistance from a helper). Then it took two days to get all the labels printed and taped on.
It’s slow going but it’s also work that you can’t really do in a half-baked manner. Badly wrapped pots with break in transit, shoddy admin and notes throughout the process can lead to confusion and packing the incorrect item and if you’re under prepared with your boxes and wrapping materials it can delay you even further.
I tend to spend the week prior to a “drop” getting all of these bits ready, well, 2-3 days is normally enough and I’ve completed the process enough times now to know roughly how many of each box I need to make up and how many starch packaging chips I need to order.
The one thing I desperately need to figure out are my labels as they just don’t stick very well to the boxes and tape that I use… This means I have to individually tape on each label at the very end, which is just a maddening waste of time. If I don’t do this the labels begin to peel off and I can envision them dislodging during transit, which obviously wouldn’t be great for getting the work to you.
The first big batch of boxes was collected today with all the others, everything heading to the US and Canada, scheduled for pick-up tomorrow, thereafter my workshop will finally be in a workable state and my next making cycle can begin.
If you have any questions regarding the process itself, it’s strangely become a topic I’m rather enthusiastic about. Who knew that boxes, card, ways of wrapping the couriers used could be such an interesting subject. My one bit of advice for those embarking on this way of selling would be to befriend you courier and collection-person, I always enjoy getting to know my UPS drivers and gradually building up courage to ask for their numbers. It’s a heavenly thing knowing exactly when they’ll arrive to pick everything up.
#pottery #smallbusiness #ceramics #postage #shipping
