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8thSinCoffee
8thSinCoffee
Hello. I realize this is quite a big wish list item, but here goes.
 
ViArt does a great job at producing printable invoices and packing slips. We ship the majority of our packages using US Postal Service Priority Mail. The US Post Office Website allows you to create pre-paid shipping labels by entering in the delivery address and paying online. What has become very labor intensive for us now is having to retype the delivery address information from the ViArt packing slip into the US Postal Service web site.
 
In another job I have supporting computers, we use 2-dimensional barcodes to encode information on reports, bills, etc. These barcodes are then scanned using a quite inexpensive scanner, which when coupled with the appropriate backend software, can fill in a screen full of information, such as a web page.
 
What I would like to propose is to have ViArt encode the delivery information in a 2-D barcode that can be printed on the invoice and packing slip. Once this has been done, we can proceed to write an interface that will let us scan it in the shipping department, and eliminate having to retype all the delivery information again into the US Post Office website.
 
2-D barcoding is explained here in case this is something you're not familiar with. http://www.barcodeman.com/faq/2d.php
 
What are the chances that 2-D barcodes could be added to invoice/packing slips in a future release? Are there others out there for whom this would be a benefit?
Last modified: 27 Feb 2007 2:52 AM
 
daviswe
daviswe
All,
 
I wrote a program once to create PostNet barcodes, it's just an exercise in making rectangles in the right place and PHP has all the power you need to put this together easily based on the data used to create the invoices.
 
So....I think it's easy enough to add a template mod to the invoice_html.html file to include another image besides the company logo and voila, you have a barcode on the invoice.
 
The only question here would be "What kind of barcode works best' and what is the backend software you are using?
 
The USPS pages are pretty static, but on shipping to various countries, they change significantly, so a fairly complex app would be needed to 'stuff' data from the barcode properly in all cases.
 
I'd be happy just being able to process all my US addresses like this.
 
Shall we do this, or will Viart do it? I believe I could make the PHP script given a little time.
 
Ed
 
daviswe
daviswe
PS: Are you also aware that the USPS now has a new thing called 'Scan Forms', which of course are too late in the process for this...they are created after the Click-n-Ship is completed...
 
http://www.usps.com/clicknship/scan-form.htm
 
Ed
 
daviswe
daviswe
Ok, one more post...
 
http://chrispederick.com/work/webdeveloper/
 
Get this toolbar for your browser and you can look directly at the USPS forms (or even the Viart forms) to pull off the proper names, etc. Best toolbar on the planet for actually working with webpages and doing development.
 
Ed
 
8thSinCoffee
8thSinCoffee
Ed, that would be phenomenal. 99.9% of my shipments are to US customers, so it would be a great benefit.
Once they're on the forms, a simple USB hand held scanner should be able to read it. The problem is you'd need software then to populate the USPS Click&Ship screen.
I'm not a programmer, so I don't know that I can offer much assistance. I'd be happy to test it for you though.