An end-of-day scan form (also called a shipping manifest or SCAN form) bundles every package you're handing to a carrier into a single barcode. Instead of scanning each label one by one, the driver or counter clerk scans the one form and every shipment on it is accepted at once. Each package gets its Accepted for shipment tracking event the moment the carrier takes possession, so your customers see their order moving right away instead of hours later when it's processed at the facility.
Parcelcraft builds the day's scan forms for you. There is nothing to configure and no shipments to pick by hand: open the view, choose a ship-from location if you have more than one, and print.
When to use a scan form
- You ship several USPS or DHL packages a day and hand them to a driver or drop them at a counter.
- You want tracking to show Accepted at handoff rather than when the carrier's facility gets around to scanning each package.
- You've scheduled a driver pickup and want the pickup to take seconds instead of minutes.
Open End of day scan forms
- In the drawer: open Parcelcraft on a payment, invoice, or customer (or from the dashboard home) and click End of day in the footer menu next to Wallet and Pickups.
- In the full-page app: click End of day in the button row at the top of the full-page app.
Either way you land on End of day scan forms.
In Stripe test mode, the view creates test scan forms for your test labels. They look like the real thing, so you can try the whole flow before shipping for real, but they can't be handed to a carrier. Switch to live mode for real shipments.
How Parcelcraft builds the forms
When the view opens, Parcelcraft:
- Loads every shipment you've purchased in the last two days.
- Skips shipments that can't go on a form:
- refunded or voided labels,
- return labels,
- shipments that are already on a scan form,
- packages the carrier has already scanned, and
- FedEx and UPS shipments (see Carrier support).
- Groups what's left by ship-from street address, then by carrier.
- Creates one scan form per carrier for the location you select.
Because shipments already on a form are skipped, you can open End of day as often as you like without ever manifesting the same package twice.
Step 1: choose your ship-from location
If all of your recent shipments leave from one address, that location is selected for you and the forms start creating immediately.
If you ship from more than one address, pick one from the Ship from location dropdown. Forms are created for that location as soon as you choose it. To manifest another location, select it from the same dropdown afterwards — the first location's forms are already saved and appear in Scan form history.
Locations are matched on the exact first line of the ship-from address, so two spellings of the same street ("123 Main St" and "123 Main Street") appear as two locations. Each still gets a valid form; it just means two prints instead of one.
Step 2: print each form
Each carrier gets its own row showing the carrier name and how many shipments are on the form. While the carrier is generating the document the row reads Creating with a spinner; Parcelcraft checks back every couple of seconds until it's ready. Most forms are ready in under ten seconds.
When a form is ready, click Print scan form. The PDF opens in a new browser tab — print it and hand it to your driver or the counter clerk with your packages.
If you ship with two supported carriers from the same address (USPS and DHL, say), you get two rows and two forms. Give each carrier its own.
If a row shows an error
When a carrier rejects a form, the row shows Error in red. Hover over it to read the carrier's own message. The usual causes are:
- A package was scanned before the form was created. Carriers won't put an already-accepted package on a manifest. Reopen End of day — the scanned package is skipped and a fresh form is created for the rest.
- The carrier account can't manifest. Some carrier accounts, such as brand-new accounts still being verified, can't create scan forms yet. Check the carrier account in the Parcelcraft settings and try again later.
An error doesn't affect the labels themselves. The packages ship fine without a scan form; the driver just scans each one individually.
Shipments created after the form
A scan form can't be edited once it exists, and a shipment can only ever be on one form. Labels you print later in the day aren't on the form you already created. Open End of day again and Parcelcraft creates a new form containing only the shipments that aren't manifested yet. Hand the driver both forms.
Print your scan form as the last thing you do before the carrier arrives, after every label for the day is purchased, and you'll usually only need one form per carrier per day.
Carrier support
Scan forms are supported for USPS and DHL shipments.
FedEx and UPS shipments are never included, and don't need a scan form. Both carriers are manifested electronically: the moment you buy a FedEx or UPS label, the end-of-day close-out data is transmitted to the carrier automatically. There is no printed manifest to create, and nothing to hand the driver. If a driver asks for an end-of-day report, tell them it was sent electronically when the label was purchased.
The one difference from a scan form is when tracking starts. Without a scan at handoff, a FedEx or UPS package's tracking usually begins at the carrier's facility. If you want customers to see movement the moment the driver leaves, ask the driver for an acceptance scan on each package.
To arrange collection for FedEx or UPS packages, schedule a driver pickup.
Reprint an earlier form
Scan form history at the bottom of the view lists the forms you've created in the last two days, newest first (up to ten). Each row shows how long ago the form was created and how many shipments are on it. Hover the info icon to see the ship-from address and every tracking number on the form.
- Click Reprint scan form to open a form's PDF again — handy if the first print jammed or the driver needs a second copy.
- A form that was still generating shows Creating…. Click Reload history list to refresh the list once it's ready.
Forms the carrier rejected don't appear in the history.
Troubleshooting
"No un-manifested shipments found in the last day" — there's nothing left to put on a form. Every recent shipment is already manifested, has already been scanned by the carrier, is a FedEx or UPS shipment, or is more than two days old. Create labels first, then come back.
A package is missing from the form — the most common reasons:
- It was created more than two days ago. Manifest the same day you print.
- The carrier already scanned it, for example at a drop-off counter.
- It's a return label, or it was refunded.
- It's a FedEx or UPS shipment. Those are manifested electronically at purchase and never need a form (see Carrier support).
- It ships from a different address — check the Ship from location dropdown.
"No un-manifested shipments" but you shipped today — if every label was FedEx or UPS, this is expected: there's nothing to manifest by hand.
The forms only show test labels — Stripe is in test mode. Switch to live mode to manifest real shipments.
The driver won't accept the form — make sure the ship-from address on the form (hover the info icon in the history) matches the location the driver is collecting from, and that the form is for the driver's carrier. A USPS driver can't accept a DHL form or vice versa.