> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.tryoto.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Packing and dispatch

> Pack orders with scan verification, choose packaging materials, dispatch parcels to carriers, and replenish stock in your own locations.

> [!NOTE]
>
> **Where to find it:** OTO PACK → Operations → Packing — [Open in OTO ↗](https://app.tryoto.com/operations)

Packing is the last moment anyone looks inside the box. Everything here is built around that fact.

## Packing with verification

The standard flow is a scan-verified pack: each item is scanned as it goes in, and the screen checks it against the order. It is a quality check that costs a second per item and catches the mis-pick that would otherwise cost a return, a replacement shipment and a customer’s patience.

On the web, **Pack** runs as three steps — **1 Order Details → 2 Shipment Details → 3 Pack**. The order is fixed before anything is scanned, which is why the order fields are read-only.

![The Pack wizard, step 1](https://mintcdn.com/oto/YkJay8Y-1RDv8ciw/images/wms-8-pack-web.png?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=YkJay8Y-1RDv8ciw\&q=85\&s=479859bf2f3a851ebbd296c4e4c27a13)

Fig. 1 — Step 1 confirms what the order is, then opens a Barcode or SKU field — either identifier works, so nothing needs relabelling to be packable.

| Column | What it tells the packer |
| - | - |
| **Name and SKU** | The product, with its photo — the fastest check a human can make. |
| **Barcode** | What the scanner is expecting. |
| **Quantity** | What the customer ordered. |
| **Picked Qty** | What actually came off the shelf. |
| **Serial Number** | Captured here for goods tracked individually — electronics, high-value items, anything with a warranty claim attached to a specific unit. |

> [!TIP]
>
> **Ordered and picked, side by side**
>
> Showing **Quantity** and **Picked Qty** in the same row means the packer sees a short pick before they start taping. An order for 100 with 3 picked is a decision to make, not a surprise to discover at the carrier’s van.

Step 1 closes with three choices: **Not Available** for an item that cannot be found, **Cancel**, or **Next Step** to move on to the shipment.

Every status an order passes through here is kept: the **Packing Status Report** at **Performance → Reports → OTO PACK** holds the complete packing status history for every order, which is what turns “this one took all afternoon” into something you can look at.

### Packing on the app

The same job on the phone is a single screen. It opens on the order number, lists what goes in the box, and keeps the short-pick escape route in view rather than buried in a menu.

![The ITEMS screen in OTO PACK, packing an order](https://mintcdn.com/oto/ft-bRlLvOnJkbVoC/images/wms-6-pack-app.png?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=ft-bRlLvOnJkbVoC\&q=85\&s=7b2ca35ec6e76e8bb6d7c077ad85b935)

Fig. 2 — Each line carries the product photo, SKU, location and barcode, with a progress badge — here 2/100 — counting what is in the box against what the order needs.

Two details are worth pointing out. The banner across the top reads *“Click Not Available if any item is missing”* — the app tells the packer what to do about a problem before they hit one. And **Packaging Materials** sits at the foot of the same screen, so the box and filler are recorded as part of packing rather than as an afterthought.

### Packing Pilot

Packing Pilot is the paperless version, at **OTO PACK → Operations → Packing → Packing Pilot**. Nothing is printed: orders are filtered, found and packed on screen.

1. **Select a warehouse** — required.
2. **Filter** by **Packing Station** or **Wave Number** — optional.
3. **Scan an item** — optional, and the clever part. Scanning a SKU or barcode finds the orders containing it and shows a **match rate** for each.
4. **Select the order** from the filtered list.
5. **Pack it** — scan the items, create the shipment, scan the AWB barcode, confirm.

![Packing Pilot with a scanned item and its candidate orders](https://mintcdn.com/oto/ft-bRlLvOnJkbVoC/images/wms-7-packing-pilot.png?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=ft-bRlLvOnJkbVoC\&q=85\&s=e975844dfb983ab564eeb6f5b8ada091)

Fig. 3 — One item has been scanned. The order needing exactly that one item matches at 100%; the order needing a hundred of them matches at 1%.

The match rate is simply **quantity scanned ÷ total order quantity**, which is enough to tell a packer holding a handful of items which order they are looking at. Scanned lines carry a quantity stepper, so holding three of something is one scan and a tap rather than three scans.

Each candidate row shows the **delivery company**, **order ID**, **shipment number**, **order date**, **match rate** and **status** — enough to tell two similar orders apart before committing. An order with no shipment yet simply shows no carrier and no shipment number.

> [!TIP]
>
> **Scan-to-find, not find-to-scan**
>
> The usual order is: fetch the paperwork, find the order, then pack. Packing Pilot inverts it — scan what is in front of you and let the system say which order it belongs to. On a bench of mixed totes after a wave pick, that is a different job.

### Quick Pack

Packing without the item-by-item check: scan, get the AWB, done. It is the right call for single-item orders, or for goods where the pick is already verified and a second check adds time without adding certainty. A deliberate trade of assurance for speed — worth making knowingly, on a defined category, rather than by default.

### Inventory check during packing

Optional, and it exists for a specific problem: bin inventory drifting out of step because movements were recorded loosely. Checking at packing catches the discrepancy at the last point where the physical goods are in someone’s hands.

## Packaging materials

Boxes, mailers, filler and tape are tracked as stock like anything else, so running out is a thing you can see coming — the **Packaging Materials Report** at **Performance → Reports → OTO PACK** carries usage and stock levels for them. Box definitions themselves live at **Settings → Management → Boxes** and feed the volumetric weight used in [shipping cost](https://docs.tryoto.com/modules/shipping-management/shipping-invoices-reconciliation.md) — choosing the right box is a cost decision, not only a packing one.

## Dispatch

Packed parcels leave in groups, and the group is the thing the warehouse manages at the end of the day. The **Ship** screen splits that into two views: **Packages**, the individual parcels, and **Dispatching Units**, the parcels gathered into what actually goes out of the door.

A dispatching unit is built **per delivery company**. It carries a count of the orders inside it and a status, so the question “what is going out with this carrier today, and is it ready?” has a single answer rather than a headcount of the floor.

![Dispatching Units in OTO PACK, with the action menu open](https://mintcdn.com/oto/ft-bRlLvOnJkbVoC/images/wms-9-dispatch-units.png?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=ft-bRlLvOnJkbVoC\&q=85\&s=889684b625025077ab234227caaaec08)

Fig. 4 — One unit, one order, In Progress — and the four things that can be done with it.

| Action | When it is used |
| - | - |
| **Ship** | Hand the unit over — the carrier has it. |
| **Mark as Ready** | Close the unit to further additions. Nothing more goes in; it is waiting on the driver. |
| **Print** | The paperwork that travels with the unit, including the [Delivery Company Pickup List](https://docs.tryoto.com/modules/shipping-management/shipping-and-tracking.md) the driver signs. |
| **Delete** | Break the unit up again — the wrong parcels were grouped, or the carrier changed. |

> [!NOTE]
>
> **Why units matter at scale**
>
> Below a certain volume, dispatch is a pile by the door. Above it, the pile is where parcels go missing and where a carrier dispute becomes unwinnable. A dispatching unit gives the handover a boundary, a count and a record — and because it is built per carrier, the boundary is the same one the driver is standing at.

## Replenishing your own locations

Not every outbound goes to a customer. Stores get replenished from a warehouse, and that flow uses the same picking and packing machinery, dispatched as a transfer rather than a parcel. See [Inter Depot Transfer](https://docs.tryoto.com/modules/omnichannel-oms/order-fulfillment.md) for the order-side view.

## Related

* [Picking methods](https://docs.tryoto.com/modules/warehouse-management/picking-methods.md) — what arrives at the bench.
* [Shipping & tracking](https://docs.tryoto.com/modules/shipping-management/shipping-and-tracking.md) — labels, manifests and pickup.


## Related topics

- [OTO PACK mobile app for warehouse staff](https://docs.tryoto.com/modules/warehouse-management/ops.md)
- [Warehouse Management](https://docs.tryoto.com/modules/warehouse-management/overview.md)
- [Warehouse picking methods and waves](https://docs.tryoto.com/modules/warehouse-management/picking-methods.md)


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