The initials or numbers of both packer and checker should appear on the shipping order. It is also a good plan to place in each case a packer's slip, shown in Fig. 9, giving the number or initials of the packer and instructing the customer to return the slip with any claim for shortage or damaged goods. In some houses, it is the custom to make the packer's slip a duplicate of the order, listing all items packed, in which case, it makes a convenient receiving slip for the customer.
Fig. 9. Packer's Slip
While not offering positive insurance against mistakes, a thorough checking system will reduce errors in packing to a minimum, and will most certainly pay for the labor involved. In large houses shipping a large number of packages over several different railroads, a further complication arises through the liability of deliveries being made to the wrong freight house. Where several hundred shipments per day are made, it is not uncommon for a teamster to leave a package at the wrong road, finding himself short on his deliveries at another road; or the mistake may be made in loading the drays.
One well-known mail-order house has overcome the difficulty in a simple manner. This house is shipping several hundred packages a day by freight, over eight railroads. The basis of their shipping system is a color scheme, each railroad being designated by a different color—that is, the New York Central is represented by green, the Erie by blue, etc.
A FORTY-FIVE FOOT CABIN LAUNCH ON CAR
Showing Method of Loading Boats for Shipment at the Shipbuilding Plant of the Gas Engine & Power Co. and Charles L. Seabury & Co., Consolidated
The shipping floor is divided into sections, one for each railroad, and one for each express company. The low partitions that separate the sections are painted in the colors representing the railroads, and over each is a sign bearing the name of the road, also printed in the corresponding color. All packages are taken directly from the packing room to the sections of the shipping floor representing the roads over which they are to be shipped.
