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Check the address, weight, and barcode before you seal the box: most label mistakes are caught in thirty seconds at the kitchen table and cost days once the parcel is moving. Old labels left on a reused box, barcodes covered by tape, and guessed weights are the three errors that misroute parcels most. Fix them before drop-off, not after.
Reused boxes are the classic trap. A parcel with two barcodes gives sorting equipment two destinations, and the machine does not know which one you meant. Peel every old label off, or cover it fully with opaque material, before you attach the new one. Marker pen alone is not enough: some scanners read through ink, and a half-covered barcode still scans. The same rule covers old handwritten addresses, previous "return to sender" marks, and routing stickers from earlier trips. If the box still looks busy after your cleanup, use a fresh box. A clean box is cheaper than a parcel sent to the wrong province.
A barcode hidden under tape, folded over an edge, or printed too light will not scan, and an unscannable parcel falls out of the automated flow into manual handling. Print labels at full size on plain white paper, check that the barcode lines are crisp and dark, and never shrink a label to fit a small space. Keep tape, pouches, and staples off the barcode itself: a clear pouch over the whole label is fine, but tape laid directly across the bars creates glare. If your printer is low on ink, replace the cartridge before printing, not after you have already stuck a faint label on the box.
| Mistake | What goes wrong | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Old label left on a reused box | Parcel routed to the old destination | Peel off or fully cover every old label |
| Barcode under tape or over a seam | Scan fails, parcel goes to manual handling | Flat label on the largest side, clear of seams |
| Guessed weight or size | Extra charges or a held parcel | Weigh and measure the sealed parcel |
| Wrong or incomplete address | Returned parcel or failed delivery | Read the address back against the order |
| Label printed too small or faint | Barcode unreadable at sorting | Full-size print, dark ink, plain paper |
| Two labels on one parcel | Two destinations, one parcel | One outside label only, spare copy inside |
Carriers weigh and measure parcels in their own facilities, and a label bought for a lighter or smaller parcel than the real one can trigger extra charges, a hold, or a return. Weigh the sealed parcel, including tape and label, and measure at the widest points, including any bulge. Guessing is tempting for soft parcels like clothing, which compress on a scale and spring back in a box, but the carrier measures the parcel as presented, not as squeezed. If you are near a weight limit, such as the 5 kg limit on a LetterAgent Xpresspost label in Canada, split the shipment or buy the next service up rather than hoping the scale at the depot agrees with yours.
Read the address on the label back against the original order, character by character, before you seal the box. The errors that cause the most returns are small ones: a transposed postal code, a missing apartment number, a street name spelled from memory instead of copied. Apartment and unit numbers deserve special care, since a parcel addressed to the building but not the unit may be refused or left in a lobby. For businesses, add a contact name or department, and for rural addresses, confirm whether the carrier delivers to the door or to a community box. A minute spent reading the label beats a week spent tracing a parcel that went to the right street in the wrong town.
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