How to Make Sure Your Shipping Labels Aren’t Flagged as Invalid

Printing shipping labels online has quite a few benefits: it is easy, convenient, and helps to save both time and money (due to shipping discounts offered by label printing services). However, when you print your shipping labels yourself, it is no one else’s responsibility but your own to ensure that they are correct and scannable. How to make sure your shipping labels aren’t flagged as invalid by the carrier?

A valid shipping label has a complete and correct recipient’s address and a scannable barcode generated by the carrier for automated processing. Carriers can flag shipping labels as invalid for a variety of reasons, such as incorrect or incomplete information about the recipient, extensive damage, non-compliance with the carrier’s standards and regulations, etc. When a shipping label is deemed invalid, the shipment will be returned to sender or confiscated by the carrier, depending on the reason. Luckily, it is relatively easy to make sure your shipping labels are valid.

Choose a reliable label printing service. A valid shipping label must have a barcode generated by the carrier, which means it has to be issued by the carrier, either directly or via an authorized service that has an official contract with the carrier. So you should either generate shipping label on the carrier’s website or use a label printing service with good reputation. For example, PostageMaker has been in the market for over a decade and has official contracts with two major US carriers, the United States Postal Service (USPS) and UPS.

Double check everything before purchasing and printing the label. If there are any inaccuracies in the recipient’s address, your package will most likely be deemed undeliverable and returned to you. So it is very important to double check the information you’ve entered before creating the label and paying postage.

Do not try to correct errors on the shipping label manually. If you’ve made a mistake on the shipping label, there is no way to correct it because the information on the label is already in the carrier’s system, and manual corrections won’t change that. Shipping labels with corrections are considered invalid; if you need to correct a mistake, you should void the erroneous label and create a new one.

Make sure the shipping label is the right size. The shipping label must be the right size for the package because if it is too big and bent over the edge of the box, the barcode will be unscannable, and the carrier won’t be able to process the package. You can scale the label before printing to make sure it fits, as long as the barcode remains legible.

Make sure the label is high-quality. Your shipping label must not be too pale, smudged, smeared, etc. If you use an inkjet printer to print shipping labels, let the ink dry before attaching the label to the package. If the label is of subpar quality, you should reprint it, preferably using another printer.

Affix the label properly and protect it from the elements. As we’ve already mentioned, the shipping label must fit on the address side of the package. It is important to make sure it is affixed securely and protected from the elements (for example, by using a special address pouch) so that it doesn’t get torn, damaged, or lost. If you use clear packing tape to attach/protect the label, do not tape over the barcode because the reflective surface of the tape will make it harder to scan. It is also advisable to print an extra copy of the shipping label and put it inside the package in case the label on the box gets too damaged or lost while in transit.

Keep in mind that shipping labels have an expiration date. Most carriers require that shipping labels be used within a specified time period after purchase, otherwise they become invalid, so it is advisable to generate them as needed and use the labels as soon as possible.

Do not try to use a shipping label for more than one package. While it is physically possible to print multiple copies of the same shipping label, each shipping label can be used only once. It is prohibited to use copies of the same label to ship multiple packages or to reuse an old shipping label at some later point. And, of course, voided shipping labels cannot be used for shipping either.