Shoes Galore

I get a lot of flack from my girlfriend for the amount of shoes I own. She claims that my collection is “bigger than any other shoe wardrobe of girls I know.”

I don’t really mind that she says that, to be honest. Maybe I take it as a feat. Perhaps I like that she’s baffled by it whereas I just think I need shoes for different occasions. It really is kind of interesting that I just look at it as all my shoes whereas others think “Man, you have a lot of shoes.”

So, because I have over 30 or 40 pairs around our apartment, I figured it would be productive to have a dedicated spot or rack for all my different shoes. I started to put together a makeshift shoe rack for one type of shoes while putting some others in storage. Luckily, I had enough random materials and shipping supplies laying around like packing tape and cardboard boxes that I was able to separate my shoes into three different categories. The shipping supplies in particular came in handy when I needed to label certain boxes and racks of shoes.

Winter/rainy shoes.

This is admittedly my smallest category of shoes. I have about one pair of dedicated shoes for rain and mud and another that are boots for the winter.

Summer wear.

Here’s where my flip flops, Tevas, and Chacos go. Admittedly, I can fold/stack my sandals and other summer footwear a lot easier than other types of shoes, so this “collection” is much more compact and small than the others, which I enjoy.

Formal shoes and boots.

These are the shoes I hang up in my organized shoe hanger that clings to my clothes rack. And what’s perfect is I can hang it right next to my dress shirts, dress pants, and nicer belts. These are easy to access and stay away from my other shoes so that they’re always clean, in shape, and ready to go alongside my other formal wear when I need them.

Athletic footwear.

Tennis shoes and basketball shoes (and anything else I’d use to work out in) go in this section. I also have my Soloman trail runners in this category since I use them infrequently enough to not be with my everyday shoes.

Everyday shoes.

And finally, my rack for everything else. This is pretty much what I can wear with any sort of informal wear. I’ve got random tennis shoes in here. Some nicer Pumas. High top sneakers. And even a few pairs of loafers. This is where 50% of my shoes are, so it’s no surprise that they’re the most diverse.

Items Together, or separately

This is something that a lot of companies wonder about when they get multiple orders from customers. The goal is to get it to the customer’s hands as fast as they can. What do you do about the instance of multiple orders? Do you ship them in just one box? Or do you do them separately.

Solo Is Better Here 

If you’re someone who is trying to figure out when to ship out the items solo, you’re not alone.

Items that are larger and more fragile should be solo. For instance, let’s take a TV that’s flatscreen. If you’re going to ship this out, you need to add a lot of inserts including Styrofoam to every single corner, some foam, and even air pillows to secure this. putting it alone in a shipping box is always a better way, as it prevents the item from getting bumped. If you’re packaging anything that’s fragile, you want to make sure that you prevent damage to the other types of items that are there, jostling this product.

The second one, is partial orders. Fi the item isn’t in stock, you want to ship out what you can immediately.  That way, the order isn’t going to be held up due to backorder. If you tell the customer early on that they’ll be getting this soon, then they can get part of it, and then the second half once the items there. 

When to Package things together. 

There are a few instances where you can actually package these items together, and it’s important to understand that it doesn’t work for everything. 

One common way, iOS if you’re trying to scrape by on shipping costs. Shipping and handling of the boxes will cost a lot more the more boxes that you have remember, if you’re trying to save a little bit of money, you can package the items together, provided that they’re packaged securely.

Now, while larger items should be solo, there are some items that are small and fragile that can be put together, provided that you use the correct packaging materials. 

If you’re shipping out some dishes for instance, adding some foam sheets will help make this better in terms of protection, and much stronger especially if they’re packaged together in a tight manner. Foam in either sheets and pouches will also help with absorbing shock, and it prevents the products from damaging and touching one another. Provided that you do it right, you can package them together.

If you’re shipping out wholesale items for reselling at retailers, then you Can put everything together. Shipping these out in large amounts also saves you a lot of money. That’s because you’re not trying to ship everything out individually. This reduces the costs of the product greatly too, as the fees for shipping are very easy for you to recoup as well.

If there are ways to package them together, then you should try to do it for the most part.

However, if you find that you’re having trouble with getting items that are packaged together out to customers in a way that saves you money, you’re not alone. This is for a fulfillment and shipping company that creates efficient and consistent processes. Fulfillment warehouses will keep the product within their inventory, and once you’ve figure out a way for you to ship it, you can have them do this, and from there, they’ll be able to get the product out to others as fast as they can, in a way that benefits them for the most part as much as they can.