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By: Maggie M. Barnett, Esq., COO of ShipHeroDespite everyone’s best efforts, the strain from COVID-19 is not diminishing. And it seems as though it will spill over into the holiday season. Oh good. (That was sarcasm.)There’s been a lot of news lately about carriers and the challenges they’re facing, as well as how some larger brands are handling this challenge. There’s also been discussion about how these supply chain disruptions could easily get passed along into 2022 and 2023. The intent of this article is not to make anyone panic, but it’s important to level-set expectations and understand where things stand in the eCommerce space.
According to data from the Port of Los Angeles, the time it takes a shipment to travel from China to the U.S. has increased 83% over pre-pandemic numbers. That’s an additional 73 days. And in retail, that is an eternity. There’s also been reports of materials shortages. The chip shortage affecting the auto industry is the splashiest one, but now toy manufacturers are raising their hands to say that a shortage of resin is impacting their ability to make toys and get them to suppliers and retailers. So, not only are manufacturers and retailers finding it difficult to get product from China and other countries to the US and into their warehouses, now there are shortages that could prevent those products from being created at all.
Another recent development this week was news that large corporations like Home Depot and IKEA are willing to spend big bucks to charter cargo carriers in order to ensure delivery. This has resulted in some organizations also purchasing their own shipping containers (which are also facing a shortage). As demand for charters has increased, so has the cost. Larger companies can afford to pay these exorbitant fees, but of course, smaller eCommerce retailers cannot. Plus, eventually the additional cost will have to be passed on to the consumer somewhere. There is very little chance that these companies will see these additional fees as just “the cost of doing business.” This could lead to inflation that for the most part has stayed relatively steady throughout the pandemic.Chartering cargo planes has also become trendy for larger companies. Overall, the pressure to receive goods in time for the holidays is real. Shipping containers full of sellable merchandise won’t do the retailer any good, if it’s still sitting in a port halfway across the world when Christmas rolls around.
A labor shortage combined with a supply chain shortage is a recipe for disaster, and we seem to have just yelled, “Bingo!” With companies, including carriers like FedEx still struggling to hire, packages are now taking even more circuitous routes to get to their destinations. FedEx Ground recently reported that around 25% of all of their shipments are being re-routed to different distribution centers to offset the labor shortage. Currently, FedEx estimates they are working with around 65% of the staff they need.The United States Postal Service is set to levy surcharges to retail customers in an effort to deliver the mail on time. With horror stories in 2020 of people not receiving holiday gifts until January or February, the post office is enacting additional charges in an effort to get things delivered on time.
It’s been said often enough since March 2020 - everything we have experienced, whether personal or professional has been unprecedented. The 2021 shipping carrier crisis seems to be another item to add to the list.Anecdotally, consumers in general are really starting to feel the effects of empty shelves. Earlier in the year, missing or understocked products were the exception. Now, people are noticing more and more items missing. Everything from sports drinks to Steam Fresh bags to canned goods to chicken wings have been running in short supply. While the USDA says there is currently not a nationwide food shortage, the pinch of low inventory is being felt by more consumers than earlier in the year. And the haunting look of empty shelves doesn’t help to quell consumer anxiety.These shortages could lead to more consumers shopping earlier for the holiday season, choosing to snap up gifts and items they need instead of waiting for a sale or promotion. However, it’s still too early to tell if this is a trend that will bear out. As with many things surrounding the pandemic, we are in wait-and-see mode.
The best advice for any eCommerce retailer right now is not to panic. Stock the products you can get; use your historical reporting to make a list of SKUs that drive revenue. Focus on the things you can control, like warehouse efficiencies, employee satisfaction and shipping, and do your best to let go of the things you can’t (like cargo ships sitting in the Pacific Ocean). With so much uncertainty surrounding us, focusing on yourself and your organization is the key to success.If you’re new to ShipHero Fulfillment, please schedule a meeting today with our experts to learn more about how we can help you get your orders picked, packed, and delivered with our fulfillment service. No setup fees - simply pay as you go. ShipHero works to ensure that organizations invest in the solutions that match their needs, to improve productivity, revenue, and success. Click HERE to Schedule a Meeting Today Maggie M. Barnett, Esq., COOShipHeroAbout the author: Maggie M. Barnett, Esq., is the COO of ShipHero. She is responsible for planning and executing the overall operational, legal, managerial and administrative procedures, reporting structures and operational controls of the organization. Barnett’s greatest strengths are leadership, risk mitigation, change management and a passion for business transformation. She is known for her expertise in delivering operational excellence and an ability to provide guidance and mitigating risk. Her leadership of ShipHero is grounded in a servant mentality, always doing the right thing for our stakeholders. Her passion for ShipHero comes from the ability to drive operational excellence throughout the organization impacting the lives of our employees, customers, and partners.Follow Maggie on Twitter&LinkedIn.
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The ShipHero Model Context Protocol (MCP) connects supported AI clients directly to your live ShipHero data, so warehouse teams can ask questions and get specific answers from their own account. It is built for day-to-day operational checks, including inventory levels, open orders, shipment status, holds, returns, purchase orders, and exceptions. For ShipHero customers, it is available at no additional charge and runs on existing API credits.
Every order, shipment, inventory movement, hold, return, and purchase order creates data inside ShipHero. Your warehouse information is right there, but getting to it can be a slow, complex process.
Before the ShipHero MCP, answering a specific operational question often meant logging in, finding the right report, applying the right filters, exporting data, or asking the one person on the team who knew where to look.
Even when the answer was simple, like a quick inventory check, it could turn into a 20 to 45 minute task. A customer question could sit half a day while someone pulled the right numbers. That delay adds friction to the floor. It slows decisions. It keeps teams waiting on data they already own.
The ShipHero MCP gives supported AI clients secure, read-only access to live ShipHero data.
That means operators can ask questions in plain English and get answers from their actual account, not from a generic help article or static knowledge base. A chatbot can tell you where to find a number. The ShipHero MCP can return the number itself.
It works with MCP-enabled AI clients, including Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, and Codex. Connect it once, authenticate access, and your team can start asking operational questions from the AI tool they already use.
The workflow is simple:
The MCP does not replace ShipHero. It makes the data inside ShipHero easier to reach when your team needs a fast answer.
The ShipHero MCP is designed for everyday operational questions, such as:
If the data lives in your ShipHero account, the MCP gives your team a faster way to ask for it.
Speed matters, but safety matters too.
The ShipHero MCP is read-only by design. It can retrieve information from your account, but it cannot create orders, modify records, delete data, or change warehouse settings.
That gives teams a practical way to use AI for operational visibility without risking accidental account changes. Operators can ask. Managers can check. 3PL teams can answer client questions faster.
The data becomes easier to use, while the records stay protected.
For founders, the MCP can turn a quick inventory check into a simple question.
For operations leads, it can surface shipment status, holds, exceptions, and low-stock SKUs without digging through reports.
For 3PL operators, it can help answer client questions faster, using live account data instead of manual follow-up.
The result is a faster way to reach the information already inside ShipHero.
The ShipHero MCP is available to all ShipHero customers at no additional charge. It runs on existing API credits, so specific questions help keep usage efficient.
To get started, visit developer.shiphero.com or contact your ShipHero account representative.
ShipHero MCP is a read-only connection between supported AI clients and your live ShipHero data. It lets users ask operational questions in plain English and receive answers from their actual ShipHero account.
A chatbot usually answers from fixed, generic information. ShipHero MCP connects to live account data, so it can return specific answers about your orders, shipments, inventory, holds, returns, and other ShipHero records.
ShipHero MCP works with AI clients that support the Model Context Protocol, including Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, and Codex.
No. ShipHero MCP is read-only. It can query data, but it cannot create, update, or delete records in your ShipHero account.
No. The MCP is built for operators and can be connected from a supported AI client in minutes. Developers may use more advanced tools for deeper analysis, but most day-to-day users can work directly with the MCP.
Yes. ShipHero MCP is available to ShipHero customers at no additional charge and runs on existing API credits.
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Transitioning to a new Warehouse Management System (WMS) is a high-stakes decision that often triggers concerns regarding downtime, data integrity, and workforce adaptation. As warehouses prepare for 2026 growth, understanding these common hurdles—and the technical solutions that resolve them—is essential for a successful migration. This guide addresses the five primary barriers to adoption and how a high-velocity infrastructure ensures a seamless transition.
Warehouse operators frequently hesitate to upgrade due to perceived risks that can halt operations. These challenges typically include:
To clear these hurdles, a structured implementation strategy is used to prioritize data density and entity clarity.
In the competitive eCommerce landscape, staying stagnant with manual workarounds is often more costly than the transition itself. Moving to a high-velocity WMS converts your warehouse from a cost center into a growth engine by providing Labor Efficiency and ROI through automated routing and reduced authentication friction.
Because the platform is built for the floor worker, features like Workforce Hero allow seasonal temps and new staff to be authenticated and productive in under an hour.
No. High-velocity infrastructure increases visibility by providing Total Real-Time Control. Managers can monitor exactly what is in the Hospital queue and track replenishment in real-time from a single dashboard.
Before going live, a ground-up audit is performed using cycle counting tools. The system's architecture ensures that every movement on the floor is synchronized with sales channels instantly, maintaining 99.9% accuracy.
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Picture a packer at Peak Season. A box is in front of them, a product in each hand, and somewhere on a cluttered desk there's a mouse they need to find to confirm the order. They look down. They hunt. They click. Then they do it again. Thousands of times a day.
That moment of friction is small. But it is never just one moment. Multiply it across your entire pack line, across an entire shift, and you are looking at a measurable and largely invisible drag on your total throughput.
Tap-to-Pack is a purpose-built hardware controller designed by ShipHero to eliminate digital friction at the packing station. It connects via USB-C, requires no drivers or additional software, and syncs automatically with the ShipHero WMS packing app. This new system is now available at the ShipHero Store.
Instead of navigating a screen with a keyboard and mouse, packers execute every high-frequency command — such as selecting box sizes, printing labels, finalizing orders, flagging exceptions — with a single physical tap on one of eight programmable buttons.
Key specifications:
Most warehouses are running 2026 operations on 1990s peripheral standards. The keyboard and mouse were designed for spreadsheets and emails, not high-volume fulfillment. When used at a packing station, they create three compounding problems:
The problem is not your people. It is the tools you are asking them to use.
Tap-to-Pack introduces a "Rodent-Free" packing standard: a workflow where the packer's hands stay on the product, their eyes stay on the work, and the software fades into the background.
The device guides the packer through two feedback systems:
ShipHero customers running Tap-to-Pack are already seeing a 90% reduction in on-screen interactions and a significant increase in the number of orders packed per hour, without adding headcount or changing their warehouse layout.
One of the hardest challenges in fulfillment is absorbing volume quickly, especially during Peak Season, when temporary staff need to reach target productivity fast.
Because Tap-to-Pack's interface is physical and intuitive, there is almost nothing to teach. Pick up the product, follow the light, tap the button. New packers can reach target productivity in minutes rather than hours.
The system is also modular:
Whether you are a growing DTC brand or a high-volume 3PL, Tap-to-Pack is designed so your hardware never becomes a ceiling on what your team can do.
Tap-to-Pack is a programmable, industrial-grade hardware controller that connects to the ShipHero WMS and allows warehouse packers to execute packing station commands, such as printing labels, selecting boxes, and completing orders. All with a single physical button press, eliminating the need for a keyboard and mouse.
The device connects via USB-C and syncs automatically with the ShipHero WMS packing app. It is a true plug-and-play solution: no drivers, no background software, and no manual configuration required.
Yes. Buttons are configurable for a range of packing actions, including Print Label, Complete Order, Select Box Size, and the Hospital function, which flags a problematic order and keeps the line moving without stopping to resolve it on screen.
The system is fully modular. Connect up to two additional 8-button hubs to the Main Hub for a total of 24 programmable buttons, supporting even the most complex multi-step packing workflows.
Tap-to-Pack devices require ShipHero Packing App v1.0 or higher. The current release is v1.1.0.
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