Printers, scanners and cameras

You can run LASI with nothing but a computer and a phone. The hardware below is what makes packing fast: scan a sticker, and the shipping label comes out of the printer by itself.

A web page cannot print on its own: a browser always shows a print window and waits for someone to press Print. At a packing bench, that is one extra click per box, hundreds of times a night.

PrintNode fixes this. It is a small app you install on the bench computer. It sees the printers plugged into that computer, and when LASI sends a label, the app hands it straight to the printer — no window, no click. LASI only uses it to send label PDFs to the printer you pick; it never touches your inventory or sales.

Do this once per business, on the bench computer, with the label printer plugged in and switched on.

1. 1Install your label printer’s driver on the bench computer and print a test page from the computer, so you know the printer itself works.
2. 2Create an account at printnode.com.
3. 3Download the PrintNode client for your computer (Mac or Windows), install it, and sign in with that account.
4. 4Check that your label printer appears in the PrintNode app.
5. 5In your PrintNode account, open API Keys and create a key. Copy it.
6. 6In LASI, go to Settings → Integrations → Printing.
7. 7Paste the key into PrintNode API key and press Find printers.
8. 8Pick the label printer from the list. Each printer shows the computer it is on and a green dot when it is online.
9. 9Give the station a Name people will recognize — for example “Bench 1 Rollo” or “Sticker printer” — and press Save. This is the name every printer picker in LASI shows, not the one PrintNode gives the printer (such as “Printer_ThermalPrinter_3”).
10. 10Press Test print. A test page should come out of the label printer.

The key is checked with PrintNode before it is saved, stored encrypted, and never shown again.

A station is one printer LASI can print to. Add one for every printer you want LASI to use:

• each packing bench’s 4×6 label printer, and
• your 2×1 sticker printer — its own station, so a sticker roll never goes to the shipping-label printer.

1. 1On Settings → Integrations → Printing, press Add another station.
2. 2Paste a PrintNode API key and press Find printers. The same key works for every computer signed in to the same PrintNode account, and each printer shows which computer it is on.
3. 3Pick the printer, name the station, and press Save. Then press Test print.

trylasi.com/settings/integrations/printing

Renaming a printer

PrintNode names a printer after its driver, so two printers can show up as “Printer_ThermalPrinter_3” and “Rollo Printer (2)”. Give each station a name that says which one it is — “Sticker printer”, “Bench 2 Rollo” — and that name is what the printer pickers show on the web and on every phone, with the PrintNode name in small print where there is room.

1. 1On the web: Settings → Integrations → Printing, press Rename on the station, type the new name and press Save name.
2. 2On the iPhone app: Menu → Printers, tap the printer, type the new name and tap Save.

Only admins can rename a printer. Renaming never changes which printer the station prints to, and every computer and phone that picked it keeps it. A station still called “Packing bench” (the name LASI gives one nobody named) is shown by its PrintNode name until you rename it.

Each station shows the result of its last print — “Last print OK …” or “Last print failed: …” — which is the first place to look when something does not print.

Which printer a computer prints to is chosen on that computer, and remembered there — not per show and not per login. That is how two benches with two printers never print each other’s labels.

On the packing bench

1. 1Open a show on Packing.
2. 2Press the printer chip at the top right. It reads the printer’s name, choose printer when several exist and none is chosen, or no printer when none is set up.
3. 3Pick the station at this bench and press Use this printer.

With only one station in your business there is nothing to choose. With several, the bench asks before the first scan, holds the scan, and sends it as soon as you pick.

For stickers

In the Print stickers dialog on Auctions, Printer for stickers picks the station loaded with 2×1 stock. This computer remembers it too.

On the Shipping page

Printing a stack of bought labels from the Buys tab uses the same printer this computer’s packing bench uses.

On the iPhone app

The phone’s packing bench and Returns desk pick their own printer, remembered on that phone.

Any thermal label printer that PrintNode can see will work. LASI was built and tested on Rollo printers.

• Use direct thermal labels, which need no ink or ribbon.
• Keep the 4×6 and the 2×1 stock on separate printers. Swapping rolls between shows is how stickers end up on shipping-label stock.
• Load the roll the way the printer’s manual says and run its label calibration once, so each label feeds to the right place.

Most label printer drivers list the 2×1 label standing up (1 inch wide, 2 inches tall). Chrome’s own print window prints PDFs upright only, so it shrinks each sticker into a band that runs across two labels — whatever paper size you pick.

Fix 1: print through PrintNode (best)

Set up a station for the 2×1 printer and use Print on <printer> in the Print stickers dialog. LASI sends the roll turned the right way, with no dialog.

Fix 2: use the system print dialog

1. 1In the Print stickers dialog, press Open PDF.
2. 2In Chrome’s print window, choose Print using system dialog… (on a Mac, Option-Command-P).
3. 3Set Paper Size to 2 × 1 and Orientation to landscape.
4. 4Print.

LASI works with any barcode scanner that acts as a keyboard — sometimes called “keyboard wedge” or “HID” mode. That is the default for most USB scanners, and many Bluetooth scanners can do it too. The scanner types the code very fast and presses Enter at the end.

• Choose a 2D (imager) scanner. LASI stickers carry a QR code, which an older laser scanner cannot read. A 2D scanner reads QR codes and ordinary barcodes (UPCs, tracking numbers) alike.
• It must send Enter after each scan. This is usually called a carriage-return or “CR” suffix, and it is usually on already. Without it, nothing happens when you scan.
• Keep it fast. If your scanner has an inter-character delay setting, leave it at none. LASI knows a scan from typing by how fast the characters arrive.
• Use a US keyboard layout on the scanner and the computer, so symbols come through as printed.

How the bench reads it

On the packing bench, the Returns desk and the scan-in screens you do not need to click in a box first — scan anywhere on the page. The one exception: while you are typing in a text box (a hold note, the upload form), scans are ignored so they cannot mix with your typing. Click an empty part of the page and scan again.

One scanner, one computer

A USB scanner types into whichever window is in front on the computer it is plugged into. It cannot be split between two browser windows. Two packers therefore need two computers, two scanners and two printers — or one of them can use the iPhone app’s packing bench, which scans with the phone’s camera.

In the iPhone app

The app scans stickers, barcodes and return labels with the camera. The first time a screen needs the camera, it shows a short explanation and a Continue button; iOS then asks for permission. Allow it.

If you said no, the button reads Open Settings instead. Tap it, turn on Camera for LASI, and come back.

On the web Scanner page

Scanner in the sidebar can use a phone’s or laptop’s camera in the browser. The browser asks for camera permission the first time. If you block it, the page says “Camera access denied”: allow the camera for the site in your browser’s settings (in Chrome, click the camera icon in the address bar) and press Try Camera Again. A USB scanner still works on that page without the camera.

More about the app in The LASI iPhone app.

The Returns desk asks for photos of each returned package. You have three ways to take them, shown as buttons on the package:

• Webcam — a camera plugged into (or built into) the desk computer. Press Take photo for each shot.
• Phone — shows a QR code. Scan it with any phone’s camera and take the photos there; they appear on the desk screen as they arrive. The code works for about 15 minutes, for that package only.
• Upload — pick photo files from the computer.

A webcam on a small stand or gooseneck, pointing down at the desk, is the quickest set-up. If Chrome blocks the camera, click the camera icon in the address bar, allow it, and try again. If no camera is plugged in, use Phone or Upload.

See TikTok returns and cancellations.

Everything that prints silently can also be printed from the browser. It is slower, but it works:

• At the packing bench, a box shows No printer set up: open the label and print it from the browser with an Open label button. The label opens in a new tab.
• In the Print stickers dialog, press Open PDF (see the 2×1 fix above).
• The Print sheet on the Carrier handoff card and Print on the pull list open a 4×6 PDF to print.

When printing a 4×6 PDF from the browser, choose your label printer, set the paper to 4×6, and turn off any “fit to page” or margins so the label is not shrunk.