Pallet Label Template With an SSCC (Free Excel)

A pallet label tells a warehouse what's on the pallet and gives the pallet a number of its own. The number is the SSCC, the serial shipping container code, 18 digits that no other pallet in the world will ever carry, and a distributor's dock scans it to match the pallet to your advance ship notice and its purchase order. For a pallet of one product and one lot, the label also carries the cases' GTIN, how many cases, the lot and the date. Below is what goes on a pallet label, how the SSCC and its check digit are built, a filled-in example for two pallets of salsa, and a free template that builds both lines by formula.

The short version

• From, to, the purchase order, the carrier, and "1 of 2".
• An SSCC for each pallet: an extension digit, your GS1 company prefix, a serial number you never reuse, a check digit.
• For a pallet of one product: (02) the cases' GTIN, (17) the date, (37) the count, (10) the lot.
• Two labels, on two adjacent sides, so it can be scanned from either.
• The lots on the pallet are the lots on its cases.
• TaroStack records the lots that ship to each customer and prints the case labels; it doesn't number pallets. More below.

What goes on a pallet label

A pallet of mixed products doesn't carry the (02) and (37) line; the SSCC alone points to the advance ship notice, which lists what's on it. How a buyer reads the lot and date on what arrives is in how to read lot codes on food.

The SSCC and its check digit

An SSCC is 18 digits: an extension digit, your GS1 company prefix, a serial reference you assign, and a check digit. The check digit is worked out the GS1 way, weights of 3 and 1 alternating from the left across the first 17 digits, and the number that brings the total to the next multiple of 10:

Each serial reference is used once, ever, so keep a running list. The example uses 0614141, the company prefix GS1 uses in its own examples; yours comes from GS1, and how to get one is in GS1 barcodes for small food producers.

The contents line

For a pallet of one product, one lot, the contents line carries four application identifiers:

The count and the lot both vary in length, so a barcode encoder puts a separator after the count; given the line, it does that itself. The lot on the pallet is the lot on every case on it, built the way how to create lot numbers describes.

A filled-in example: two pallets of salsa

Saguaro Salsa Co., a made-up salsa maker in Tucson, Arizona, I use in these examples, ships 20 cases of fresh salsa roja and 20 of verde to a distributor, a pallet of each:

What a distributor or grocery buyer asks of a new supplier, labels included, is in selling to grocery stores requirements.

Get the template

Download the pallet label template. Two sheets: a pallet sheet, where each pallet's check digit, SSCC, SSCC line and contents line fill in from the digits, the case GTIN, the count, the lot and the date; and a printable 4 × 6 pallet label for the first pallet. The barcodes come from a label printer or a barcode generator fed the lines. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.

Where this stops working

A spreadsheet builds the numbers, but someone types the lot, the date and the count for every pallet, and keeps the list of serial references that must never repeat. With a few pallets a month that's fine; with more, a repeated SSCC or a lot typed wrong is a pallet the distributor can't receive.

How TaroStack does it

TaroStack records the lots that ship to each customer and prints the case labels; it doesn't number pallets.

Case labels from the batch. When an item has a 14-digit GTIN, its lot labels carry the GTIN, the use-by date and the lot in a GS1-128 barcode, from the batch that made it, so the lot on each case isn't typed. Labels also come as a ZPL file for Zebra printers.

The lots on each shipment. A distributor's order is a sales order; the picking list says which cases to pull, the soonest dates first, and the lots each customer got are recorded as it ships, so the lot on the pallet label is the one TaroStack already has.

A recall in one report. Which batches used an ingredient lot, which customers got them and what's still on your shelves, in one report. Plainly: TaroStack doesn't assign SSCCs or send advance ship notices.

Lots, lot labels, picking and recalls are on every plan, from $49 a month. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.

Questions people also ask

What is an SSCC?

The serial shipping container code: an 18-digit number that identifies one pallet or case in transit, made of an extension digit, your GS1 company prefix, a serial reference you never reuse, and a check digit.

What goes on a GS1 pallet label?

From and to, the purchase order, the SSCC with its barcode, and for a pallet of one product, the cases' GTIN, the count, the lot and the date, in a second barcode.

How do you calculate an SSCC check digit?

Multiply the first 17 digits by 3, 1, 3, 1 and so on from the left, add them, and the check digit is the number that brings the total to the next multiple of 10. The template does it by formula.

Where does the pallet label go?

On two adjacent sides of the pallet, so it can be scanned from either, at a height a scanner can reach.