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Paperless Labels

ShipEngine supports paperless labels for USPS Label Broker. Paperless labels are an excellent way to serve customers who do not have a printer at home. Rather than printing a label and affixing it to the package, your customer can display a QR code on their mobile device when they drop off their package.

The person who receives the package will scan the QR code to retrieve the label and then print it and affix it to the package.

Example QR Code

USPS QR Code

Customer Communication

Using QR codes for shipping might be a new experience for your cusomters. The USPS suggests sending out an email with the QR code label to help educate your customer on what they need to do to ship their package.

The email containing the QR Code should also include instructions on how to find participating USPS Post Offices by visiting https://tools.usps.com/find-location.htm?locationType=po&serviceType=lbroretail&address=18702, where the value of the address parameter is customer's ZIP Code (such as 18702 in this example). The USPS Retail Associate at the Retail Counter at that location will scan the QR Code and print the shipping label, affix it to the package, and provide a receipt.

If the customer has access to a printer, they may choose instead to print the label directly at https://tools.usps.com/label-broker.htm?LabelID=XYZZYPJK&zip=18702, where XYZZYPJK is the Label ID returned by ShipEngine, and 18702 is the ship_from postal_code.

Example Request

To create a QR code, include the display_scheme property in your request and set it to qr_code.

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POST /v1/labels HTTP/1.1
Host: api.shipengine.com
API-Key: __YOUR_API_KEY_HERE__
Content-Type: application/json
{
  "display_scheme": "qr_code",
  "shipment": {
    "service_code": "usps_first_class_mail",
    "ship_to": {
      "name": "Jane Doe",
      "address_line1": "525 S Winchester Blvd",
      "city_locality": "San Jose",
      "state_province": "CA",
      "postal_code": "95128",
      "country_code": "US",
      "address_residential_indicator": "yes"
    },
    "ship_from": {
      "name": "John Doe",
      "company_name": "Example Corp",
      "phone": "555-555-5555",
      "address_line1": "4009 Marathon Blvd",
      "city_locality": "Austin",
      "state_province": "TX",
      "postal_code": "78756",
      "country_code": "US",
      "address_residential_indicator": "no"
    },
    "packages": [
      {
        "weight": {
          "value": 1.0,
          "unit": "ounce"
        }
      }
    ]
  },
  "is_return_label": false
}

Example Response

The response includes the links to access the label in different formats. However, the contents of each file is a QR code rather than a label.

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{
  "label_id": "se-1051749",
  "status": "completed",
  "shipment_id": "se-6478185",
  "ship_date": "2022-08-17T00:00:00Z",
  "created_at": "2022-08-17T14:12:27.1761221Z",
  "shipment_cost": {
    "currency": "usd",
    "amount": 3.7900
  },
  "insurance_cost": {
    "currency": "usd",
    "amount": 0.0
  },
  "tracking_number": "9400111899223617530106",
  "is_return_label": false,
  "rma_number": null,
  "is_international": false,
  "batch_id": "",
  "carrier_id": "se-127618",
  "service_code": "usps_first_class_mail",
  "package_code": "package",
  "voided": false,
  "voided_at": null,
  "label_format": "pdf",
  "display_scheme": "qr_code",
  "label_layout": "4x6",
  "trackable": true,
  "label_image_id": null,
  "carrier_code": "stamps_com",
  "tracking_status": "in_transit",
  "label_download": {
    "pdf": "https://api.shipengine.com/v1/downloads/0/0j9F-U4DM0K918VeGaWLYg/label-1051749.pdf",
    "png": "https://api.shipengine.com/v1/downloads/0/0j9F-U4DM0K918VeGaWLYg/label-1051749.png",
    "zpl": "https://api.shipengine.com/v1/downloads/0/0j9F-U4DM0K918VeGaWLYg/label-1051749.zpl",
    "href": "https://api.shipengine.com/v1/downloads/0/0j9F-U4DM0K918VeGaWLYg/label-1051749.pdf"
  },
  "form_download": null,
  "insurance_claim": null,
  "packages": [
    {
      "package_id": "se-207538226",
      "package_code": "package",
      "weight": {
        "value": 1.00,
        "unit": "ounce"
      },
      "dimensions": {
        "unit": "inch",
        "length": 0.0,
        "width": 0.0,
        "height": 0.0
      },
      "insured_value": {
        "currency": "usd",
        "amount": 0.00
      },
      "tracking_number": "9400111899223617530106",
      "label_messages": {
        "reference1": null,
        "reference2": null,
        "reference3": null
      },
      "external_package_id": null,
      "sequence": 1
    }
  ],
  "charge_event": "carrier_default",
  "alternative_identifiers": []
}