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Van Line Pro

Boxes & cartons

Add packing cartons, mark who packed each one (CP or PBO), and let confirmed cartons roll up into the job's packing materials.

Cartons are inventory items too, and Van Line Pro handles them the way a descriptive inventory does: each carton type is a standard size, each one records who packed it, and the totals roll up into the job's packing materials. This article covers adding cartons from the catalog, the CP / PBO distinction, and how loose piles become cartons.

Who this is for: Crew and estimators.

The Boxes tab

Open the catalog with Add item on a room, then choose the Boxes tab. It shows the standard packing cartons: the four numbered cartons (Carton, 1.5, Carton, 3.0, Carton, 4.5, Carton, 6.0), plus Dish Pack, Wardrobe Box, Mirror / Picture Carton, Lamp Carton, TV boxes in several sizes, mattress cartons, and a crib mattress carton. Each row shows its cube and weight.

Above the list is a selector for who packs the carton:

  • Carrier · C.P
  • Owner · PBO

Pick the category, then tap cartons and set counts with the stepper, exactly like the rest of the catalog. See Add from the catalog for the search, steppers, and commit bar.

CP vs. PBO (and why they're separate lines)

CP means carrier packed. PBO means packed by owner. This is a key liability distinction on the inventory, so it's tracked per carton.

Because who-packed matters, a CP carton and a PBO carton of the same type are tracked as two separate lines. You can set counts for both in one batch: switch the selector to Carrier · C.P, set your CP counts, switch to Owner · PBO, set your PBO counts, then tap Add. On the inventory each carton prints its CP or PBO label.

Important: CP / PBO applies only to cartons. Furniture and other goods have no "packed by" field. In the Item Editor, the Packed by control appears only for items in the Boxes category.

Misc piles become cartons

For loose goods that get boxed rather than moved as-is, you don't list every spoon and book. During a LiDAR scan you flag a misc pile (tap Misc pile or say a pile phrase), describe it, optionally photograph it, and get a carton suggestion if AI is on. You adjust the counts and add them. Confirmed piles add to the inventory as CP cartons. See Walk & talk for the pile flow in detail.

With AI photo capture, loose goods in a room photo come back the same way, as the cartons needed to pack them, with the contents noted on the line (for example "Carton, 4.5 — books, magazines"). See Photograph items.

The packing materials rollup

Every carton on the job, however it was added, rolls up into a Packing materials card on the job screen, totaled by carton type. It's computed straight from the Boxes items on the inventory, so it always matches what the customer signs. Cartons of the same type are grouped together even when their contents notes differ (a "Carton, 4.5 — books" and a "Carton, 4.5 — tools" count as one line here). The card header shows the total, e.g. "12 ctn · 58 ft³."

Good to know

  • One carton is one numbered piece. A quantity of 5 dish packs creates five individually numbered items, the way a descriptive inventory works.
  • Carton cubes are standard sizes, not billing figures. Weight is derived from cube at the Boxes density; a few carton types (mattress cartons) carry their own. See Categories & how weight is estimated.
  • Carton damage. Cartons record pre-existing damage too (crushed, torn, soiled, and so on), but without a location symbol, since a carton has no van-line location axis. See How damage codes work.

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