How to Show Bin Locations on Shopify Packing Slips
You can hand-code bin locations into a Liquid packing slip, but it breaks the moment a product lives in two bins. Here is what the manual route actually involves and where it stops being worth it.
# Why Merchants Want Bins on the Slip
The request comes up constantly: put the shelf location next to each line item so whoever picks the order knows where to walk. On a packing slip sorted by bin, a picker moves through the warehouse once instead of criss-crossing it looking for items. For a small team without a scanner setup, the printed slip is the pick list.
Shopify now supports one native bin name per variant and Location, and Shopify pick lists can show those names in bin order. That solves the basic picking case. Packing slips are a different document, though, and teams that use the customer-facing slip as a pick ticket may still need a custom template. The larger limit is that one native name cannot represent quantified pick stock and overstock for the same SKU.
# Native Pick Lists and the Liquid Route
Start with Shopify's native pick-list template if one bin per variant is enough. It avoids duplicate data and can sort the warehouse list by the bin names already stored with inventory. Use consistent codes with leading zeros, such as A-01 instead of A-1, so alphabetical order matches the route workers walk.
If the bin must appear on a custom packing slip, a variant metafield and Liquid template can still work for a simple catalog. The cracks show when a SKU sits in both a picking bin and an overstock shelf: a metafield holds text rather than a live quantity for each bin, and a custom slip cannot choose which bin has enough stock. Every move also becomes a manual template-data update.
# Where the Manual Version Stops Scaling
The DIY slip assumes each product has exactly one home. Growing warehouses do not work that way. You split stock across a fast-pick shelf and a bulk shelf, you add a second location, and you want the picker sent to the right one first. A single metafield cannot express any of that, and Liquid cannot sort the slip by a walking path it does not know about.
This is the same wall people hit with a spreadsheet of bin locations. It holds up until a product lives in two places or you add a location, then it quietly starts lying to you. At that point the question is not how to print a field, it is how to track bins properly in the first place.
# Letting the Pick List Do the Job
BinTech takes a different angle. Instead of stamping one location onto a slip, it keeps the physical address separate from the product, lets a SKU sit in several bins, and turns each order into a pick list sorted by walking order . Pickers open it on a phone or tablet from a shared link, so there is nothing to log into and nothing to reprint when stock moves.
You can still print if your team prefers paper, but the routing and the multi-bin logic come from the app rather than a template you maintain. If you are weighing the DIY route against a tool, the honest test is how many bins your busiest SKUs live in. One bin each, and a metafield is fine. More than one, and a proper bin layer will save you the backtracking. The getting started guide covers the first setup, and there is a free tier for a single small warehouse (see the pricing page for limits).
Frequently asked questions
Can I add bin locations to Shopify packing slips without an app?
Yes. Native Shopify pick lists can show the variant's bin name, while a custom packing-slip template can render a separately stored field. Both approaches fit a one-bin-per-variant workflow but do not track quantities across multiple bins.
Why does the metafield approach break with multiple bins?
A metafield holds a single value per variant, so it can only show one location. A product split between a picking bin and an overstock shelf cannot represent both, and there is no way for Liquid to route the picker to the right one first.
Does BinTech print bin locations on slips?
BinTech generates pick lists sorted by bin that your team opens on a phone or tablet, and you can print them if you prefer paper. The routing and multi-bin logic come from the app rather than a template you maintain by hand.