This is the environment George uses at Sandy Lane Farm
Work Computer
My main computer is a MacBook Air.
The only software that I bought was Microsoft Office 365 for up to 6 seats (I share them out between staff that use them) - £80/yr
But I mostly use google sheets for any spreadsheet work - as it is in the cloud and anyone can access them on any device.
Tablets
I use the tablets for both the packing line and the driver app.
If they are for the driver app - make sure you get one that can insert a SIM card
I bought this one:
Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 Lite 8.7 Inch LTE Android Tablet 32GB
I also got screen protectors and a cover:
I definitely went over the top on the tablets - a cheaper one would absolutely work too - but the 8.7 inch screen size is a good - big enough to see everything, but not too big to have in the vans.
I then got a SIM card from giffgaff, the £6/mo goody bag is ample (as long as drivers don’t stream music on it! - but basically for accessing the app & navigating, 2GB is fine).
If you are only using tablets for the packing shed, then a WiFi-only tablet is fine.
Notes on device set up:
Because I have a Giffgaff sim - the tablets have a phone number, so drivers can call customers using the tablet, without using their own phone.
I also set up the devices to have our email inbox on it - vegbox@sandylanefarm.co.uk, although I could have set up a new email driver@sandylanefarm.co.uk if I wanted too (we use GSuite to host all of our email - it costs us £5/mo per user/email address)
Android has a really nice feature that overlays the google maps navigation instructions on top of other screens - so you can see the navigation AND the order at the same time.
Tablet holders
For the packing line, these are good tablet holders, they are nice and sturdy:
For the vans, I got two different holders, the gooseneck one isn’t quite as good, but fits better in the ford transit.
Telescopic (good - if it fits your dash): https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0B41Q4L49/
Printers
I use a standard laser jet printer for driver paperwork (much faster than inkjets, but they are more expensive to buy and for cartridges).
For box labels, I use a direct thermal printer - they are much quicker and cheaper to run than ink labels. I got this one, it prints about 2 labels/second:
and the labels are pretty cheap (about 0.6p/label), and no ink required:
These are the labels: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07NZ72Q73/
NOTE:
this printer is not compatible with Android, so I print from my MacBook Air. The reason I went for it, is that it works over WIFI/bluetooth and it can use non-branded labels
Instructions for setting up the printer with a Mac:
This video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9UXqn5eI74 goes through the setup if you're going to be wirelessly connecting your mac to the printer.If you'll be connecting it via USB to a mac you will have to enable CUPS.
Plugin the printer via the USB cable
Open your web browser.
Enter http://localhost:631/printers/ into the URL field.
If you receive a message that Web Interface is Disabled, then you must enable it. Start by copying the 'cupsctl WebInterface=yes' command that's displayed in your browser.
Open the Terminal application on your computer, and then paste the cupsctl WebInterface=yes command into the Terminal command line. When you're done, press Return.
Click on your open browser, and refresh the Web Interface is Disabled page. It will display theCUPS page instead.
From the CUPS page, click the Home tab.
Click Adding Printers and Classes.
In the Printers section, click Add Printer.
If you're asked to enter a user ID and password, use the same credentials that you use to log-in to your computer. After you log in, the Administration page appears.
Select the printer from the list, it should be under "Local" and click continue.
Review the information on the Add Printer page, and then click Continue.
If you are printing from the packing screens - the labels are optimised for 76mm x 51mm labels (landscape) - but you may need to set up your printer settings on your computer to get it right.