Why does my packing list show several totals when I mix pieces, kilos and boxes?

Example: a coffee roaster's shipment

A roaster in Riyadh sends a café in Khobar 40 dallah coffee pots, 12.5 kg of roasted beans in bags and 6 boxes of cups. We entered the three items in the Packing-list generator with the units pcs, kg and box, and the quantity summary showed:

• Item lines: 3.
• Total (pcs): 40.
• Total (kg): 12.5.
• Total (box): 6.
• Total quantity: 58.5, with no unit next to it.

58.5 is not 58.5 pieces or 58.5 kilos. Notice that when units are mixed the tool prints no unit beside that figure, while a list with a single unit gets one, such as '105 pcs'. That missing unit is a quiet hint that the big number is not meant to be read.

Which figure does the receiver check?

The café's staff will count the pots one by one, weigh the coffee bags and count the boxes of cups. Each of those actions matches one of the per-unit total lines. That is why those lines appear in the preview and in the PDF as well, not only on screen.

Should I convert everything to one unit?

You do not need to, and usually you should not. Coffee is sold by weight and pots by count; writing the coffee in pieces really means writing the number of bags, which is useful but hides the weight. If you want both, put the quantity in kg and the bag count in the description, for example 'Roasted beans, 25 bags x 500 g'.

If you are comparing suppliers who sell beans in different pack sizes before you ship, the Unit-price comparison tool is the place for that, since a packing list carries no prices at all.

Before you print

1. Type each unit the same way on every line that uses it.
2. Check each per-unit total against what you counted or weighed.
3. If a line appears for a unit you did not intend, one row probably spells it differently.
4. Create the PDF and confirm the same lines appear in its totals block.