How to Pick and Pull Coins for Orders and Shows

To pick coins for orders and shows, make one list of the coins you need, sort it by location in the order you walk your safes, and work through it place by place. Scan each coin as you pull it so you know it is the right one, mark any coin you cannot find as missing, and when you are done, update the status and location of every coin you pulled. That list is a picklist.

Picking sounds simple until a show is three days away and you need 180 coins from four safes, or 40 eBay orders came in over a weekend. Without a sorted list, you walk back and forth, pull the wrong grade of the same date, and find out at the show that one coin never made it into the case.

What goes on a picklist

Column	Why
Location	Where to go: warehouse, zone, safe, shelf, box
SKU	What you match against the label
Title, grade, cert number	To check the coin in hand
Quantity	For rolls and lots
Status	To pick, picked, or missing
Note	Why a coin is missing, such as "box empty"

Lead each line with the SKU. It is printed on the label, and it is the one thing that tells two similar coins apart.

Sort by walking order

Sort the list by warehouse, then zone, then safe, then shelf, then box, then SKU. Group the lines under a heading for each place, so you open each box once.

One detail matters: sort numbers as numbers. A list sorted as text puts shelf 10 before shelf 2, and you end up walking back. If your system sorts as text, pad codes with zeros (02, 10).

Worked example

An invoice for four coins, as entered:

1. 1893-S Morgan dollar, PCGS VF20 (Vault, Safe 2, Shelf B, Box 1)
2. 1908 $20 Saint-Gaudens, PCGS MS64 (Vault, Safe 1, Shelf A, Box 2)
3. 1895-O Morgan dollar, PCGS AU53 (Vault, Safe 2, Shelf B, Box 1)
4. 1924 $20 Saint-Gaudens, NGC MS65 (Vault, Safe 1, Shelf A, Box 2)

Sorted for walking:

• Vault / Safe 1 / Shelf A / Box 2: the 1908 and 1924 double eagles
• Vault / Safe 2 / Shelf B / Box 1: the 1893-S and 1895-O Morgans

Two boxes opened instead of four trips. With 180 coins for a show, sorting saves far more.

Where picklists come from

Start the list from the thing that needs the coins, so nobody retypes it:

• A sales invoice for a counter or phone sale.
• A marketplace order, such as an eBay order.
• An auction or platform sale, for the lots you consigned.
• A memo, for the coins that are part of it.
• A hand-picked set, such as the coins for a show case or a photo session.

Picking, step by step

1. Go to the first place on the list. Open the box.
2. Find the coin and scan its label. The scan checks that it is a coin on this list and marks it picked. No scanner? Type the SKU, or tick the line.
3. Check grade and cert on the holder. Especially for coins with several of the same date in one box.
4. If a coin is not there, mark it missing. Add a note: "box empty", "found 1881-O instead". Keep going.
5. Undo mistakes right away. If you scanned the wrong coin, undo the pick and scan the right one.
6. Move to the next place.

Filter the list to show only coins still to pick once you are halfway through. It keeps the next coin at the top.

Finishing the list

When every line is picked or marked missing, finish the list in one step:

• Set the status of the picked coins. For example, "in transit" for coins headed to a show, or leave the status alone if a later step changes it.
• Move the picked coins. If they are going into the show case or the shipping bench, record that place now, so the vault records stay right.
• Put the missing coins on hold. Nobody should sell a coin you cannot find.

If you stop and do not need the coins after all, cancel the list. Nothing should change on any coin.

Picking for a show

A show pull is a large picklist with a few extra steps.

1. Build the list early. Select the coins for the case a week ahead, not the night before. That leaves time to find the ones that are not where the records say.
2. Pick in one walk. One list for the whole show, sorted by location, is faster than one list per case tray.
3. Mark the coins as out. When you complete the list, set the picked coins to a status that says they left the vault, and move them to a place such as "show case". Then they are not offered online while they sit on a table in another city.
4. Pick them back in. After the show, the unsold coins go back to their boxes. Record that move too, or the next count will look for them in the show case.

Picking on a phone

Picking is done standing up, often with one hand holding a box. A few things help:

• Large buttons. Pick and Missing should be easy to hit with a thumb.
• A Bluetooth scanner paired to the phone. Faster than the camera when there are many coins.
• Show only what is left. Hide picked lines so the next coin is always at the top.
• A printed copy as backup. If the signal drops in the vault, paper still works; enter the picks when you are back.

Common mistakes

• Unsorted lists. Picking in the order the customer listed the coins is the slowest way to walk a vault.
• Picking by title. "1881-S Morgan" matches five coins. Pick by SKU.
• Skipping missing coins without a note. The note is how you find them later.
• Not moving picked coins in the records. The coins are in the show case, the records say safe 1, and the next count calls them missing.
• Leaving missing coins for sale. Put them on hold until they turn up.

How CoinManagerPro picks coins

CoinManagerPro picklists are made from a sales invoice, a marketplace order, the open lots of a platform sale, a memo, or coins you select on the Coins page. Lines are sorted by warehouse, zone, safe, shelf, box, then SKU, with numbers sorted as numbers, and grouped under a heading for each place. Each line leads with the SKU, then the title, grade, and cert number.

You pick by scanning or typing a SKU, a CoinManagerPro label, or an RFID tag, by using the phone camera, or by clicking Pick on the line. Missing marks a coin with an optional note, and Undo reverses a pick. When you complete the list, you choose a new status for the picked coins or keep the current one, you can move them to a new place, and you can put the coins that were not found on hold. Cancelling the list changes nothing. You need the "Pick and ship" permission. The steps are in the picklists help article. Walking order comes from the locations on the storage map, and the barcodes you scan come from coin labels.

The short version

Make the list from the order, invoice, or sale. Sort it by location in walking order, with numbers sorted as numbers. Scan each coin by SKU, note missing ones, and keep going. Finish by updating status and location, and hold the coins you could not find.