20+ Years, One Shipping Platform: How ProShip Became Core to Rubies’ Parcel Operations

About Rubies DTC

A leading costume, accessories, and party supply retailer supporting both direct-to-consumer orders and an extensive retail partner network.

Industry

Costumes, Accessories & Party Supplies

Peak Season

9-Week Halloween Sprint

Fulfillment Model

DTC + B2B Drop Ship for 80-90 Retail Partners

ProShip Partner

20+ Years

There are three IT pillars inside our operation: the picking software, the WMS, and ProShip. Without those, we’re not running. – Joe Plassmeyer, Director of Operations, Rubies DTC

The Challenge

For years, peak-season volume was handled by scan-and-ship at individual stations: one worker, one scanner, one label at a time. At their busiest, Rubies had 24 stations running simultaneously, each requiring dedicated labor. Scaling meant more stations, more people on the floor, and more cost. As the business added partners and carriers, every new retail channel added another layer of complexity for the shipping operation to absorb. The team needed to handle more volume and more complexity without growing the shipping team alongside it.

2 ship stations reduced from 24 at peak to just 1–2 for exceptions

By the Numbers

0.0M

Packages shipped in a 9-week peak season

12,000

Hours of labor saved in a single peak season

24 → 2

Shipping stations at peak, down from 24 to 2

The Solution

Pre-Manifesting Changed Everything

Working directly with ProShip’s engineering team, Rubies integrated ProShip with their BlueYonder WMS so that shipping labels generate before the pick process begins. When a picker pulls a ticket, the label is already on it. No scanning station. No dedicated shipping labor. Twenty-four peak-season stations compressed to two, used only for exceptions. For their busiest nine-week window, this single change saved approximately 12,000 hours of labor.

It allowed us to scale in our busy season without having to get that extra labor inside of the ship stations. – Joe Plassmeyer, Director of Operations, Rubies DTC

A Quality Gate at Sub-Second Speed

ProShip also serves as Rubies’ inline quality check. Every package passes through conveyor-mounted scales and scanners that communicate with ProShip in real time, verifying the label, the weight, and the pick completeness before the package ships. All three checks return in under a second. When asked if they’ve ever experienced latency, Joe’s answer was immediate: “Never, ever. Speed is sub-second, all the time with ProShip.”

Relationship Timeline

~2003

The Beginning

BuySeasons, one of the largest online costume and party supply retailers in the U.S., selects ProShip as its shipping platform.

2017

New Ownership, Same Platform

Rubie's Costume Company acquires BuySeasons. The new ownership expands the ProShip investment, kicking off the pre-manifesting project.

2018-2019

The Transformation

Pre-manifesting goes live. Shipping stations drop from 24 to 2. ProShip delivers a custom retail integration in 8 weeks when the timeline called for 16.

2021-2023

Scaling the Partner Network

ProShip adds carriers and supports retail compliance for major national retailers as Rubies grows its B2B and dropship business.

2026 and Beyond

What's Next

New carrier integrations in process. ProShip expansion to a second facility planned, replacing an existing shipping solution.

Benefits

Scaled peak season without adding headcount

Pre-manifesting folded label generation into the existing pick process, eliminating the need for 22 additional shipping stations and the labor to run them.

Self-service configurability

Rubies’ IT team configures, troubleshoots, and extends ProShip independently. At the time of this interview, every open ticket on the account was a sales or integration project, not a support issue.

80 to 90 retail partners on one platform

ProShip’s rule engine and third-party billing handle per-partner carrier accounts, SLAs, and compliance specs across their entire dropship and B2B operation.

A platform they’re expanding, not replacing

After 20+ years, Rubies is actively planning to roll ProShip out to a second facility, replacing an existing shipping solution. That’s the verdict on whether it works.

The scalability and configurability with ProShip. You’re never going to be boxed in a corner with this solution. – Joe Plassmeyer, Director of Operations, Rubies DTC

See What ProShip Can Do at Your Scale

Rubies ships 1.7 million packages in nine weeks with the same team they run year-round built for steady state. If your operation needs to handle complexity without adding headcount, let’s talk.