What it costs.
Most prep centers make you ask. These are the real numbers — the same rate sheet we send a prospect — published so you can compare us against anyone else before you spend a phone call on it.
The six variables
What actually moves your price
Nearly every quote in this industry is built from these. Know where you sit on each and you can sanity-check any 3PL's number — ours included.
Volume
Units and orders per month. More repeatable volume means lower cost per unit, because setup time spreads across more pieces.
How it arrives
A palletised, cleanly-manifested load is quick to receive. Fifty mixed parcels arriving over two weeks is the same goods and several times the labour.
Handling per unit
A label on a boxed unit takes seconds. Inspect, bag, bubble-wrap, bundle and re-label is a different job, and it prices like one.
Space and time
How much floor your goods occupy and how long you hold it. Fast-turning inventory costs less to store than stock that sits for a year.
Order profile
Single-item orders pick fast. Multi-item, multi-SKU orders with gift notes and inserts take longer, and vary more.
How bespoke it is
Repeatable work we can systematise is cheap. Genuinely custom projects price as projects, because that's what they are.
What you get in a quote
A written breakdown of each line as it applies to your product, so you can see which part of the work costs what. Not a single blended number you have to take on faith.
If a line looks high, ask about it. Usually it's telling you something useful — that your inbound is arriving in an expensive format, say, or that a prep step could be handled at the supplier for less than we can do it here.
- Receiving
- Per carton, pallet or container, by how it arrives
- Prep
- Per unit, by how much handling each unit needs
- Storage
- By floor space occupied, per month held
- Pick & pack
- Per order, plus per additional item
- Projects
- Kitting, rework and assembly, quoted per job
- Freight
- Carrier cost, plus handling where we arrange it
FAQ
Pricing questions
Why don't you publish a fixed rate card?
Because every account we've taken on has needed something slightly different, and a headline rate that only applies to a hypothetical customer is a marketing device rather than a price. We'd rather quote your actual work and then stand behind the number.
So how do I know I can afford you?
Tell us your volume and what the product is and you'll have a real quote quickly. It costs you a phone call, and you can compare it against anyone.
What makes one account more expensive than another?
Units per month, how the goods arrive, how much handling each unit needs, how much space the inventory occupies and for how long, and how much of the work is repeatable versus bespoke. A pallet of identical units is cheap per unit. Fifty mixed small-quantity boxes isn't.
Are there setup fees or long contracts?
Ask directly and you'll get a direct answer before you commit to anything. Nothing about how we price is meant to be a surprise later.
Can you beat my current 3PL's price?
Sometimes, and sometimes not. What we will do is tell you honestly which it is — an account won on a price we can't sustain goes badly for both of us in month four.
Next step
Get a real number, not a range off a competitor's homepage.
Send your volume and product details and we'll price the actual work.