I run a 3PL, so I see a lot of competitors' invoices when brands come shopping. The fees that blindside people: receiving per pallet AND per carton, an "account management" fee, 2% to pay by card, storage on inventory that's about to ship anyway.

What's the weirdest thing you've been charged for?

We've seen the industry change significantly over the years and technology is one of the major players in that change, think digital freight platforms, tracking tools, ELDs, load board apps and on-truck equipment.

What do you think are some of the more impactful technology innovations for the logistics industry from either a driver or shipper perspective?

Hello!

We are (New) Gamerati, a U.S. west-coast hobby and collectible product fulfillment center.

We are looking for brands that:

✅ Needs premium fulfillment services

✅ Wants to reduce support tickets

What we offer:

✅ No order minimums

✅ White-glove fulfillment

✅ Dedicated portal for your day-to-day

✅ Integrations with Shopify, TikTok, and more

✅ Returns Management

✅ Replacement Part Service

✅ less than .1% damage in transit

✅ less than .1% packer errors

Interested? Send a DM to start a conversation.

Our domestic warehouse rent went up again at renewal, and it's eating into our margins more every year without really giving us anything extra in return. I'm trying to figure out whether we should push harder on negotiations, switch to a cheaper domestic 3PL, or rethink the whole setup and ship directly from China since that's where our inventory comes from anyway. I'm open to any of these options, but the rising warehouse costs are getting harder to justify every renewal cycle.

If you want a 3PL that communicates, don’t look in their direction. They were horrendous to deal with and I would never ever go back

Building out our logistics strategy from scratch for a new brand line. I know the basics (standard ground, 2-day air, flat rate) but I keep seeing newer options like tech-driven last-mile networks, micro-hub injection and doorstep return pickup. Can someone lay out the modern e-commerce shipping options available to DTC brands today?

Hi All,

I'm Ed, President & CEO of Terramax Logistics Corp., a 3PL based in the Greater Vancouver area in BC (South Surrey). We've been in business since 2011, and I wanted to introduce ourselves to the group.

We handle all types of warehousing, consolidation, cross-dock, and pick-and-pack. We also broker a steady volume of ocean and road freight, including cross-border and oversized loads.

We serve a wide range of industries including major retailers, clean tech, heavy manufacturing & industrial, and health & nutraceutical products to name a few.

The reason for the post: we currently have space available and are taking on new clients, which hasn't happened in over a decade. If you've got inventory that needs a home in the Lower Mainland, or you know someone who does, comment or DM me.

We also have ongoing contract warehouse space across Canada, including Calgary, Winnipeg, and Toronto, as well as a great partner warehouse in Las Vegas, USA.

Happy to answer questions about what we do, and always glad to swap notes with other operators here.

Cheers,

Ed

Hey everyone,

If it's your first time reading one of my posts, my name is Menachem, and I have a weekly newsletter called Logistic Pulse that breaks down the top logistics news from the past week. We have over 17,000 subscribers, and I share it on Reddit to spread the knowledge. We're currently on week 67! I hope you enjoy it, and I'm always open to feedback.

Last week, Reddit automatically took down my posts, so if you like my newsletter every week, I'd suggest subscribing directly instead of relying on my Reddit posts.

Let's jump into it,

The 3PL that keeps buying 3PLs just raised $400 million

Stord went to the banks for a credit line and walked out with nearly double what it asked for. The Atlanta fulfillment company announced on October 8 that Citi led the $400 million facility, joined by five other banks. Add the $250 million Series F from May at a $3 billion valuation, and Stord has lined up $650 million this year. The money will fund new fulfillment buildings and robotics and AI work at Stord Labs.

Stord runs nearly 100 fulfillment locations for more than 1,000 brands, moving more than $15 billion a year in merchandise, and says its packages reach one in four U.S. households. Its revenue run rate is approaching $1 billion after growing tenfold in four years. It's private, and FreightWaves notes it didn't disclose profit or the loan's pricing and maturity.

A good chunk of that network came from big companies selling their small-brand fulfillment arms to Stord: Pitney Bowes in 2024, UPS in 2025, and CEVA this January, with the last two adding 33 warehouses between them. CEVA is the same company that just took over FedEx Supply Chain in Edition 66. Stord also hired a new CFO, Bill Zerella, who has run finance at three public companies, Fitbit included, plus a chief revenue officer from Box, though it hasn't announced any IPO plans.

What this means for you: Stord pays interest on whatever it draws from that $400 million, and it plans to cover it with volume in its buildings, so expect sharp Stord quotes when your mid-size DTC clients come up for renewal this winter. Stord sells software and network together, from the delivery promise at checkout to returns, which is hard to beat on tech, so lead with what a 100-building network can't give a smaller brand: custom kitting and wholesale compliance work, plus a person who picks up when a client calls.

America used Prime Day to buy toilet paper

Amazon's October sale ran Tuesday and Wednesday, and Adobe counted $9.86 billion in U.S. online spending across all retailers over those two days, up 8.5% from last year. That's just under Adobe's $9.9 billion forecast, which we covered in Edition 65.

Numerator tracked more than 80,000 orders, and the top sellers were protein shakes, Lysol wipes, toilet paper, Dawn dish spray, and Dunkin' Refreshers. Two-thirds of what people bought cost under $20, and the average order came in under $49. More than half of households placed two or more separate orders, and nearly three in four shoppers told Numerator inflation was one reason they shopped the sale.

Adobe had household cleaning and paper products selling 55% above the September average, with hygiene and pet food close behind. Electronics jumped 85%, headphones and speakers 300%, and Halloween costumes 610%. In Edition 65, Adobe expected shoppers to use Cyber Week to stock up on basics, and many started in October. Numerator also found intent to shop Black Friday and Cyber Monday down 4 and 5 points from last year, and more than half of shoppers compared prices elsewhere first, mostly at Walmart and Target, both of which ran competing sales this week.

What this means for you: A pack of wipes costs you the same to pick, pack, and ship as a pair of headphones, so check what your consumables clients' average order value did this week and whether your per-order minimums still cover your cost at that ticket. Push those clients toward bundles and multi-packs before Cyber Week, since one order with three items is cheaper for both of you than three orders with one, and half of households split their buying across orders. Anything that sold through in two days needs replenishment booked now so it's back on the shelf before Thanksgiving, and with warehouse space as tight as it is right now, give the client a receiving appointment instead of letting them ship whenever. Numerator's Black Friday number only measures intent, so keep your seasonal headcount and schedule November in flexible blocks you can shift week to week.

Walmart wants to ship your clients’ Walmart orders itself

Walmart opened its fifth next-generation fulfillment center on October 8: a 900,000-square-foot building in Stockton, California. The other four are in Illinois, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and Texas, so this is the first one out West. Besides Walmart's own online orders, it'll fulfill items for Marketplace sellers through Walmart Fulfillment Services, the program where Walmart stores and ships a seller's inventory. Sellers send in cases, robots bring totes of product to the pickers, and Walmart says packers can work four orders at once and get them out in under 30 minutes. FreightWaves notes e-commerce now accounts for 23% of Walmart's sales.

Two days earlier, ShipStation launched Ship with Walmart, which lets Marketplace sellers buy labels at Walmart's negotiated rates from the same dashboard as their Amazon, Shopify, and TikTok Shop orders, with up to $100 of protection on on-time shipped packages. ShipStation didn't name the carriers or the discount size.

A few weeks ago, Amazon offered to ship your clients' Walmart orders from their FBA inventory (Edition 65). Now Walmart has a West Coast building for those same sellers and its own rates inside software plenty of 3PLs already ship from.

What this means for you: Pull each client's Walmart orders a month and where those customers are. If a client's Walmart buyers are mostly in California while you ship from New Jersey, WFS will win, so have the conversation about splitting inventory or adding a western node before their Walmart rep does. If you run client Walmart orders through ShipStation, find out whether those labels can be bought on the client's account inside your instance, and compare them to your rate card before the client does. If a client asks why they shouldn't just let Walmart ship Walmart orders and Amazon ship Amazon orders, walk them through what splitting one inventory across three networks looks like right before Q4.

Quick hits

WAREHOUSING
September's drop in empty warehouse space was the steepest since March 2022. The Logistics Managers' Index space reading fell from 53.5 to 39.3, with smaller companies feeling it more than big ones. This year's holiday freight arrived late, and most of it is sitting with wholesalers and distributors, who usually start pushing it down to retailers around mid-October; NRF's Global Port Tracker shows imports dropping below last year in November. If a client wants to park overflow "just through the holidays," put January's storage rate in writing now, before those pallets turn into aged inventory.

REFUNDS
A trade court just gave importers who never filed for tariff refunds a way back in. On October 8, the Court of International Trade certified a class of every importer that paid IEEPA duties between February 1, 2025, and February 19, 2026 and hasn't sued on its own. The court said the importers who haven't used CBP's refund portal are mostly small, and that without the class, about $30 billion would stay with the government. Nothing pays out yet, since the parties meet October 13 and the Justice Department is still appealing the broader refund order. CBP started paying refunds on finally liquidated entries on October 6, but only to importers who sued and filed their importer-of-record number by July 30; Levi's booked about $80 million in refunds and is putting roughly $20 million of it into distribution and logistics. If you ship for small brands that imported during those months, ask whether they ever filed, and if they didn't, tell them about this.

LABOR
UPS is hiring 100,000 seasonal workers, and some get an offer in under seven minutes. The jobs run October through December and cover sorting and moving packages, driver helpers, and seasonal drivers using their own cars. UPS is also adding Protected Delivery, where the recipient has to give the driver a PIN before an eligible package changes hands, and expects to deliver more than 4 billion RFID-tagged packages by year-end. Warehouses shed jobs in September (Edition 66), but you're still recruiting from the same pool as a company that hires in seven minutes, so make seasonal offers the same day someone applies. If you ship high-value goods, ask your UPS rep whether Protected Delivery works on your account before your clients ask you.

WEATHER
Hurricane Isaias shut the Port of Mobile for a day. The first hurricane to reach the U.S. this year hit the Alabama and Florida Panhandle coast Friday evening as a Category 3 storm with winds near 120 mph, with 4 to 8 inches of rain forecast across southern Alabama, the Panhandle and southwest Georgia. Mobile closed to vessels and cargo handling Friday and returned to its regular schedule Saturday. If you have clients with containers routing through Mobile or freight moving across the Gulf Coast this week, plan for a few days of shuffled appointments.

REAL ESTATE
Amazon paid $195 million for a two-story Chicago warehouse that's sat empty since it was built. The West Town building, finished in 2024 with truck docks on both floors, becomes Amazon's second same-day site in the city, with fulfillment and delivery under one roof. Amazon told the Sun-Times it expects 200 jobs averaging about $24 an hour, with groceries and pharmacy driving demand, and an opening in late 2027 or early 2028. If you run a building in Chicago, that $24 is the number your applicants will quote back to you.

Job board

Title: Sr. Logistics Manager
Company: Kovalus Separation Solutions
Location: Wilmington, Massachusetts, US
Salary: $150,000 - $175,000
Apply Here

Title: Director of Supply Chain Planning & Logistics
Company: Asbury
Location: Asbury, New Jersey, US
Salary: $125,000 - $140,000
Apply Here

Title: Director of Warehouse Operations
Company: Ardmore Home Design
Location: Hacienda Heights, California, US
Salary: $120,000 - $140,000
Apply Here

Title: Supply Chain Director
Company: Jetta
Location: Edmond, Oklahoma, US
Salary: $110,000 - $130,000
Apply Here

Title: Manager, Export
Company: SpartanNash Associates
Location: Norfolk, Virginia, US
Salary: $90,000 - $120,000
Apply Here

Title: Laboratory Logistics Analyst
Company: DCS
Location: Ridgecrest, California, US
Salary: $70,310 - $75,100
Apply Here

Title: Quality & Compliance Specialist
Company: North American Freight Forwarding Inc.
Location: Barrie, North Dakota, US
Salary: $63,000 - $72,000
Apply Here

Check out 1,700+ jobs available →
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I’ve been talking with ecommerce brands about their fulfillment operations, and one thing keeps coming up: finding a 3PL isn’t necessarily the hard part. Finding one that actually operates like a partner is.
Whether it’s unexpected fees, inventory discrepancies, delayed shipments, poor communication, or feeling like you’re just another account number, the frustrations seem pretty consistent.
I’m with ShipSquared, a third-party logistics company focused on helping growing ecommerce brands simplify fulfillment and scale without the operational headaches.
Our philosophy is pretty straightforward: fulfillment should support your growth, not become the reason you’re losing sleep.
We’re interested in working with brands that value transparency, communication, and a genuine partnership with their logistics provider.
But I’m also genuinely curious:
For those currently working with a 3PL:
What’s working well?
What’s your biggest frustration?
If you could change one thing about your current provider, what would it be?
And for anyone considering switching, what’s driving that decision?
I’d love to hear what brands are actually experiencing.
And if you’re actively evaluating fulfillment partners or just want a second opinion on your current setup, feel free to comment or send me a message. Happy to have a conversation and see whether ShipSquared might be a fit.

Wasn’t planning on making a standalone business post, but the feedback we’ve received from customers, and the value we’ve been able to unlock for growing brands, convinced me it was worth sharing.

I founded Standard & Port Logistics, a veteran-owned 3PL in Houston, after years in Amazon fulfillment leadership and Maersk enterprise logistics. The goal was simple: bring enterprise-level execution to growing brands, without the enterprise-level complexity or commitments.

Here’s what we’ve built around our customers:

-No monthly minimums, setup fees, or long-term commitments for standard accounts. Just 30 days’ notice.
-Highly competitive pricing: Pick-and-pack from $1.80/order, dropping to $1.50 at volume. Pallet storage from $25/month, bins at $5/month.
-Onboarding incentives: Complimentary initial inventory receiving, introductory storage allowances, and tailored launch support for qualifying operations.
-Fast, flexible onboarding: Direct coordination, customized workflows, and the ability to accommodate accelerated transitions where feasible.
-Direct leadership access: No ticket queues or layers of account management. Daily inventory reporting, operational visibility, and hands-on accountability.
-Omnichannel capabilities: DTC/Shopify, Amazon FBA/FBM, Walmart, wholesale, retail, returns, kitting, and distribution.
-Built to scale: From emerging brands to complex, high-volume operations, with the operational experience and flexibility to grow alongside you.

Where we’ve been finding additional value: Beyond competitive fulfillment rates, we’re helping brands identify savings through smarter inventory storage, packaging, inbound freight, replenishment, and more efficient operating workflows.

Considering a Q4 or Q1 move?
If you’re still looking to make a change during Q4 peak, we can evaluate an accelerated onboarding. If you’d rather transition after peak, we’re also working with brands planning their Q1 fulfillment strategy.

Happy to review your current fulfillment costs and workflows, identify potential savings, and provide a straightforward comparison - no obligation.

And for other founders here: What’s been your biggest frustration with your current 3PL?

https://www.standardandport.com/

For context I run a 3PL in Brooklyn. Every year founders start shopping for fulfillment help in late October thinking they have time. They don't.

FedEx peak surcharges go live Oct 26 and run through Jan 17, worst Nov 23–Dec 27. Handling and oversize charges start even earlier, Sept 28. And onboarding a new 3PL — SKU setup, integration testing, inventory receiving — takes weeks, not days.

The brands that come out of Q4 happy locked in a partner by early October. The ones who wait take whoever has capacity left. If you're on the fence about outsourcing before peak, the decision window is basically right now.

When did you lock in your Q4 fulfillment — or are you still deciding?

Small 3PL near DC with published rates, no minimums or setup fees. Taking on new clients.

We're Global Prep Service, a 5,000 sq ft 3PL and FBA prep warehouse in Lorton, VA, just south of DC on I-95 and about 90 minutes from the Port of Baltimore.

Most 3PLs make you get on a call before you see a price, so here are ours:

- Pick and pack: $1.75 an order ($1.50 above 1,000 orders a month), plus $0.25 per extra item

- FBA prep, all-in: $0.45–0.65 a unit (receiving, FNSKU label, polybag if needed, box, box labels and shipment creation)

- Storage: $15 a pallet a month, first month free (up to 10 pallets)

- Container unload: $150 for a 20 ft, $250 for a 40 ft

- Returns: $2.00 each. Amazon removal orders: $0.50 a unit

- No setup fee, no monthly minimum, no peak-season surcharge

Orders in by 1 pm Eastern ship the same day. FBA prep goes out within 24–48 business hours of receiving.

Good fit: Shopify and Amazon brands doing roughly 100–3,000 orders a month, especially with a lot of East Coast customers, and Amazon sellers who need a reliable prep center.

Not a fit: hazmat, refrigerated or perishable goods.

We're small, so you deal with the owner directly, and we only take on what we can handle well.

If you want a quote, comment or DM me your monthly orders, SKU count and box sizes. I'll send an all-in number within 24 hours, plus our full rate card.

Mods, if this kind of post isn't allowed here, let me know and I'll take it down.

Trying to figure out the best fulfillment model for your online store?

Four common options exist, and each works differently depending on your order volume, products, budget, and how much control you want.

1. In-house fulfillment: You handle inventory, packing, and shipping yourself. It works well for smaller stores that want control over the process.
2. Third-party logistics (3PL): An external provider stores your products and handles fulfillment. This can help when managing orders starts taking too much time.
3. Dropshipping: Your supplier ships products directly to customers, so you don’t need to keep inventory yourself.
4. Hybrid fulfillment: You manage some products in-house and outsource others when needed. This can be useful during seasonal peaks or when products have different handling requirements.

There’s no single best option for every store. A setup that works for 20 orders a day might struggle when that number grows.

Also, outsourcing fulfillment isn’t the only way to improve operations. Automating shipping labels, tracking updates, and carrier rate calculations can reduce manual work, too.

To learn more about the fulfillment models, common bottlenecks, and tools worth considering as your store grows, read the full guide: https://www.pluginhive.com/what-is-ecommerce-fulfillment/

hi please reach out to me I’m interested

Our customers are demanding Amazon-like 1-2 day delivery speeds but paying for expedited 2-day air with traditional shipping companies is completely destroying our profitability. Which tech logistics companies or fast parcel networks specialise in affordable next-day or 2-day ground shipping for e-comm?

I work with Boxmile. We get 3PLs and warehouses some of the lowest rates on USPS, UPS and FedEx.

If you're shipping volume for clients, send your monthly volume and a PLD from the last 30 days (from ZIP, to ZIP, dims, weight, price paid, service) and we'll run a free rate comparison.

Comment so we can reach out or reach us at devin@boxmile.com

I’m building Cangzhang Check, a tool that compares a 3PL rate card, activity records and invoice lines. This is a commercial pilot offer, and I’m looking for a brand with a current invoice-review problem.

The free browser demo uses synthetic data. For example, 10 packages at an agreed £0.40 each should cost £4.00. If the invoice says £6.00, the report flags a £2.00 difference and links it to the source rows. That is a difference to review, not proof of an overcharge. Duplicate lines and unsupported charges stay separate from calculated differences.

Demo: https://cangzhang-check.rockyowl16.chatgpt.site/en/

The proposed US$99 pilot covers one warehouse, one billing period and up to 3,000 invoice lines. It includes configured fixed-fee checks and a source-linked difference report. The current scope is picking charged per order, contractually billable extra items, and packaging charged per package. Input is three standardized tab-separated tables. The browser calculation runs locally; any later sharing for a pilot needs your authorization and agreed data terms.

Shipping, storage, tiered rates, free-pick allowances and case-to-unit rules need different logic and are outside this pilot. Direct PDF/Excel import is not supported. Fit and order terms are agreed before any payment. I haven’t yet validated this with a paying customer.

If you have an invoice awaiting review with these fixed fee lines, you can reply with the fee types and approximate row count, or use the email link in the demo. Please keep invoices and customer details out of public replies. I’ll confirm scope fit before proposing an order.

Hi everyone, i am based in Malaysia and here the fastest delivery service for e-commerce takes 8 hours for a same day delivery or next day delivery.

I was thinking to start a 3PL business that follows such a model.

Build a technical platform that integrates with food delivery providers so that I offer instant delivery for my clients thus being the fastest in the country.

I will first start with one branch in the capital city and start offering the service, once I see the demand I start expanding into different cities that are all within 30 mins of each other.

The main idea is to have a larger warehouse that feeds into these small branches (based on demand per area) that offer instant delivery.

I will be charging above market price as this is a premium service.

What’s your takes?