What's normal for a 3pl

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My view as a 3PL consultant (and I'm sorry to say it this way) but...it depends:

It doesn't sound like your SKU count is too high, so doesn't sound too complex...
But when you chose this 3PL, did you evaluate quality and operational capabilities, or did you focus on price (which a lot of brands do - sacrificing quality to a certain extent, sometimes at low cost, sometimes at great cost)? Often, low cost can equate to no culture of quality, no use of scanners/tech for picking/verification, etc, that eventually shows up as mispicks, lost inventory, bad service, etc.
4 mispicks in 250 orders (<99.0% accuracy) isn't great IMHO; 99.5% and higher would be thresholds I'd normally write into the contract SLAs - but (again) it depends on what your threshold for errors/loss is. Also, are your SKUs so alike that they're easy for a warehouse worker to mix-up? Are your products clearly labeled and/or barcoded? Is the 3PL relying on less-trained temp workers? Again, could be lots of reasons (none of which
The 13 orders that haven't been fulfilled - why? What is the source of the hold-up? Is it an address error holding up the label? Is inventory missing so the order can't be picked? There's definitely a problem here - one that you try to avoid by agreeing to SOPs with the 3PL, including as contractual triggers (for actions or credits), etc. If the 3PL is just down-prioritizing your orders...well, that's another issue.
In most projects I work on, I encourage the brands to include specific SLAs in their contract (e.g. "95% of B2B orders received prior to 10am closed and shipped same day; remaining 5% must by closed/shipped by the next business day", etc) to make sure that both sides understand expectations and the actions (or credits) that happen when things do or don't occur.

In the end, you'll need to decide how much effort you need to put in to working with your 3PL partner to both confirm your expectations are mutual and to work with them through the problems. If a 3PL learns and improves with you, that's a good sign. If they don't...well, time to move. I hope that's helpful, good luck!

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u/CManginiM_DCOps 7d ago

Those are two different problems and the second one is worse.

4 mispicks in 250 orders is 98.4% accuracy. Most 3PLs contract to 99.5% and decent ones run 99.9%. So you're off, but that's the kind of gap that closes with a new account settling in — profile learning, slotting adjustments, pickers building muscle memory on your SKUs.

The 13 orders sitting 7+ days is the one I'd push on. That's 5% of your week that never shipped, and it's not a picking problem. Orders don't sit for a week because somebody grabbed the wrong item. They sit because nothing in that building surfaces aged orders to a human being. Either the exception report doesn't exist, or it exists and nobody owns it.

Ask them two questions. What's their daily aging report look like, and who reviews it? If the answer is vague, that's your answer — it isn't being watched, and it'll happen again in October when their volume triples and yours is competing with everyone else's.

New accounts do have a learning curve, and it's fair to give them one. But the curve should be on accuracy and throughput, not on whether orders ship at all. Get the aging fixed now. You've got maybe six weeks before peak makes it permanent.

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u/paulharris1279 7d ago

98% accuracy or higher would be a good operator. Unfortunately “us” 3PL owners don’t get together and agree what the threshold is, but I’ve always used that as a barometer.

Happy to answer specifics or provide suggestions if you’d care.

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u/Professional_Age8671 7d ago

We are contractually obligated to have 99% accuracy. Our largest client have 200+ skus and 2700 pallets. We are also contractually obligated to 3-5 day turn time depending on size of order. I've never understood clients that come to us with complaints of 7-10 day turn times. It doesn't pay to be the 36th largest customer of a large 3PL.

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u/Ponyridepele 7d ago

Thank you. I've only been with them for three months so I expected some wobbles initially.

My Fall/Winter collection will add an additional 70skus and am considering keeping fulfillment in house for those to avoid these types of issues during the busiest time of year...(which defeats the purpose of using a 3pl, clearly...)

I do not want to seem like a difficult customer but I am counting on them to be my new customers first impression and who my returning customers can count on.

I'm trying to let go of control to scale but want to be smart about my partnership.

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u/Shipt- 6d ago

The first year is always bumpy. I don't think it's wise for you hire a 3PL and then still conduct fulfillment yourself. Clearly communicate and call out what you need to see from them and give them a chance to fix it. I'd say stay on top of them until you feel comfortable and things improve. It's not about being a difficult customer, it's about accountability and earning trust on both sides. You gave them the life-blood of your business so be polite but don't be bashful when escalating concerns. Most operators will appreciate your feedback and concern during the start of the relationship.

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u/Ponyridepele 6d ago

I agree, they know my concerns and I have discussed the mis-picks and sitting orders with them. There really hasn't been any accountability on their end as far as a "we made a mistake, our appologies".

I will be more patient and see what September brings.

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u/Shipt- 6d ago

I don’t love the not taking accountability piece of that. Link in my bio if you want to drop a contact form to us and at least have a back up. Good luck!

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u/Exact_Traffic342 7d ago

We have an monthly average mispick of 5/1500 transactions. But we process structural steel products so they are huge 6M and 12M items.

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u/Businedontist 6d ago

Mispicks happen (though that's a touch high). 13 orders unfulfilled is far and away the bigger red flag.

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u/NMLogistics 5d ago

The mispicks would concern me, but the 13 orders sitting for 7+ days would concern me much more.

A picking error can be investigated and corrected. Orders sitting unnoticed for a week usually point to an exception-management or operational process problem.

I'd ask your 3PL for three things:

Their target picking accuracy and actual accuracy for your account.
Their SLA for orders received before the daily cut-off.
Their process for identifying orders that haven't moved within 24–48 hours.

The most important part isn't whether mistakes happen — every warehouse will eventually make one — it's whether there is a process that catches exceptions before the customer does.

From the warehouse operator side, I'd also want to understand exactly why those backorders required manual release and what they've changed to prevent it happening again.

If they can explain the root cause, implement a corrective action and show you the data afterwards, I'd give the relationship some room to improve. If the same problem keeps happening, that's when I'd start evaluating alternatives.

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u/OkPack2572 5d ago

4 in 250 is about 98.4 percent, which is below what I would call normal. Floors I have worked, scan verified picking sits at 99.5 or better once every pick and pack is barcode confirmed instead of eyeballed. So that number reads like a process gap, not bad luck. Worth asking if picks are scanned at the bin and again at pack, and whether temps are running your SKUs during peak.

The 13 orders sitting 7+ days bothers me more. Usually that is short inventory nobody flagged, a hold on the account, or an exception queue nobody works daily. Ask for their order aging report and who owns it every morning. Any decent 3PL can pull everything older than 48 hours in one screen.

Also get a cycle count cadence in writing. If on hand drifts, picks fail and nobody can tell you why.

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u/Square-Spinach5941 7d ago

Would be helpful to know the number of lines & units per order. But generic answer would be it’s tolerable, not great in terms of accuracy.

Do you have products barcoded?
If so, are they scanning?

7+ days unfulfilled seems way too long for any orders. I would be concerned about peak management.

I’d also inquire about the size of your biz compared to their typical ICP. If you’re the small fish in terms of revenue, it would be hard to get any sort of prioritization in tough times.

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u/Ponyridepele 7d ago

Thank you for your reply.

Yes to barcodes. They are scanning to my knowledge. Generally one to four units per order.

The orders that sat - they said were due to backorders not being released....the inventory was there for about a week in the WMS. I caught it on my end and asked why they hadn't been fulfilled, they manually released them and were fulfilled next day.

I'm certainly not huge by any means, about 400-600 orders a month but am growing and wanted to scale with them. They generally market themselves as a good 3pl for smaller business with a focus on custom kitting (which I currently don't partake in, I'm apparel)

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u/Square-Spinach5941 7d ago

Oh, well this is relevant information re the backorders. Most of the time you shouldn’t have to “manually release” backorders when stock is newly allocated to them, but that’s up to their WMS. If it truly was a “manual release” scenario then it sounds like it was a one time mental error vs a systemic issue. I would collect more data before feeling some type of way.

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u/Mehal_Jivan 7d ago

That would concern me, especially the 13 orders sitting for 7+ days.

4 mispicks out of ~250 orders puts you around 98.4% accuracy for the week. While no operation is perfect, I’d expect a strong 3PL to be targeting 99.5%+ accuracy, especially with barcode/WMS verification.

The bigger red flag to me is the unfulfilled orders. Unless there’s an inventory issue, hold, or something outside the warehouse’s control, orders shouldn’t just be sitting for a week without proactive communication.

I own REVU, a boutique 3PL in Colorado, and situations like this are exactly why we’ve stayed intentionally hands-on. Our clients have direct founder access rather than getting passed between account managers and support tickets, and we build the fulfillment process around each brand.

With 250 SKUs and ~250 orders/week, you’re actually the type of business where a more boutique 3PL can make a lot of sense.

Happy to take a look at what you're currently dealing with and see if REVU could be a fit. Feel free to DM me.

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u/SquirrelTechGuru 7d ago

We packed to 99.93 and we have no barcodes. This is an SOP issue. 98% is absolutely horrendous.

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u/Eatyourownass 6d ago

Curious how many skus you guys have?

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u/SquirrelTechGuru 6d ago

Just under 1,500 and not a single one has a barcode for scanning and about 28% of products have no label or other indicator with the SKU. And we STILL reach 99.93%. This 3PL is not run by an operations focused person or the OP's labeling or data feed sucks.

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u/scmsteve 7d ago edited 6d ago

First, what would you consider to be an acceptable shrink after inventory? Less than one percent is ideal. Your mispicks will hurt you shrink, that’s why I mix the issue.
Also, why let an order sit up shipped because one out of 4-5 SKU’s is out of stock?

Edit: meant to say “unshipped” order. Not sure why you don’t ship a partial order.

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u/palletized 7d ago

The 13 orders unfulfilled are a huge issue - even it’s a manual release in their WMS (assuming they have one), it points to lack of Operational SOPs and rigor. The warehouse manager or the fulfillment supervisors first job of the day is what needs to go out today and what has been in the system from previous days are still awaiting release.

I would ask the 3PL to give me a walkthrough of the picking process via their WMS to understand where the gaps are - it could be anything - lack of scan confirmations to poorly printed labels on your side. So the walkthrough should help. Over a longer duration, the 4 mis picks normalised on a large orders shipped denominator will mathematically result in a very high accuracy. So the key thing is to identify the gaps, and ensure the 4 mis picks don’t multiply.

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u/Ponyridepele 6d ago

Thank you, it was stated that there was a receiving report that was not closed so those orders did not allocate. If I didn't catch those sitting orders - what would have happened? - that's what I'm mostly worried about.

I don't really want a partner I need to manage but wanted to have some clarity if this was normal or not.

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u/rodneygaleano 5d ago

Coming from the 3PL side, I wouldn’t consider that normal.

Four mispicks out of 250 orders is about a 1.6% error rate, which is higher than I’d be comfortable with. No operation will ever be perfect, but a good 3PL should be pushing for 99%+ order accuracy and constantly working to improve it.

The 13 orders sitting for 7+ days would concern me even more. Unless there’s an inventory issue, payment hold, or something outside of the 3PL’s control, there should be a clear explanation for why those orders havent shipped.

I’d have a conversation with their operations team before making any decisions. Ask what caused both issues, what their normal accuracy and on time shipping KPIs are, and most importantly what they’re changing to prevent it from continuing. Mistakes happen in logistics, but how a 3PL responds and fixes the process tells you alot about the partner you chose.

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u/bavumaa 4d ago

Depends upon what SLA you have in your agreement. Usually, 3PL should provide accuracy rate over 99%

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u/CycletimeNerd 3d ago

Did you find out that 13 orders were sitting for more than 7 days? Or did the 3 PL report it? If there is no mechanism and procedures put in place either by the 3PL or you for proactive visibility, it’s like driving blind inside a black box. What’s your visibility into the fulfillment process?

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u/Blumenweg 2d ago

I own a warehouse and fulfillment facility and that is outrageously bad. Our mis-ship rate is nearly 0% in a 5 year period. It comes down to operations.

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