What does a 3PL cost?
Short answer
A 3PL invoice is built from a handful of line items: receiving, storage, pick and pack, packaging materials, outbound shipping, and any value-added work such as kitting or returns. What you pay depends on your order profile, SKU count, storage footprint and shipping zones — not on a single flat rate.
The six line items on almost every 3PL invoice
Every reputable 3PL bills from the same basic structure, even when the labels differ. Understanding the six components lets you compare quotes that look nothing alike on the surface.
- Receiving — labor to unload, count, inspect and put away inbound freight. Usually billed by the hour, the pallet, the carton or the container.
- Storage — the space your inventory occupies, billed monthly by pallet position, shelf, bin or cubic foot.
- Pick and pack — the labor to pull each order. Typically a base fee for the first item plus a smaller additional-item fee.
- Packaging materials — boxes, mailers, void fill, tape and labels, either passed through at cost or bundled.
- Outbound shipping — the carrier's charge, usually at the 3PL's negotiated rate rather than yours.
- Account and value-added services — kitting, labeling, FBA prep, returns processing, EDI transactions, and any dedicated account management.
What actually drives your number up or down
Two brands shipping the same monthly volume can land in very different places. The variables that matter most are order profile (how many units are in a typical order), SKU count (more SKUs means more pick locations and more storage), dimensional weight (light but bulky products cost more to ship than their weight suggests), and inventory turns (slow-moving stock accumulates storage charges month after month).
Geography is the other big lever. Shipping from Vernon, California puts you inside a two-day ground zone for the entire West Coast and much of the Southwest, and it eliminates the long, expensive drayage run that comes with warehousing inland. For importers, being 30 minutes from the Port of Long Beach also cuts per-diem and chassis exposure on every container.
Hidden costs to ask about before you sign
The line items that surprise brands are rarely the headline rates. Ask any prospective 3PL directly about the following, and get the answers in writing.
- Minimum monthly spend, and whether it ratchets up after an introductory period
- Long-term storage or aging-inventory surcharges
- Peak-season surcharges between October and December
- Fees for special projects, rework, relabeling or pallet restacking
- Integration or onboarding setup fees per sales channel
- Charges for cycle counts, physical inventories or ad-hoc reporting
- What happens at offboarding — is there a fee to release your inventory?
Why Logix doesn't publish a rate card
We quote from your actual data — order history, SKU list, average units per order, inbound cadence and destination mix — because a published rate card is either so generic it's useless or so padded it protects the 3PL rather than the brand. Send us a month of order exports and we'll model your real monthly cost, line by line, so you can compare it against what you're paying today.
One thing we can say plainly: Logix owns and operates its 214,000 sq ft Vernon warehouse. There's no broker margin stacked on top of a subcontracted building, and there's no long-term lock-in — we operate month to month.
Want this answered for your specific operation?
Send us your order profile and SKU list — we'll model your real numbers from our Vernon, CA warehouse. Month to month, no long-term contract.