What a 3PL warehouse does in a working day.
A 3PL warehouse is a facility run by a third-party logistics company that receives, stores, picks, packs and ships products for other brands, and handles their returns. You keep selling; the 3PL runs the floor.
Here is how a working day at a Fulfillment Hub USA warehouse is organized around one moment: the daily cutoff for same-day shipping.
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Morning
The dock opens: receiving.
Inbound cartons and pallets are counted and checked against your advance shipping notice before any unit becomes sellable stock. Short shipments and damaged cases get caught at the dock, not in a customer review.
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Morning
Putaway: every unit gets an address.
Each SKU goes to a storage location the system can find again: shelved bins for small items, racked pallet positions for bulk, and secured storage for high-value goods. Every storage option and its rate is listed on our pricing page.
Published rate: $34.50 per standard dry pallet per month at the first tier, lower as volume rises.
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Late morning
Orders land in the queue.
Orders arrive all morning from Shopify, Amazon, TikTok Shop, Walmart, WooCommerce, eBay, BigCommerce and Etsy through integrations. Each one reaches the floor with your packing rules attached.
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Late morning
Pick: from the shelf to the tote.
Pickers pull each order’s items from their storage addresses and carry them to packing. Kits and bundles are built ahead of time, so a three-item set picks like a single SKU.
Published pick fees: $2.85 for the first item and $0.70 for each additional item, falling to $1.20 and $0.20 at 20,000+ orders a month.
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Late morning
Pack: the box your customer opens.
Every order is packed to your rules: box size, protective fill, inserts, gift notes, branded packaging. Embroidery, DTG printing and other value-added work happen before items reach the line.
Flat add-ons: $0.25 per promotional insert and $0.50 per packing photo.
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Midday
The same‑day cutoff.
Each warehouse sets a daily cutoff for same-day shipping. Orders received before it ship that day, so every morning task runs toward this line. That is why the work above happens in the order it does. Ask us for the cutoff at the location that would serve your customers.
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Afternoon
Carriers pull away.
Labeled parcels are sorted by carrier and service and handed over at the daily pickup. Postage and carrier surcharges are billed as pass-through.
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Afternoon
Returns come back in.
Returned items are inspected and graded, then restocked, set aside or disposed of by your rules, so sellable units go back into inventory instead of waiting in a pile.
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Afternoon
B2B and Amazon prep run alongside.
Cartons and pallets for retailers, wholesalers and Amazon FBA are prepped, labeled and shipped from the same inventory as your direct-to-consumer orders.
Published B2B case pick: $2.85 for the first case up to 10 lb, then $0.20 per lb over 10 lb.
Your own warehouse, or a 3PL’s?
| What you pay for | Running your own | Using a 3PL warehouse |
|---|---|---|
| Space | A lease, racking and utilities, paid whether you’re busy or not | Storage billed by the pallet or bin you use |
| People | Hiring, training and covering peak season yourself | Trained teams that flex with your volume |
| Shipping | Labels, carrier accounts and pickups you arrange | Daily carrier pickups and labeling handled for you |
| Reach | One building serving one region | Several locations, so more orders ship in lower zones |
| Start-up time | Months to find, fit out and staff a building | 3 to 5 business days to onboard at FHU |
Where the floors are.
Fulfillment Hub USA operates five warehouses in the United States and one in Hungary.
See how far each warehouse is from your customersQuestions about 3PL warehouses
What is a 3PL warehouse?
A 3PL warehouse is a facility operated by a third-party logistics provider. It receives a brand’s inventory, stores it, picks and packs each order, hands parcels to carriers and processes returns, so the brand doesn’t have to run its own warehouse.
How much does a 3PL warehouse cost?
Most 3PLs charge per order picked, per unit of storage and for add-on work. Fulfillment Hub USA publishes its rates: $2.85 for the first item and $0.70 for each additional item at the starting volume tier, and $34.50 per standard dry pallet per month at the first storage tier. Rates drop as volume rises, postage is billed as pass-through, and final pricing is confirmed in a signed services agreement.
How long does it take to move into a 3PL warehouse?
At Fulfillment Hub USA, onboarding typically takes 3 to 5 business days: connecting your sales channels, receiving your first inventory and setting your packing rules.
What is the difference between a 3PL and a fulfillment center?
A 3PL is the company; a fulfillment center is the building where the work happens. Fulfillment Hub USA is a 3PL that operates fulfillment centers in Dover, Miami, Houston, Los Angeles (Commerce) and South San Francisco, plus Oroszlány, Hungary.
Put your products on our floor.
Tell us your monthly orders, products and sales channels. We’ll come back with an itemized price.