Fullfillment

Shipping10+ items a day -- who to contract

[RossWal]

Where might I direct clients who don't have the energy, dicipline, or other motivating factors to do their own fullfillment for small special item sites? These widgets can not be dropped shippped; and the volume is great enough to be a hassle, but far from enough to warrant a shipping department.

I've looked on the web and have only found major fullfillment centers. Are there smaller players? Any ideas on what the fees might be (above and beyond normal freight)?

This is on the west coast of the US, since in this case that's probably relevant.

Thanks for any pointers!

[wingslevel]

Get out the old yellow pages (still have one of those things?) and look up public warehouses. It'll take a few calls, but you should be able to find a place that will receive shipments for you, store your product and ship out by UPS or whatever to your customers. They usually charge so much per case for unloading, storage and outgoing shipments. Some places only deal with large accounts, so keep calling and you'll find the right place.

[lgn]

My advice.

Hire a student to pack up the orders in the evening. That way you can concentrate your energy on increasing your business.

I pack my own parcels for two years, and yes it sucks. I was afraid that somebody else would mess up the order, or pack things so that they will get broken.

I was so glad when I hired somebody to do the job for me. Now I have two people doing it full time.

And 99.9 % of our shipments actually survive their journey by USPS.