One warehouse.
B2B and DTC, handled.

Running your own facility carries fixed costs that don't flex with your business. A long-term lease, equipment, full-time labor, insurance, utilities, and a WMS license exist whether you ship 500 orders a month or 5,000. A 3PL converts those fixed costs into variable ones so you pay for what you use. Storage space, labor per order, and outbound shipments scale up during peak season and back down when volume drops. For brands running both B2B and ecommerce, the math compounds because instead of staffing and equipping a facility capable of handling both pallet builds and individual parcel orders, you're leveraging infrastructure that's already built and optimized for both. Most brands find that once they factor in the true loaded cost of in-house fulfillment including lease, labor burden, management time, errors, and missed shipments, a 3PL is cost-neutral or better well before they expect it to be.

Most brands hit a natural inflection point when fulfillment starts competing with growth. Typically when you're spending more time packing boxes than building the business, when order volume makes in-house labor costs unpredictable, or when you're missing ship dates during peak seasons. A common threshold is 50–100 orders per day, but the real signal is simpler: if fulfillment is costing you focus, it's time to outsource it.

Location matters more than most brands realize. A warehouse near the LA and Long Beach ports dramatically cuts inbound freight time and cost for brands importing product from Asia. Beyond location, look for direct communication (not account manager layers), WMS technology with a self-service portal, transparent pricing with no hidden fees, and a demonstrated ability to handle both your current volume and seasonal spikes. Ask specifically how they handle mis-ships and shrinkage, a good 3PL will have a clear policy.

The most common costs are receiving fees (charged per pallet, carton, or hour when stock arrives), account minimums, long-term storage fees that kick in after 30–90 days, and per-item fees for kitting or special packaging that weren't scoped upfront. Always ask for clear rates before signing, the best 3PLs price transparently and will walk you through exactly what shows up on a bill.

For brands distributing nationally, a West Coast hub significantly reduces transit times and freight costs to the western third of the country, a region that represents a substantial and growing share of U.S. consumer and commercial spending. Running all fulfillment from a single east coast or midwest location means 5–7 day ground transit to California, Nevada, Arizona, and the Pacific Northwest. A dedicated West Coast node cuts that to 1–2 days ground for the same region, which lowers carrier costs, reduces damage claims from longer transit, and improves fill rates for wholesale buyers on tight replenishment cycles.

The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach collectively handle more than 40% of all U.S. containerized imports, the majority of which originate from Asia. A fulfillment warehouse positioned within the port distribution zone means containers can be drayaged directly from the port to the facility in a single short move, bypassing cross-country rail or intermodal transfers entirely. For brands importing regularly, this proximity materially reduces drayage cost, cuts days out of the inbound cycle, and gives the operation a buffer to absorb port delays without disrupting outbound commitments to B2B buyers or DTC customers.