The 3PL Hidden Fee Playbook — What Food Brands Pay That They Shouldn't
I want to tell you a story. Our first 3PL sent us a $12,000 invoice to move 10 pallets from a shelf to a staging area for truck pickup. No rework. No repackaging. No special handling. They moved pallets across the floor.
Their contract had a per-unit charge for bulk case movement — $0.10 per unit. We had cases of 700 units. 10 pallets. Hundreds of cases. Tens of thousands of units. When I told their CFO that wasn’t how I do business, he negotiated me down to $4,000 and acted like he was doing me a favor.
I built our fulfillment model around that experience. Here’s what you’re actually paying at most 3PLs — and what you should be paying instead.
Platform and Admin Fees
Most 3PLs charge $300 to $1,500 per month just to exist as a customer. This is before any picking, packing, shipping, or storage. It’s a fee for having an account. It doesn’t matter what they call it — it’s rent on your relationship with them, and you pay it regardless of whether you ship one order or a thousand. We don’t charge it. Zero.
Receiving Fees
Many 3PLs charge $50 to $200 per pallet just to accept your inbound shipment. You’ve already paid to produce the product. You’ve already paid freight to get it to them. Now you’re paying them to receive it off the truck. We don’t charge inbound receiving.
Shipping Markups
This is the one that gets brands the hardest because it’s the most invisible. Many 3PLs advertise their “negotiated carrier rates” as a benefit. What they don’t advertise is that your rate is their negotiated rate plus a 10–20% markup they keep as margin. We pass carrier rates straight through at actual cost when you pay weekly. The rate on your invoice is what the carrier charged us. Full stop.
Bulk Movement and Pallet Handling Fees
See the $12,000 story above. If your 3PL has a per-unit charge for bulk case movement, a single large outbound order can generate an invoice that wipes out your entire margin on that shipment. We quote palletized outbound separately for bulk retail orders. No per-unit surprises buried in your contract.
| Fee Type | Typical 3PL | North Lakes |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly platform / admin fee | $300–$1,500 | $0 |
| Inbound receiving (per pallet) | $50–$200 | $0 |
| Storage (per pallet / month) | $50–$100 | $45 |
| Pick & pack (per order) | $3.50–$6.00 | $3.00 |
| Shipping | Carrier + 10–20% markup | Carrier cost, no markup |
| Account minimum | $500–$2,000 / mo | $0 |
Notice how I just told you exactly what your costs are? Nobody else does this. That’s intentional — you should know your costs before you commit to a fulfillment partner.
You know your costs before your first pallet arrives. That’s how it should work. — Ole
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