FAQ

What Do You Mean by Fulfillment?

Clients tend to focus on things they are good at – ideation, design, production, sourcing, marketing and customer service. A fulfillment company manages the rest of the process to get products delivered to your consumer. EFS receives the product, stores it and, as orders are received, processes the order, picks the product, packages it and ships it via common carriers. We provide tracking information and manage your inventory so you can do what you do.

What Is Kitting and Assembly?

Besides storage, pick/pack and ship, the other main activity at a fulfillment company is kitting and assembly projects. EFS can handle these for you at any quantity.

Let’s say your client wants to send holiday gifts to all their employees. So, you’ll order items from 5 different vendors (maybe with the client logo imprinted) and some collateral (like a Holiday card). Then what? Do you have the right materials (boxes, polybags, crinkle paper, bubble-wrap)? Do you want to gather the family or coworkers and assemble the kits over the kitchen or conference room table? Or… let us kit it all together and ship it efficiently. We do so much of this type of work we’ve actually created specific space in the warehouse for this activity and branded a separate division as PackKits.

Why Should I Use 3rd Party Fulfillment?

This simple is answer is… “stay in your lane bro.” Focus on what you’re good at and let others do what they are good at. But beyond that…

What Products Do You Handle?

It’s easier to say what we don’t handle and that’s anything that requires additional licensing and/or certification. For instance, in the State of Texas a special license is required to store and ship alcoholic beverages. EFS doesn’t have an appropriate license and does not intend to get one. Remember some items can be handled by the warehouse without special training or certifications but still be rejected by our carriers (especially if shipping air – Ground service is more flexible). Other things we don’t work with include environmentally hazardous substances and anything in our judgment of questionable ethical or moral content (of course that’s subjective so you can still ask).

How Much Do You Charge?

The needs of every client are distinct and specific to them. There is no “one-size-fits-all” service level in our business. We charge for each step in the process – receiving, storage, pick/pack and shipping but those charges will vary by client. Our common example is – if your product sells very quickly, we’ll make money on pick/pack and shipping so your storage rate can be lower but if your product moves slowly, we will have to charge more for storage because our other activity charges are less frequent. Make sense?

We are happy to quote for your unique situation – just ask. To set the table, we’ll want to know a LOT about your plans. Things like how many SKUs, weights and dimensions of each SKU, how many orders you expect weekly, how many items (on average) expected in each order, how much storage space you’ll need, etc. If you don’t know these things (especially if you’re a startup), educated guesses work. When you’re ready, we’ll send you a list of specific questions.

If you’re doing a Kitting & Assembly project, we’ll certainly need to know what elements are going in the kit (including weights and dimensions) and if each kit is exactly the same or if there will be some customization. For instance, if the kit includes a t-shirt, will each kit get the same size shirt, or will the size have to match the recipient? Again, we’ve got a list of questions when you’re ready.

How Do You Charge for Storage?

It depends on your product. For some clients, pallet rates are the way to go. But for others charging by a floor section or by cubic foot makes more sense. We’ll tailor our quote to your product.

What Are Your Minimums?

We have a minimum monthly charge of $1,000.00 that is waived in the first month.

Short-term kitting projects are a different animal altogether. We don’t have minimum charges for kitting projects so go ahead and send your specs to our kitting division at PackKits.

How Are Orders Submitted to EFS?

We can receive orders any way you want to send them – the more automated, the less costly to you. If you send orders to us in an email, on a PDF or via carrier pigeon, we must type them into our system. That takes time and opens the possibility of more errors. But if you submit them via API directly from your eCommerce platform into our WMS, keystrokes and errors drop substantially so lower processing costs to you.

How Quickly Do You Process Orders?

In most cases, orders are shipped within 1 business day of receipt. Orders received by 11:00am CT are generally shipped the same day.

What Shipping Services Do You Use?

EFS is “shipper-agnostic” so basically, we use any of them. For small packages that means DHL, USPS, FedEx and UPS. Our state-of-the-art Warehouse Management System will rate-shop every order to find the lowest rate within the service level required on that order. For LTL/freight, we have a contract with one of the largest shipping consolidators in the world providing us access to some amazing rates and, again, the system shops for the best available rate.

What Programs Can You Integrate With?

We haven’t found one yet that couldn’t be integrated with our Warehouse Management Software (WMS). Our WMS is 3PL Central, one of the most widely used in our industry. With such a broad base, 3PLC integrates with all the popular eCommerce platforms, accounting software, shipping aggregators and EDI programs.

How Do I Integrate My eCommerce Platform with EFS?

You’ll need an Application Programming Interface (API). Many eCommerce platforms already have “plug-n-play” APIs that work with our Warehouse Management System, 3PL Central. But even if not, APIs are not expensive to get going.

EFS does not develop APIs but we will open our system to you or your developers and provide all necessary administrative access and API Keys so you can handle the development and hosting. If you have in-house tech staff, they can probably do the API. If not, you can use any external firm you like but if you need a recommendation, try techdinamics.

Do I Need Barcodes on My Products?

In a word – yes. We can pick/pack items without barcodes but as you can imagine picking by scanning a barcode is less expensive (and is subject to substantially fewer errors) than picking without a barcode. If you don’t have barcodes on your product, we can provide labeling service for you.

How Secure is Your Warehouse?

EFS has a monitored security system with 24/7 coverage. We also have security cameras throughout the warehouse with motion sensors that alert our management personnel via cell phone of any unexpected movement (that was a lot of fun when a cat somehow got trapped over a weekend once). In addition, we have a sprinkler system, fire extinguishers, pest control, and a security guard on site for nights and weekends. For high value items, we also have secured-access space available.

Is My Inventory Insured at Your Warehouse?

EFS insures “contents of others” while at our warehouse and we will be happy to provide a Certificate of Insurance upon request. Note that this is not true of all warehouses.

But it is extremely important to note that EFS never takes ownership of your inventory – it remains “in your possession.” For that reason, we strongly recommend you speak to your business insurance agent to ensure you are properly covered.

Is Your Warehouse Climate Controlled?

EFS has climate-controlled space available wherein both temperature and humidity are regulated. If this space is of interest to you, please inquire as to availability. We do not have space for refrigerated or frozen products.

Our general warehouse space is not climate controlled. We do have a soft drink client whose product is sensitive to high temperatures, so we monitor regularly. Our general warehouse space does not exceed 88° F in the summer months and we have other interior areas where the maximum temp is lower.

How Do I Get Tracking Data/Reports from EFS?

If we integrate with your order platform via API, tracking data are automatically pushed back up to your system once the order is processed. But if you want more information…

Our Warehouse Management Software has a robust, easy-to-use reporting interface. We will provide training on the system and you’ll have 24/7 access so you can run reports like inventory, tracking, item movement, receiving, etc. at your convenience.

How Do You Compare with Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA)?

We’re better 😉. Okay… in reality, Amazon is a great fit for some companies and not for others. Nobody we know of can compete with Amazon’s handling and shipping rates, but you must follow a lot of regulations and jump through a few hoops to use FBA. On the other hand, Amazon has very high storage rates (especially during the 4th quarter). Why? Well FBA is designed for very fast-moving products. So, if your inventory moves fast, storage fees don’t matter as much.

Is it worth it? Of course – for some companies. But if your inventory doesn’t move that fast, it might not be a good fit. Or… what if you need to make a change to an order or need to ask someone to check a specific inventory item and send you a picture. Can you call the Amazon warehouse and talk to a human?

EFS provides a high-level of service to each client. We have customer service managers that will learn the intricacies of your business, respond quickly to requests and provide guidance to help you make well-informed decisions. And you’ll have direct access (both email and cell phone) to these people.

Do You Provide Cross-Docking Services?

Cross-docking is unloading materials from an incoming container/LTL shipment and loading them back onto outbound trucks or trailers, with little or no storage in between. Sometimes it includes breaking down pallets and reorganizing the outbound shipment, but the common theme is that the product is not in our warehouse for very long. We do offer these services with a caveat.

For ongoing clients, inventory is collateral. That is, if a client doesn’t pay their bills, we can place a lien on the inventory to recover owed money. But with cross-docking EFS has no security against future billing. Therefore, we require payment in advance for cross-docking services. We’ll do our best to estimate everything accurately and if our activity is less than expected we’ll refund any excess.