We’re glad you found Amplifier. We love companies that are just starting out. We have not forgotten what it was like for us when we were starting up and we want to make our services accessible to everyone.
You have already done the most difficult part of starting a business: discovering or creating a need in the Market for the thing you’re selling. While Logistics can be complex and take real work, it is a well-mapped space, unlike the creative and insightful energy needed to bring a new product or service into the world.
That’s why we are one of the few eCommerce 3PLs that will allow you to sign up for our services without going through a scoping process, nor do we require a minimum amount of Shipping activity. Storing, Picking, Packing, and Shipping products is straightforward and as long as you want us to ship eligible items and agree to our pricing, there’s no reason to waste any time talking about it: we’re ready to go!
But just because we don’t have a Monthly Shipping Minimum doesn’t mean that you should sign up if you’re only shipping 1 unit a day. You could! And we’d be happy to have you as a client, but our observation is that most Brands shipping 1 unit a day don’t end up being very happy in the long run.
That’s because we do have monthly fees that come into play regardless of how much you’re shipping: Account Fee, Storage Fee, SKU Fee.
Let’s imagine two scenarios where you might be selling, on average, 1 unit a day, and you’re going to have all those ship within a month.
Scenario 1: One SKU, One Pallet, 30 Shipments
Scenario 2: 12 SKUs, 3 Pallets, 30 Shipments
Even before thinking about what we will charge you for Fulfillment and Freight, these charges are in play.
| 30 Shipment, 30 Unit Month | Scenario 1 | Scenario 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Account | $100 | $100 |
| Storage | $30x1 = $30 | $30x3 = $90 |
| SKU | $1x1 = $1 | $1x12 = $12 |
| Total | $131 | $202 |
| Non Fulfillment & Freight Monthly Costs per Shipment at 30 Shipments in a Month | $4.37 | $6.73 |
Now layer in the Fulfillment Costs: $2.15 per shipment + $0.95 per unit: $3.10
And the Cost of the Container (we will assume a poly-mailer): $0.24
Total charges per shipment, not including Freight: $3.34
| 30 Shipment, 30 Unit Month | Scenario 1 | Scenario 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Non Fulfillment & Freight Costs per Shipment | $4.37 | $6.73 |
| Fulfillment Costs (does not include Freight) | $3.34 | $3.34 |
| All Costs in Month per shipment | $7.71 | $10.07 |
That’s a high price to outsource your fulfillment!
But you can see that as your shipments increase, not only do your Fulfillment Fees decrease, but the allocation of Monthly Costs per Shipment will also decrease.
Those same scenarios radically improve at a month with 500 Shipments, 500 Units
| 500 Shipment, 500 Unit Month | Scenario 1 | Scenario 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Non Fulfillment & Freight Costs per Shipment | $0.27 | $0.41 |
| Fulfillment Costs (does not include Freight) | $2.95 | $2.95 |
| All Costs in Month per shipment | $3.22 | $3.36 |
There’s an inflection point between 30 a month and 500 a month that will make sense to you, and it’s going to depend largely on:
your Profit Margin per order
the time you can afford to spend fulfilling yourself
the space you have to fulfill yourself
your growth expectations over time
If you’re consistently shipping fewer than 200 shipments in a month we highly recommend you continue to do this yourself unless:
It doesn’t make any sense to spend so much on outsourcing your fulfillment unless by doing so you’re going to increase your total volume sold.
If you have a single, high-volume month, but the rest of the months are 200 shipments or fewer, we strongly recommend that you find friends to help you ship during that high volume month and continue to do it yourself. This also applies to folks doing Kickstarter and other single-sale events.
This doesn’t mean we don’t want you as a client! We do! But we also want you to be a Happy Client, and our observation is that most Clients begin to be sad about the overhead cost of Amplifier when they ship, on average, fewer than 200 shipments a month.