Third-Party Logistics: Why 3PL Companies & Fulfillment Centers Need Industrial Packaging

Your business only has so many hours to be productive each day and week. It’s challenging to fit essential packaging and fulfillment tasks into your schedule and still find time to grow your business. 

By outsourcing certain tasks, such as packaging orders, to a third-party logistics company, businesses can save time and money better spent on other tasks. 

Here’s why third-party logistics companies and fulfillment centers -- of every size and industry -- rely on an outsourced packaging partner every day:
 

First, What Is Third-Party Logistics?

Third-party logistics involves outsourcing a business's warehouse, distribution, or fulfillment services to an outside organization. Also known as 3PL or TPL, third-party logistics brings an additional company into the business-customer relationship to handle some of the more tedious tasks of storing inventory and fulfilling orders.

By using third-party logistics, both e-commerce and brick-and-mortar businesses can avoid many of the challenges of storing and shipping orders on their own. This strategy frees up time and resources that can be better used to

• Design new products and services
• Plan marketing campaigns
• Improve other aspects of the business
  
  

How and Why Companies Use Third-Party Logistics 

Many successful businesses quickly outgrow their owners' original storage and fulfillment methods. This is particularly true for e-commerce shop owners.

In these instances, companies of every size can  select a third-party company to handle some or all of the work involved in getting orders from customers' carts to delivery, such as:

• Storage solutions
• Distribution
• Fulfillment
  
  

Storage Solutions

Many companies don’t have the space to store their entire inventory on-site. Choosing third-party logistics for product storage is often easier and cheaper for companies than finding, renting or purchasing, and managing their own warehouse. 

The third-party company can also handle receiving for businesses that get their inventory from another company.

Distribution

Third-party companies can also handle packaging and shipping for e-commerce shops and other businesses. Third-party distribution companies can provide their own packaging materials or use custom-branded:

• Boxes
• Packing tape
• Other items that showcase your business

These companies determine the best packaging, postage, and carrier to use for each order and pack orders so that they are ready to ship. 

Fulfillment

Finally, third-party logistics companies schedule pickups from their warehouses by USPS, UPS, FedEx, and other shipping companies and make sure orders are ready when they’re picked up. 

Although most third-party companies don’t deliver packages themselves,  Fulfillment by Amazon is a major third-party logistics company that has begun to ship some of its own orders.
 

Benefits of Outsourcing Industrial Packaging

Outsourcing industrial packaging instead of opting for in-house fulfillment can save companies significant time, money, and headache. 

Packaging all of your business's orders in-house consumes countless hours that could otherwise be spent on improving your business. Why not instead invest in developing new products, marketing strategies, and other areas that help you connect with your customers?

CS Packaging provides industrial packaging supplies to third-party logistics companies and keeps them in the loop about the  latest trends within the packaging industry. Our proven reliability, wide selection, central location, and competitive prices mean that our packaging materials fit into any budget and are always in stock. 

Contact us today to learn more about how our packaging solutions can benefit your 3PL or fulfillment center!