We work with 350+ 3PLs and see the pricing they send to real brands every week. Every quote a brand receives through 3PL Bridge feeds the market averages below, so you can see what pick and pack, storage, receiving and container fees should cost in your market before you sign.
Short answer: most ecommerce brands pay between $1.85 and $3.15 per order for 3PL fulfillment of a single-item order at under 2,500 orders a month, falling to $1.03 to $2.09 above 20,000 orders a month. Pallet storage runs $8 to $20 per pallet per month, and receiving a floor-loaded 40-foot container costs $425 to $795 plus per-SKU and per-carton fees. The biggest driver is not the 3PL you pick. It is the market the warehouse sits in.
Source: 3PL Bridge market averages, built from real 3PL quotes and invoices across 45 North American markets. Updated November 2026. All figures USD, before shipping.
Most 3PL pricing guides quote the same national surveys. Ours comes from the quotes our partners send to the brands we advise. We work with 350+ 3PLs, and every time a brand receives pricing through 3PL Bridge, those quotes feed these averages. More quotes in a market make that market's average sharper, which is why we date every update.
These are averages, not a price list. A quote above the average for your market is not automatically wrong: special handling, low volume, kitting or tight SLAs all move the number. But you should know why you are paying it.
Most 3PLs price DTC fulfillment as a base fee per order plus a pick fee per item, with discounts as volume grows. The table shows what a one-item order costs all in, before packaging and postage.
| Market tier | Under 2,500 orders/mo | 2,501–5,000 | 5,001–10,000 | 10,001–20,000 | 20,000+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 (Louisville, Jacksonville) | $1.85 | $1.57 | $1.29 | $1.16 | $1.03 |
| Tier 2 (Columbus, Indianapolis, Memphis) | $2.15 | $1.86 | $1.57 | $1.43 | $1.29 |
| Tier 3 (Dallas, Atlanta, Phoenix) | $2.50 | $2.20 | $1.90 | $1.75 | $1.60 |
| Tier 4 (Los Angeles, Chicago, New Jersey) | $2.85 | $2.54 | $2.23 | $2.07 | $1.91 |
| Tier 5 (SF Bay Area, Vancouver) | $3.15 | $2.81 | $2.47 | $2.28 | $2.09 |
Each additional item in the same order adds the market's per-item pick fee: $0.35 in Tier 1, $0.40 in Tier 2, $0.50 in Tier 3, $0.60 in Tier 4 and $0.65 in Tier 5, discounted slightly at higher volumes.
| Market tier | 40' container, floor-loaded | Per SKU in container | Per carton over 1,000 | Receiving per pallet | Storage per pallet/mo | Oversized pallet/mo |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 | $425 | $4.00 | $0.30 | $5 | $8 | $15 |
| Tier 2 | $500 | $4.50 | $0.40 | $8 | $11 | $18 |
| Tier 3 | $595 | $5.00 | $0.50 | $10 | $14 | $21 |
| Tier 4 | $680 | $5.50 | $0.60 | $12 | $17 | $24 |
| Tier 5 | $795 | $6.00 | $0.70 | $15 | $20 | $27 |
A floor-loaded container is priced as a flat unload fee, plus a fee for every SKU in the container (each SKU has to be sorted and counted), plus a per-carton fee once the container passes 1,000 cartons. A container of 1,400 cartons across 25 SKUs in a Tier 3 market costs about $595 + $125 + $200 = $920 to receive.
Louisville, Jacksonville
Columbus, El Paso, Grand Rapids, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Memphis, St. Louis
Atlanta, Austin, Calgary, Charleston, Charlotte, Chihuahua, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Las Vegas, Minneapolis, Nashville, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Reno, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, Savannah, Tampa, Tijuana, Winnipeg
Chicago, Edmonton, Los Angeles, Long Beach, Miami, Montreal, New York, Newark, Portland, Quebec City, Seattle, Toronto
San Francisco, Oakland, Vancouver
Here is one brand priced in each tier: 3,000 DTC orders a month at 1.5 items per order, one floor-loaded 40-foot container a month (1,400 cartons, 25 SKUs) and 120 standard pallets in storage.
| Market tier | Pick and pack | Container receiving | Storage | Monthly total | Per order |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 (Louisville) | $5,190 | $645 | $960 | $6,795 | $2.27 |
| Tier 2 (Columbus) | $6,120 | $772 | $1,320 | $8,212 | $2.74 |
| Tier 3 (Dallas) | $7,275 | $920 | $1,680 | $9,875 | $3.29 |
| Tier 4 (Los Angeles) | $8,430 | $1,058 | $2,040 | $11,528 | $3.84 |
| Tier 5 (San Francisco) | $9,270 | $1,225 | $2,400 | $12,895 | $4.30 |
The identical operation costs about 90% more in a Tier 5 market than a Tier 1 market. That does not make Tier 1 the right answer: a warehouse far from your customers can lose more in postage and transit time than it saves on fulfillment. Location has to be priced together with parcel.
| Fee | How it is billed | Typical |
|---|---|---|
| Account setup / onboarding | One time | $1,500 |
| Account management | Per month, often waived above a volume threshold | Up to $1,000 |
| Technology / WMS | Per month | $100 |
| Inserts | Per insert | $0.50 |
| Labeling | Per item | $0.35 |
| Packaging materials | Cost plus a markup | Cost + 5% to 22% |
| B2B small parcel order | Per order | $2.50 – $4.50 |
| B2B case pick | Per case | $0.50 – $1.45 |
| Pallet pick (outbound) | Per pallet | $6 – $10 |
| Pallet build | Per pallet | $12 – $20 |
| Shrink wrap | Per pallet | $4 |
| Bill of lading (BOL) | Per shipment | $6 – $14 |
Everything above is warehouse handling. Postage typically makes up 60% to 70% of a DTC brand's total fulfillment spend, and it varies more between 3PLs than any handling fee does. Two operators with identical pick fees can be thousands of dollars apart once parcel is included, because of carrier discounts, dimensional weight rules, residential and delivery-area surcharges, and how much the 3PL marks up its own carrier rates. Always price a 3PL against your real shipment history, not a rate card.
A 3PL Bridge Brand Advisor prices your actual operation against our market averages, collects quotes from qualified operators in our network and puts them on the same basis so you can compare them. Your team chooses who to meet and who to sign with. There is no cost to brands.
Talk to a Brand Advisor3PL Bridge market averages are calculated from quotes and invoices received through 3PL Bridge partners and are updated as new pricing comes in. They are averages for planning and comparison, not offers of service. Individual quotes vary with order profile, volume, product type, packaging and service level. All figures in USD. Last updated November 2026.
Everything you need to know about 3PL pricing: per-order fees, storage, receiving and why the same operation costs more in some markets.
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